Sometimes the work begins with a simple question:

What would it take to serve people we aren't reaching today?

At one point, The Immigration Project had an opportunity to develop a new model for representing unaccompanied immigrant children in detention. There was a clear need, but no existing program to build from.

Creating the program meant starting with the service model and working outward.

What would representation look like? What staff would be needed? How would they be supervised? What infrastructure would support the work? What funding would make it possible? How would a new program fit within an existing organization?

The result was TIP's first detained representation program for unaccompanied immigrant children.

The program secured approximately $5 million in grant funding over five years and developed the staffing, operational structure, and systems needed to turn that funding into an ongoing service.

What we built

• A new legal service model

• Program and staffing structures

• Funding strategy and implementation

• Supervision and operational infrastructure

• New organizational capacity to meet an emerging need

What this taught us

A new program doesn't exist in isolation. Building the service means building the organizational capacity around it.