Defensa Comunitaria is a program that builds, sustains, and adapts infrastructure to respond to the needs of our community. The components of this infrastructure include:
Consulta Tu Compa
Linea Comunitaria
Rapid Response Network
Defensa Comunitaria actively collaborates and networks with other grassroots organizations, agencies, and institutions to ensure increased impact and effectiveness of CIMA’s work.
Defensa Comunitaria actively builds trusting relationships with community members, and is centered on the belief that community members are experts in their lives and that all people deserve access and justice.
Defensa
Comunitaria
Consulta tu Compa
Consulta Tu Compa works to provide one-on-one support to community members, and is often the first point of contact that community members have with our organization. Consulta provides resource and referral, advocacy, and accompaniment with community members to resolve their needs, including housing instability, financial crisis, and wage theft. Consulta provides one-on-one support, and also works to identify patterns to bring community members together to seek collective solutions to complex problems. Consulta has open office hours, and also offers appointments outside of office hours.
Linea Comunitaria
Linea Comunitaria is a 24-hour hotline that community members can call when there is a crisis. While the hotline is focused on providing support surrounding law enforcement and ICE presence in our communities, community members often call with a variety of needs. If the call is better suited for Consulta support, the Linea refers them to Consulta staff. If the call is around a polimigra rapid response need, the Linea activates the Verifiers to respond.
Rapid Response Network
Rapid Response Network is a coordinated network of volunteers who add capacity to CIMA staff in order to best respond to community members’ needs. These volunteers may be activated by Consulta to provide direct support, or by the Linea to respond to law enforcement or ICE activity.