Speaker 1: Thank you. Councilmember Flynn, there's no motion required. Do any other council members how many comments on this? All right, scene one Council Resolution two, two, two will be back before the Council for consideration on Monday, March 14. Madam Secretary, please put the next item on our screens. Councilmember Torres. Go ahead with your comments on Resolution 219, please.
Speaker 6: Thank you, Madam President. I just wanted to call out and really thank the folks involved with this. Ultimately, I see you in the audience from the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs. This this bill awards additional funds for the Denver Immigrant Legal Services Fund. And when this first fund was first started, it was with 100,000 of city funds and $100,000 grant from Vera. This most recent distribution put out just over half a million dollars into community organizations to provide legal services for immigrants, both in defense and affirmative relief. And I just want to thank the city and a team's team and the committee for this work and to remind folks that this is an open fund. So this is not just something that's funded by the city. It also takes your donations. So businesses, philanthropic sources, community members and residents can also donate to this fund and really make a difference for somebody to have that legal support to apply for citizenship, to renew their license to defend themselves in immigration court. So just really want to call out the progress in this effort and think the work of a team. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Councilmember Torres. Councilmember Kenny.
Speaker 6: Thank you so much, Madam President. I was excited to see that my colleague, Councilwoman Torres, called this out. And I just want to echo her thanks to really the community partners who led, I think back in the day when Councilman Lopez was sitting in this very chair, actually, the very end of the dais was his spot. And hearing that call worked with the administration and really pushed, I think, beyond what was the comfort zone at that time. You know, this is critical to our community. These individuals, many of whom have claims to stay in the country. They have statuses, but they just don't know how to assert them in court by themselves without an attorney. They are parents of children in our community, which we are responsible for if something happens to them and they're not able to care for those kids. They are parts of our community. They work in jobs that are helping to maintain our city. And so we really are interconnected, right? The immigrant members of our community are part of the fabric. And if you unravel that fabric, the entire cloth right. Becomes weakened. So I really want to appreciate the way that we have seen this grow. And I want to give kudos to Councilwoman Torres, who's been a champion, and we've got to partner on some of these increases together. And I think the one thing I will just add about the donation fund is that, you know, when we see events in the world and I think all had hope that some of the border issues, some of the immigration issues were going to get better in this administration. And it's been hard. Congress has been unable to be a partner and to get any meaningful immigration reform passed. And so, honestly, this is as critically needed today as it was in the darkest days of the last administration. It hurts my heart to say that I don't think it's for lack of of of desire to make change. But if you feel like you see images of immigrants and refugees and those who are struggling and, you know, the idea of how we keep our community inclusive, please consider contributing. Companies should be contributing to this. These are workers in your businesses whose families are affected by this. So so I hope that we can all, you know, become aware of the ways to give our treasure to something that means something to our community. So thank you very much. And it's on consent, but I'm very excited that we're going to be voting on it tonight. Thanks.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Councilmember Khanna. Each and my only request beyond my thanks and gratitude for working on this is that we make sure and get out to council offices the information so that we can share it out to our constituents. If folks would like to contribute or participate in any way. So thank you. All right. We're going to go ahead and move on. Madam Secretary, if you would, please put the next item up on our screens. Councilmember Herndon, would you please put Bill 273 on the floor for publication?
A resolution approving a proposed Third Amendatory Agreement between the City and County of Denver and The Denver Foundation to provide grant funding to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations who provide immigration legal services to eligible Denver residents in the areas of direct representation, in removal defense or affirmative relief, and capacity building for direct representation.
Amends a contract with the Denver Foundation to add $750,000 for a new contract total of $1,450,000 and 1 year for a new end date of 12-31-2022 for the Denver Immigrant Legal Services Fund, which provides grant funding to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations who provide immigration legal services to eligible Denver residents in the areas of direct representation, in removal defense or affirmative relief, and capacity building for direct representation (ATTNY-202261680). The last regularly scheduled Council meeting within the 30-day review period is on 3-29-22. The Committee approved filing this item at its meeting on 2-23-22.