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Dear Friends,
I became the Executive Director of ILCM almost 50 years to the day after my father immigrated to the United States and began our family's story in this country.
This week, I realized that I will be leaving this once-in-a-lifetime role 50 years after my mother left India, joined my father in the Twin Cities, and began the next chapter, their story together.
That these personal anniversaries coincide with the bookends of my time at ILCM is apropos because family--the one you are born into, one that chooses you, and the one you choose--is at the heart of ILCM.
Leaving ILCM is bittersweet. I am thrilled to become a judge and to ensure justice for all, but I am sad to leave this vibrant community. LINK: [link removed]
At the same time, I leave with great confidence and eager anticipation for the future of ILCM, with a talented and committed staff, volunteers, and board.
Most importantly, though, there is no one better than Jenny Stohl Powell to lead ILCM through this transition. Jenny has been a leader in our immigration legal services ecosystem for over twenty-five years and is an expert in immigration law and nonprofit administration. Those of you who--like me--have been lucky enough to work with Jenny know she is so much more. She is calm, thoughtful, supportive, compassionate, and dedicated. In short, she's the attorney any client would want, the supervisor every staff member wants, and the legal director every executive director dreams of. With Jenny as the Interim Executive Director, ILCM is in the best of hands.
I thank you for the privilege of stewarding ILCM for the last five years, and I look forward to joining all of you as a champion of the organization for years to come.
With gratitude,
Veena Iyer
The Board is proud of how ILCM has thrived with Veena as executive director and is grateful to Veena for her dedicated leadership. Her leadership has extended through her final weeks and days with ILCM, as she's supported Board Members and senior staff to smoothly launch our Search process to find ILCM's next Executive Director.
Though it is sad to see her go, it is exciting to see Veena take this next step in her professional career, and we look forward to seeing her serve the people of Minnesota as a judge.
- Sarah Radosevich, ILCM Board of Directors Chair
Dear Friends,
As Veena mentioned, I will be serving as ILCM Interim Executive Director starting next week. I'm thrilled to be able to lead the organization through this period and along with all the ILCM staff, continue the momentum set forth by Veena and other leaders throughout the past three decades. As Legal Director at ILCM for the past six years, I've seen firsthand how dedicated and compassionate our staff are in finding every possible option for a pathway to citizenship or legal status for our clients. ILCM has always been most effective because of the sum of our parts. To achieve our bold mission, it takes all of us.
For the remainder of the year, we look forward to continuing to partner with other organizations and funders to make the immigration process and access to resources better for immigrants and refugees in Minnesota and North Dakota. We'll be focusing on:
- expanding on efforts to coordinate intake processes across legal aid organizations and lessening the burden on clients to find the resources they need,
- partnering with local law firms on pro bono cases and innovative approaches to limited representation,
- ensuring ILCM staff have the resources and support they need to continue to excel,
- and of course, continuing our flagship work of providing free immigration legal representation to low-income immigrants and refugees, educating on immigration issues, and advocating for policies that protect the universal human rights of immigrants.
It's been an honor to work with you all as Legal Director and I look forward to working with you all in this new leadership capacity.
In solidarity,
Jenny Stohl Powell
ILCM Summer Celebration
Join us as we come together to honor the resilience of our immigrant and refugee communities. The evening will truly be a celebration with immigrant-owned food trucks and a live program filled with ILCM updates and testimonials of the life-changing work made possible by people like you.
Please RSVP by July 8th to secure your spot at this special event. We encourage you to extend this invitation to your colleagues, friends, and allies who share our commitment to immigrants and refugee rights.
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