Dale Asis

"Behind the facade of Chicago's glistening skyscrapers, neat flowerbeds and affluent neighborhoods that ring the downtown area, lies a sea of segregated immigrant neighborhoods where people do not realize that they face the same problems and issues."
- - Dale Asis, Coalition of African, Asian, European and Latino Immigrants of Illinois

Read the Transcript from July 26, 2002 Leadership Talks Archive

Join Leadership Talks on Friday, July 26 at 1 pm EST for a live, online interview with Dale Asis, Director of the Coalition of African, Asian, European and Latino Immigrants of Illinois (CAAELII), and a 2001 Leadership for a Changing World award recipient. CAAELII is a collaboration of 19 agencies serving immigrants and refugees in Chicago.

About CAAELII

Special Notice: Results of New Nationwide Survey on Post-9/11 INS Activities to Be Announced

After documenting 1,031 instances of Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) cases being lost or delayed – often for years – without cause, Asis and CAAELII organized a successful petition campaign among CAAELII partner agencies and other organizations for INS reform. The petition led to an investigation of the Chicago INS office. CAAELII also advocated for the creation of an Independent Monitoring Board to act as a watchdog group and push for reform at INS. The board is preparing to unveil a comprehensive nationwide survey comparing INS’ service before and after the September 11th tragedy, proving the continued need for systemic change at INS. The board’s proposal is to establish an Ombudsman in the INS at the Department of Justice. The proposed Ombudsman will be a meaningful and independent office designated to receive, compile, and monitor inquiries and complaints.

After September 11, Asis and CAAELII also launched a survey of immigrant attitudes and experiences in the shadow of the terrorist attacks, along with a public service campaign. “Leadership in these trying times is needed but leadership comes in many different forms. Leaders are not only the eloquent spokesperson in front of the TV camera,” Asis said. “Ordinary people willing to speak up, immigrant parents joining their first local school councils, workers joining their first union meeting, new citizens voting for the first time are leaders in their own right - participating in their neighborhood, willing to speak up, wanting to be heard. Here we find the seeds of true leadership and the creation of a just world where immigrants are welcomed and treated fairly.”

Under Asis’s leadership, CAAELII’s partnering immigrant and refugee groups jointly develop curricula, participate in teacher exchanges and work together on common problems that affect immigrants and refugees. CAAELII partner agencies serve the lowest income immigrants and refugees, teaching the basics of U.S. history and civics – knowledge needed to pass the INS examination.

CAAELII also has a technology project that provides computers, Internet access, training and technical assistance to all partner agencies. In 2001, CAALEII was awarded a $100,000 grant from the A.O.L. Foundation, one of only 12 awarded throughout the country, to improve Internet access among immigrants and refugees. CAALEII is currently building a Web site in 11 different languages to help bridge the digital divide. The partnership has also started a traveling computer-training lab using networked laptop computers that will be moved from neighborhood to neighborhood – a far less expensive and more efficient way to teach computing than creating a stationary computer school.

More information on CAAELLI.