Annual Report 2003- 2004
Celebrating 90 Years of service and community building: 1914 - 2004
This year International Institute of Los Angeles (IILA) celebrates its 90th year of operations in southern California. From our proud beginnings as an agency dedicated to helping newly arrived immigrants and refugees, we renew our commitment to our mission. Today we offer services from 23 locations across southern and central California. In every office and classroom, we live out our mission of helping individuals and families to realize their dreams and become contributing members of their communities. At the national, state and local levels we engage in collaboratives and coalitions in an effort to attack root causes of problems facing the most vulnerable among us. We celebrate our rich cultural diversity and affirm that we are all strengthened by a society that includes and embraces all of its members. In 2003-2004 we offered the widest range of services to the most people in our ninety year history. Following are some examples of the many ways in which 2004 was our strongest year yet.
New This Year:
School Readiness Initiative
When one looks at the best research evaluating social and educational services, the studies on the effect of quality early childhood education stand out. It is widely accepted that investment in quality childcare reaps a manifold benefit that endures throughout the lives of participating children. Building on our 35 years of success in providing early childhood education, this year IILA launched our First 5 project. In this program we aim to prepare children to enter kindergarten ready to succeed. Our outreach efforts engage parents in the development of their children. Our mobile library breaks down barriers to accessing books and other learning materials. And our work with individual families identifies problems and seeks resolution. The result: children enter school better prepared to learn and thrive. And research proves, children who participate in such programs succeed - well into adulthood - and experience fewer family and economic problems.
Hmong Refugee Assistance
In 1975, hundreds of thousands of refugees poured out of Southeast Asia. They fled hostile new regimes ushered in by the communists, and sought protection in refugee camps across the region. Among these refugees was a special group from Laos – the Hmong. Incredibly, thirty years later, tens of thousands remain “warehoused” in camps, deprived of the universal human right to free movement. In 2004 the United States government committed to re-unite several thousand Hmong refugees with family in the United States. IILA was a leader in this effort, launching resettlement services through newly opened offices in Fresno and Merced. By the close of fiscal year 2004, we had resettled over 300 Hmong refugees, and committed to assisting 1,000 in total. New arrivals receive housing assistance, referrals for English classes, employment services and health follow-up. In a very real way, IILA has transformed the lives of people who have gone from despair to a new beginning.
Three New Childcare Centers and Four Playgrounds
International Institute opened three new childcare facilities in 2003 – 2004. Located in Boyle Heights, our Aliso Pico center serves children of families who live in the adjoining government housing projects. In Lincoln Heights, IILA collaborated with A Community of Friends as they opened a subsidized housing project for low income families. There, IILA operates a childcare center for residents and neighborhood families. The latest project is located in Van Nuys, and is co-located with IILA’s refugee jobs program, immigration legal services and refugee resettlement. The synergy provided by co-location of services allows us to meet the many needs of low income families we serve. Along with the new childcare centers, IILA built four new child playgrounds in partnership with KaBOOM!, a national program dedicated to providing state of the art child playgrounds.
National Training workshop:
IILA hosted a three day training workshop for refugee case managers from around the country in collaboration with our national office. Sessions included training in best practices, helping refugees settle in the United States and find jobs.
Our Continued Commitment to Service:
Immigration Legal Services:
IILA operates a legal services program from three locations in Los Angeles. Our two attorneys and four paralegal staff assist over 9,000 persons every year to become U.S. citizens, reunite with family members, or seek asylum.
Seniors Services:
In 2003-2004 IILA served more than 133,000 meals to the elderly. Our Rinconcito del Sol day respite program meets the needs of seniors with dementia, and provides a vital respite for their care givers. Our multi-purpose center offers seniors a home away from home, with hot meals, an array of recreational and educational activities, weekly dances, holiday celebrations, a food bank, health screenings and case management. We also provide transportation to seniors, including a special lift van for frail seniors.
Child Nutrition:
IILA operates a commercial kitchen in which we prepare over 2 million child meals every year. We deliver healthy, balanced meals to over 50 childcare centers – operated by IILA and many other agencies. In this way children start the day ready to learn. We also manage 1,000 childcare home food programs, monitoring their compliance with nutritional and program requirements, and reimbursing homes for the meals they provide to qualified low income children.
Child Development:
IILA operates a wide array of childcare programs, from child care centers, to pre-schools, to family and home childcare providers. Included here is our CalWORKS childcare program. This program provides childcare to low income families, who receive public assistance or are starting a job.
Immediate Needs Transportation:
Every month over 30,000 rides are provided to needy individuals through IILA’s network of 330 sub-contracting agencies. Hospitals, shelters, jobs programs, substance abuse centers and many more social service agencies are provided travel vouchers and bus tokens by IILA to help their clients who need a ride for emergency situations, to return home from medical treatment, to flee an abusive home, or simply to get to a job interview on short notice. IILA operates this program from three regional offices.
Employment and Social Services:
From resettlement of newly arrived refugees, to job club and job placement, to refugee job training and refugee seniors programs, this division provides a vital helping hand to people displaced by political upheaval, war and other disasters. Working through our national office IILA re-unites families torn apart by war and re-builds healthy and prospering families in the United States.
2003 – 2004 Financial Summary |
Amount | Percentage |
Child Development |
7,106,543 |
32 |
| 2003 – 2004 IILA Board of Directors | |
| Wilson Tang, Chair Holda Dorsey, First Vice Chair Anita Castellanos, Second Vice Chair Dora Breece, Treasurer Julia Vera, Secretary Lynda Appleton Shawn Brown Teresa Castaneda |
Louis Gordon Stephen J. Holt Beverly Hubbard Neu, PhD John D. O’Malley David Rees Horace Sheldon Elena Garate, PhD |
