In the latest episode of Moving Forward, Giving Back we look at the state of immigration and the plight of today's immigrants through the lens of three Life Sciences Cares’ nonprofit partners. From Boston to Philadelphia to San Diego, each of these organizations is doing incredible work to support and help thousands of immigrant families in their journey to find their place in the United States, a land of opportunity and possibility for so many.

The podcast begins with Larry Seamans, the President of FamilyAid Boston, which is the city’s largest organization solely dedicated to children and parents facing homelessness, providing prevention services, emergency shelter, housing placement and support, and comprehensive case management to thousands of families each year.

Larry and Sarah touch on a number of important issues including the impact of COVID four years later, innovation in immigration services and the impact of the current immigration surge on families and especially young children.

Based in Philadelphia, Cathy Jeong is the Director of Survivor Services for the Nationalities Services Center (NSC), which provides comprehensive services to immigrants and refugees, including free or low-cost legal protections, community integration, access to health and wellness services, and ESL classes.

Cathy talks with Sarah about the role of NSC and Life Science Cares in serving the most vulnerable populations in our communities, as well as the plight of unaccompanied minors and the support available to help them on their journey to safety here in the United States. 

To end the episode, we sit down with Anchi Mei is the Founder and Executive Director of MAKE Projects. which stands for Merging Agriculture, Kitchens and Employment. Located in San Diego, the employment social enterprise operates an urban farm, restaurant, and events/catering company to provide a paid, real-world work experience for low-income refugee and immigrant women and youth.

Sarah and Anchi cover a number of relevant topics including the importance of early employment in our pluralistic society and how a social enterprise organization is ideally positioned to help immigrants successfully integrate into their communities through a combination of work and language training.

For more about the impactful work that Life Sciences Cares is doing with our nonprofit partners please visit our website at lifesciencescares.org.