Chair Lee questions MOIA on federal cuts and wraparound services funding
Lee asks about additional funding for wraparound services amid federal cuts. Ali says no additional executive plan funding but highlights the Haitian Response Initiative's 610 intakes as an example of trauma-informed care within MOIA's existing network.
And will there be, I mean, given that we're looking at federal cuts that are obviously going to hurt the refugee asylum seeker services, have you been having conversations with the administration, OMB?
Do you know if there's any additional funding for immigration services in the executive plan that go towards specifically funding wraparound services for this population?
Yeah.
The administration continues to evaluate, you know, community needs across legal services and case management and other stabilization support.
And, you know, at MOIA, we strongly recognize the importance of holistic and trauma-informed approaches, particularly for vulnerable populations.
And so while there may not be additional funding in the executive plan for wraparound immigration services, we do want to take a moment to highlight again the work of the Haitian Response
Initiative because they have done incredible work in this area.
I think we have specific data, but the HRI has completed about 610 intakes so far this fiscal year and has completed a certain number of trainings as well.
So there is an example of folks within MOIA's network where they have
offered and do offer this trauma-informed care.
Great.
And two things really quickly I just want to uplift is that during our roundtable discussions with a lot of the providers,
definitely ways to retain immigration attorneys and if there's anything you all can do on your side to really emphasize to admin, OMB, that we need extra funds to make sure that we're able to retain the attorneys
with higher salaries and pay, that would be great.