Dear Friends:
Our highest priority is the health, safety, and well-being of our clients and community.
In response to the COVID-19 public health crisis, effective today, the International Institute of New England suspended most on-site services and moved to remote work plans for most staff.
The plan applies to all three of our offices – Boston, Lowell, and Manchester, NH – and will continue until Friday, March 20, when we will reassess and determine when we can return to on-site services.
Our staff has been in contact by phone with nearly all our clients to ensure they are receiving the support they need at this time. We developed remote work plans and systems to provide continuous support to our clients.
We are continuing to receive and support arriving refugees at the Manchester and Boston airports, to provide immigration legal services to clients with urgent matters before the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and to provide interpretation and translation services.
We are reassuring anxious families, working in many languages to provide critical information and updates, and identifying emergency resources for those whose employment and basic needs resources are impacted by this crisis.
This is uncharted territory for everyone, but the flexibility of our IINE’s staff and the resiliency of our students and clients is reaffirming and reassuring.
This is a moment when all of us need to support our neighbors, friends, and families, as well as take care of our health and well-being.
Thank you for all you do for refugees and immigrants. Please take care of yourself and your family, and stay tuned for further updates.
Sincerely,
Jeff Thielman
President & CEO
