Resources of Hope

Anna Rossi already has a full plate, but she just keeps adding to it. On top of practicing employment law for four decades, she is the founder of three nonprofits in the past 10 years. She met with a group of volunteer attorneys at the Order of Malta Pope Francis Legal Clinic on April 1 to discuss how they and their organizations might work in tandem to support the community they both serve. 

 Welcome the Stranger Refugee Support Team (WTS) was founded in February 2016 in the Alameda Deanery to help refugee families resettle in the Alameda area. WTS helps with housing, enrolling in education programs, navigating public transportation and transit to appointments. They also assist with employment, navigating social service networks at all levels and helping develop long term housing plans. 

 WTS helps refugees who have entered the country legally, usually on Special Immigrant Visas (SIV), usually granted to Afghans or Iraqis who assisted the US government. A new Afghan family of five, two parents with three daughters ages 4, 6 and 8, arrived in Alameda at the end of March by way of London and Canada before their SIV came through. 

 WTS’ sister organization, Shelter in Peace (SIP), was established in January 2017 and recognizes that housing in the Bay Area is a major problem. They focus on transitional housing for refugees, immigrants and low-income individuals and families and also raise funds to assist with rental costs. 

 SIP currently has five properties in its portfolio, some leased through the city of Alameda, others made available by private owners that they can offer below market rate to the organization or church sponsoring one of the families that meets their criteria. They furnish the properties “down to the last teaspoon,” according to Rossi and allow families to take anything they want with them when they move to their next housing. Residents may stay for up to one day short of a year but are free to leave before that. 

 SIP sets people up for success. Volunteers check the properties once a month. During the first week of occupancy, a volunteer who speaks the resident’s language will visit to demonstrate the expected standard of cleanliness and to demonstrate how the appliances work. 

 An Afghan family that had successfully resettled in the Sacramento area reached out to WTS for help getting medical treatment for a 7 year old niece still living in Afghanistan who had been born with hip dysplasia. WTS was unable to obtain a visa for the girl to receive medical treatment in the United States. In response, Rossi founded the Irene M Rossi Fund to help children get medical care. They were able to get this little girl to a pediatric surgeon in Pakistan to receive the treatment she needed, and she can now walk. 

 The Order of Malta Pope Francis Legal Clinic seeks to provide free legal consultations with a group of volunteer attorneys to people who don’t have the resources to afford a lawyer. They consult on a wide range of cases including landlord/tenant disputes, immigration, and issues with family trusts to name a few. Their goal is to unburden those who have legal issues and give them hope. The four lawyers meeting with Rossi had a simple question: How can we help? 

 The clinic’s legal expertise will be helpful to the immigrants and refugees who need legal services, especially now, Rossi said. She is also willing to volunteer her legal services and consult on any employment law cases the clinic may receive. 

 In addition, Rossi is always looking for apartments she might be able to add to SIP’s housing inventory. She also asked that they spread awareness about her organizations. “So much of what we do is based on communication and contact,” she said. 

 To learn more about Shelter in Peace, visit https://alamedashelterinpeace.org/ 

 The Order of Malta Pope Francis Legal Clinic is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Each consultation is 30 minutes. Appointments required. Call 510-893-4711 to schedule an appointment. 

 Photo caption: (Left to right) Steve Burke, Greg Schopf, Anna Rossi, Tom Greerty and John Zugnoni