Make the Road New York
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Respect for LGBTQ New Yorkers
MRNY combats institutional homophobia, transphobia, job discrimination, hate crimes, and harassment, while promoting LGBTQ inclusion and expression. We have:

  • Educated 8,500 high school students with our Safe Schools LGBTQ awareness and anti-bullying curriculum.

  • Led community reconciliation and education initiatives after homophobic and anti-immigrant hate crimes.

  • Fought systematic LGBTQ discrimination at major retailers, winning a landmark campaign to ensure equal opportunities for transgender employees at American Eagle Outfitters.

  • 2012 SPOTLIGHT: MRNY brought national attention to the harmful impact of the NYPD's stop-and-frisk tactics on transgender New Yorkers and trained 1,600+ youth and LGBTQ community members about their rights when stopped by the police.

Citizenship and Civic Engagement
MRNY connects disenfranchised communities into our democracy, increasing electoral participation through voter registration, education, and year-round, nonpartisan civic engagement activities. We have:

  • Helped 12,000 immigrants become citizens through classes, test prep, and application assistance.

  • Registered 20,000 immigrant, Latino, and African American voters.

  • Educated and mobilized 55,000 voters in local and national elections.

  • 2012 SPOTLIGHT: MRNY mobilized 20,000 new voters on Election Day as part of our new Campaign for Respect & Dignity, after registering 12,000 voters of color in NYC and Long Island and, with the Center for Popular Democracy, an additional 7,000 in Pennsylvania.

Safe Communities
MRNY works to ensure that immigrants, people of color and LGBTQ New Yorkers do not have to live in fear of police targeting, deportation, or discrimination. We have:

  • Prevented thousands of deportations and family separations each year, through policy change and direct representation.

  • Worked with national allies to win "Deferred Action" to grant work permits to 1.5 million undocumented youth.

  • Helped build a citywide coalition to end the NYPD's discriminatory stop-and-frisk policies.

  • 2012 SPOTLIGHT: MRNY launched an immigration law practice serving thousands with Deferred Action applications and hundreds more with deportation defense, permanent lawful status, and immigrant services fraud prevention. (Check out our Guide for Immigrant Youth at www.respectanddignity.org/dream)

Expanding Civil Rights | Promoting Health | Improving Housing
Winning Workplace Justice | Improving Public Education | Empowering Youth


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Victory for Immigrant Families: Preventing Unjust Deportations in NYC

On March 18, 2013, Mayor Bloomberg signed new legislation to stop federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from using NYC’s criminal justice system to deport thousands of New Yorkers.

Building on legislation we helped to win just over a year ago, Local Laws 21 and 22 prohibit not only the Department of Correction but now also the NYPD from spending millions of city taxpayer dollars to hold individuals on behalf of ICE agents for detention and deportation. Each year, thousands of New York families will stay together who would otherwise have been torn apart by overly aggressive, indiscriminate immigration enforcement.

At a moment when the country is debating immigration reform, with these laws, New York City sends a clear message to Washington that tearing apart thousands of immigrant families is bad policy.

With your support, we look forward to winning national reform that keeps families together. We thank our partners at the Center for Popular Democracy, the Cardozo Immigration Justice Clinic and the bills’ sponsors, NYC Council Speaker Quinn and Council Member Mark-Viverito, for their courageous leadership.