The Richmond City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to allocate up to $1 million in city surplus funds for immigrant legal services and a public awareness campaign for the city’s immigrants.
The funding allocation, made in response to the Trump Administration’s ongoing mass deportations, will be distributed to local nonprofits by a fiscal sponsor that will be chosen through the city’s Request for Proposals process. The City Council will be asked to approve a contract with the city’s chosen fiscal sponsor at its April 15 meeting.
Richmond City Councilmember Claudia Jimenez said existing resources serving the local immigrant community are being swamped with requests amid the choas of the deportation orders. Calls into the Stand Together Contra Costa hotline increased last month by 330 percent, she said.
A proposal to use $10,000 of the up to $1 million allotment toward funding free municipal ID cards for undocumented residents was set aside for a possible separate vote.
This story has been updated to correct and clarify that the Council vote did not include the proposal to spend $10,000 of the $1 million in funds for free municipal ID cards. That was set to be voted upon separately.