Success Stories
IILA serves people right in the neighborhoods where they live. We offer a wide variety of services designed to give our clients that helping hand up they need to achieve their dreams. Our programs are offered from 24 sites, our employees speak 19 different languages, and we offer services to over 20,000 clients every year. Below is an overview of the services we provide and examples of some of our client's personal achievements.
Elders stay in their own homes
-Senior Services Division
Elva is 67, lives alone, and struggles to keep a clean and safe home. An IILA case manager helps her get the housekeeping services and home-delivered meals she needs to be able to continue living in her own home.
IILA's Senior Services program provide over 120,000 meals to seniors at 10 dining centers and deliver 67,000 meals to homebound seniors throughout Los Angeles' east side. IILA's transportation services give 9,000 rides to seniors who need help getting to medical and other needed services.
IILA's seniors multipurpose center offers dances, health screenings, case management and local advice. An adult day-care respite program, El Rinconcito del Sol (A Little Corner of Sunshine), provides daily activities and care to approximately 25 elderly clients. The program serves Spanish- and English-speaking seniors and provides respite and support for their caregivers.
Local volunteers provide a variety of services at the center, including assisting with Food Bank Day, delivering Thanksgiving meals and December holiday food baskets to seniors in the neighborhood, helping with serving meals in the dining center, and helping in El Rinconcito del Sol.
Helping people get around in a busy city
Cesar was in desperate need of transportation so that he could get to his dialysis treatments and doctor visits. He had no money, no family, no car, and felt hopeless. IILA's transportation program got him where he needed to be, the doctor's office. The taxi driver picked him up and ended up staying with Cesar through his medical appointment. Even though he got a ticket for an expired meter the cab driver felt rewarded for helping someone so greatly in need.
IILA's Immediate Needs Transportation Program works with over 300 local nonprofit organizations to distribute emergency travel vouchers and tokens to people just like Cesar who need help getting to their medical appointments, job interviews, or other social services.
Children thrive with nutritious meals
-Nutrition Program
Mary, a 7-year-old, is winding down from a long day at school. She picks up her work, and walks to her after-school program. Mary's mother works as a hotel housekeeper and no one is home to take care of Mary. When Mary arrives at her after-school program, she is given a healthy, nutritionally balanced snack from IILA's nutrition program. Mary's mother does not worry about her daughter getting the nutrition she needs to grow healthy and strong. The IILA kitchen staff cook and deliver nearly 2 million hot meals and healthy snacks for children like Mary.
IILA’s Child Food Program provides funding to over 900 home-based child providers so that they can give hot, nutritious meals and snacks to nearly 3,000 children daily. The nutrition program provides support to a variety of children's programs which allow Mary and thousands of other children to thrive.
Helping children grow and learn
-Child Development Division
Leonora is a single parent raising three children. She has worked hard to overcome many obstacles. She enrolled her children in an IILA childcare program after she regained custody of them from a foster care setting. Finding quality childcare allowed Leonora to focus on getting her life back together after leaving a violent family situation. She enrolled in classes to improve her English skills and is now working as a sales clerk. She works five days a week and depends on IILA's childcare program to care for her children while she is working. During the day Leonora does not worry about her children, and at night she and her children are able to enjoy quality family time. Without IILA's childcare program, she would not have been able to attend school, succeed at her job, keep her children, and become self-sufficient.
IILA's Child Development Division has a network of eight childcare centers throughout Los Angeles County, and also works with about 70 in-home childcare providers. Many families, such as Leonora's family, rely on IILA for the dependable childcare services we provide.
Journey to a new land
-Immigration Legal Services Division, Refugee Services Programs
Maria came here from El Salvador 15 years ago. She married and began her naturalization process. Meanwhile, Maria's husband died and the paperwork was never filed. She came to IILA's immigration division believing that despite her husband's death her paperwork would be valid. However the law states that an individual has only two years to file from the date of the death of a spouse. IILA hurried to submit the paperwork. Everything was turned in on time, but due to an error on INS's part the papers were rejected. Meanwhile, the processing fee was raised another 400 dollars which Maria could not afford. IILA received assistance from U.S. Congress members Matthew Martinez and Hilda Solis. Finally at the age of 65, Maria's request was honored and she was given a green card. Maria can continue with her new life in the United States on the path to citizenship.
IILA has helped thousands of refugees who have been forced to leave their homelands as refugees start a new life in the United States. Just recent IILA opened a new office for refugees fleeing Iran. IILA helps approximately 100 asylees and refugees a year find jobs. International Institute of Los Angeles recently opened an office in Glendale to help resettle Iranian minorities who are currently being accepted into the US Refugee Resettlement Program.
