It’s been a busy month at IIA with celebrations, welcoming new staff, and helping refugees and immigrants call Akron home. We’re excited to share our updates for July with you below!

Welcome to the Team: Lah Shee, Susan, and Eva!

Over the last couple of months, IIA has welcomed three new staff members, including Lah Shee Soe and Susan Mills-Martinez!

Lah Shee Soe began working at IIA as a refugee resettlement case manager in May of 2023. She is thrilled to begin helping people from other countries, because she understands first-hand the experience refugees go through upon arriving in their new communities.

Lah Shee was born in Myanmar before her family was forced to flee to Thailand and lived in a refugee camp for 14 years. At the age of 20, Lah Shee and her family were resettled in Minnesota, where he began working community support specialist and later as a benefits coordinator for refugees. Lah Shee moved to Akron in December of 2022 after getting married. Her previous work in Minnesota helped her transition into her new role at IIA where Lah Shee hopes to help others and meet new people in her community.

Susan Mills-Martinez began working at IIA in July of 2023 as a staff attorney. In her new role, she will represent clients in their immigration cases across all practice areas we handle: court, removal, affirmative petitions for adjustment of status and other family-based petitions, DACA renewals and applications, asylum, and naturalization. Before working at IIA, Susan worked as an attorney at a law firm in Chicago focusing on immigration.

Susan has dreamed of working at IIA since she learned about the organization nearly ten years ago, because there are few organizations in the area quite like it. She believes all Immigrants deserve good representation, good attorneys, and knowledgeable persons in the practice area, as immigration law is complicated and ever-changing.

Joining IIA meant returning to Akron, where she previously graduated from law school; however, it was an opportunity for her husband that brought them here. Her husband owns El Meson, a delicious Mexican restaurant in Cuyahoga Falls.

Susan is bi-lingual, so she’s incredibly excited to work with Spanish-speaking clients and help them along in their legal journeys. She looks forward to helping our clients, going to court to represent clients, and showing them their legal options.

Annual Report

We are thrilled to announce that our 2022 Annual Report is now available at www.iiakron.org/annual-reports! Be sure to check out all of the outstanding work the IIA staff completed in 2022.

Intern Appreciation Lunch!

Friday, July 28, IIA staff celebrated our incredible Summer interns with lunch from Aladdin’s! We could not do our important work in the refugee and immigrant communities without the hard work of our interns and volunteers. We are so grateful, and they will be very missed!

Staff Training – Self Care

Last month, IIA staff participated in our second trauma-informed care training. The presentation focused on how our staff can take better care of themselves so they don’t experience fatigue and burnout. This included tips on sleep, diet, mindfulness, and social connection.

Thank you to Michelle Kriedler for sharing your expertise with IIA!

Donations

We are currently seeking for donations to support our efforts in assisting refugees and immigrants in integrating into their new communities.

If you can donate anything on the list of needs below, please contact, donated.goods@iiakron.org

Current Needs:

Big pots

Pans
Lightbulbs
Twin-size blankets
Twin-size sheets
Toilet paper
Laundry detergent
Pillows

If you are interested in donating monetarily to support IIA’s work in the refugee and immigrant communities, please visit: https://iiakron.charityproud.org/Donate

IIA is Hiring!

IIA is excited to announce that we are currently seeking to fill multiple positions at our agency. If you are interested in applying for any of these opportunities or wish to learn more about them, visit our website at www.iiakron.org/join-our-team.

We encourage all qualified candidates to apply and look forward to hearing from you!

Thanks for staying up to date on everything IIA, and we look forward to sharing more information soon!