Starting with the Puritans who gathered in 1630 to found Dorchester and the First Parish Church congregation, our neighborhood has been home to immigrants and their descendants from nearly every nation on the earth for almost 400 years.

In November 2014, President Obama announced executive actions on immigration that included an expansion of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and the creation of DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents). This move represented a giant step forward to keep immigrant families together and allow those who qualify to receive a work permit and a driver’s license.

Sadly, in mid-May, a federal judge issued a temporary order delaying the implementation of the executive actions on immigration indefinitely. Expanded DACA and DAPA applications are not being accepted until further notice. Applications will be available sometime, but no date has yet been set.

Meanwhile dozens of nonprofit agencies and immigrant organizations led by the Mayor’s Office for New Bostonians are scrambling to offer immigration clinics to help immigrant residents make sure they are eligible and also assist in the preparing of the documents they need to apply for a work permit and protection from deportation when applications become available.

Just last Sunday morning, Courtney Snegroff of the Mayor’s Office for New Bostonians reported on social media about the “incredible DACA/DAPA screening clinic that we organized in East Boston today with 150 volunteers and 340 participants! La comunidad esta lista. [The community is ready.] Now we just need the judges to do the right thing for all of these families. And until then we will not stop organizing and educating.”

The upcoming (Fri., June 5) session of the Dorchester Civic Forum, a monthly civic educational series co-sponsored by Bowdoin Geneva Residents Association and First Parish Dorchester, will focus on some of the issues facing our immigrant neighbors. We will do our best to explain DACA and DAPA and the difficulties presented to thousands of families by the court challenges to the president’s proposed reforms and discuss ways we all can help to delay/ stop deportation and keep families together.

There will also be short presentations from local organizations that help immigrant individuals and families get settled, learn English, apply for work permits, and eventually enroll in citizenship classes. Cape Verdean Community Unido and Haitian-Americans United and representatives from MIRA (the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition) will speak about other important pending legislation that would stabilize Immigrant families and support their full integration in America.

Finally, attendees will hear about ways volunteers can offer their time and talent to some of our most recent immigrant families, all of whom contribute to the rich culture of Dorchester, including newcomers from the European Union, Cape Verde and continental Africa, China and other East Asian nations, Vietnam and other parts of Southeast Asia, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and many other Caribbean islands, Central and South American nations, as well as Mexico.

Consistent with the goals of the Dorchester Civic Forum the evening will focus on grassroots, resident driven solutions – specific ways to support and mentor individual immigrants and families, concrete ways to volunteer at immigrant service organizations offering ESL and citizenship classes, and many ways to use your political capital to influence the policy making process on behalf of immigrants (city, state, and federal) and effect positive change that strengthens our neighborhoods, our city, our commonwealth.

We also will be inviting the Mayor’s Office of New Bostonians to hold its next DACA/DAPA screening clinic right here in Dorchester with our help and support. Please join us!

The June 5 Dorchester Civic Forum on our immigrant neighbors is presented in partnership by First Parish Dorchester and the Bowdoin Geneva Residents Association. It meets the first Friday of every month at 7 p.m. in the historic Meeting House Hall at 10 Parish St. There is no admission fee and coffee and tea will be provided. A plate of snacks is welcome from those who can provide it. The Forum will end promptly at 9 p.m.