Community wellbeing
“These healing circles are healing in the mere fact that people are surrounded by folks with shared experiences. It is empowering and healing to be with people who make you feel comfortable and allow you to share about your experience. Feeling like you belong. It feels like a fellowship, it feels like a family, it feels liberating and it motivates you to keep fighting for those who are still detained.”
– Jesús Ruiz, Organizer, Pangea
what is Community wellbeing?
Organizations in the Justice Power network recognize that community wellbeing is vital to their work. Immigrants cannot adequately know, use, and shape the law if their physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing are not protected. Wellbeing programs, ranging from mental health awareness workshops to cash assistance for food, ensure that immigrants are treated as whole human beings. Such programs lead to sustained engagement between communities and organizations, allowing for realization of the cycle of legal empowerment.
The immigration system is violent, and often makes immigrants relive their traumas to achieve legal victories or policy change. Wellbeing tools can help immigrants maintain control of their narratives and power. They can also equip community members with mechanisms to cope with the stress of balancing immigration cases, and family and work obligations. Attending Know Your Rights programs, pro se legal clinic appointments, or campaign and litigation strategy meetings can take time away from work or childcare. Wellbeing initiatives can help ease this calculus and permit communities to be a key part of important conversations.
Community wellbeing benefits service providers. The violence of immigration laws also falls on service providers. Many service providers, whether organizers or lawyers, come from justice-impacted communities. Many experience vicarious trauma and burnout. Service providers manage large caseloads and are expected to respond quickly to the ever-changing landscape of U.S. immigration policy. Because of the oppressive and complex nature of the immigration system, sometimes service providers carry out other roles like those of social workers. Wellbeing resources for service providers treat them as whole human beings who can do their important work in a sustained, healthy, and responsive manner.
Community wellbeing in action
ORANGE COUNTY JUSTICE FUND (ocjf)
At the core of legal empowerment is an ethic of care that recognizes the importance of community well-being. At the OCJF, this looks like fostering a safe space for the community to gather, connect, and heal collectively. Cafetico Contigo is a 6-month healing program led by women impacted by incarceration and immigration detention. The program is being evaluated and restructured following the second cohort – a necessary step in the successful implementation of any community-based program.
Pangea legal services
Jesús Ruiz, an organizer at Pangea, was one of Pangea’s first clients and on Pangea’s board for 6 years before becoming a staff member. He shares, “We feel that being undocumented is not always something people say with pride, I know that’s how I felt growing up. The hardest part of being in ICE detention is not having a release date. Most people who come to us have been in the U.S. for many years. You see a lot when you are in detention. In private detention you get mistreated, sexually assaulted by guards, some of the folks we work with participate in hunger strikes and their bodies are deprived of nutrients. There are not many people who can relate to this experience.”
Pangea strives, as a community, to take care of each other. Pangea therefore offers more than just legal services. Pangea and Colibrí Collective launched an innovative four-month long Healing Justice program for members of the community who were formerly detained by ICE and their family members to come together in a held space to meet others navigating shame/stigma, grief/re-building, and trust/accountability. Participants use art to process these topics and break bread together.
undocublack network
As a member-based organization, UndocuBlack sees its members and staff as part of a community. It creates programming based on member requests that not only address material needs but support members in building full thriving lives. It has a Mental Wellness Initiative that addresses community trauma and grounds community to combat the isolation of undocumented status. Community wellbeing is central to all of UndocuBlack’s programs because “happiness does not stop at getting papers.”
Community wellbeing intersects with UndocuBlack’s campaigns. When community members interact with legislators and have to lobby for their rights and dignity, UndocuBlack includes aftercare as part of the campaign process. UndocuBlack sends care baskets and provides various forms of financial support to its members through its rapid response assistance request program. UndocuBlack understands that financial stability is part of wellness. The Alive & Wellness Discussion Series curriculum leans into Black Indigenous traditional healing practices. UndocuBlack understands the toll this work can take on its staff, who are directly impacted by the various issues about which they advocate. With unlimited sick days, mental health days, and a four day work week, it prioritizes the wellbeing of its team members.
Read More
In moments of political crisis, UndocuBlack enacts a blackout for the whole community. For example, on January 6, 2021, before UndocuBlack closed its offices, staff called each member living in D.C. to check in on them and ordered Ubers so they could get home safely.
Looking to the future, UndocuBlack continues to expand its Community Wellness, policy and advocacy, and narrative and media initiatives by equipping members with practical resources to navigate life beyond legal barriers. From drivers license assistance, communication and storytelling training, to Advance Parole fellowships, UndocuBlack’s goal is to empower and uplift its community, amplifying stories of resilience and Black joy.
