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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLib Canal Alliance MOUMemorandum of Understanding Canal Alliance and San Rafael Public Library This is a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") with a term of October 1, 2018 through September 30, 2019. This is an MOU between Canal Alliance ("site leader''), a California nonprofit public benefit corporation and the City of San Rafael and its Public Library ("Affiliate" or "site partner''), a municipal government. This MOU supersedes any prior agreements between the parties. Background The Marin New Americans Campaign ("MNAC") is a consortium of organizations created to lead an innovative and nationally coordinated effort to promote and assist naturalization by eligible lawful permanent residents ("LPRs"). The goals of MNAC are to increase the number of eligible LPRs who apply to become U.S. citizens and increase the capacity and long-term sustainability of nonprofit organizations that provide naturalization assistance to LPRs. The New Americans Campaign ("NAC") participants include national collaborators that are leaders in providing naturalization services ("Collaborators"). Local affiliates that play a pivotal role in implementing of NAC's agenda ("Affiliates"), a site leader and fiscal agent ("Site Leader''), and multiple funders ("Funders"). As Site Leaders, Canal Alliance enters into grant agreements with local Funder, Marin Community Foundation, and sub-grants funds to Affiliates working in local-level naturalization collaborations that provide naturalization services and engage in joint projects in NAC's strategic metropolitan regions ("Sites"). The City of San Rafael and its Public Library is one of the local affiliates. Canal Alliance is the Site Leader for the MNAC. This MOU covers work that Site Leader and Affiliate will do in connection with MNAC. Part I. Qualifications of an Affiliate A Affiliate shall conduct its business and perform its duties pursuant to this MOU in full compliance with all applicable laws, ordinances, rules, and regulations of any government or administrative agency that relate to its activities in respect to the Project Descriptions . B. Affiliate must possess a current and valid federal tax ID number: a. ID# vj4-60004:2'f- C . Affiliate has an office in Marin County. D. Affiliate has the requisite professional knowledge, skill and experience to conduct education/training, eligibility assessment, application assistance, as well as the requisite administrative and fiscal capacity, competency, resources and systems to ensure the effective, efficient and ethical implementation of the MNAC goals, as defined by the Immigration Legal Resource Center (Exhibit A). J-1-3-1-1-8 .•r~•u.; NAL ~rHu E. Affiliate will carry out the roles and responsibilities described in such Project Description (Exhibit 8). F. Affiliate will make best efforts to follow NAG's five guiding principles of collaboration, innovation, impact, diversity, and quality. G. Affiliate will ensure that any other local Affiliates with which it works to carry out tasks specified in this MOU will comply with all applicable conditions, requirements, and restrictions of this MOU and any applicable grant agreements. H. Affiliate will attend regular meetings and will support MNAG's work by working collaboratively with and generally cooperating with the Site Leader and other Affiliates carrying out NAG-related activities. Such collaboration and cooperation may include, whenever appropriate, sharing materials, providing technical assistance, sharing of outreach and information on events; participating in NAG's communication platform; and sharing NAG-related work product that might assist the Site Leader and other Affiliates in furthering MNAG's mission. It may also include access to centralized resources for trainings; referrals for organizations; joint workshops; group processing events; trainings; media events; co-creation of resources; share referrals and cross-referrals; complementing each other's services; and jointly identifying and recruiting other members. Part II. Project Descriptions A. Project activities, funding, and role-specific responsibilities of the Site Leader and Affiliate will be set out in Project Descriptions in the form attached as Exhibit B. In general, Site Leader and Affiliate will prepare and sign a separate Project Description if Site Leader allocates new funds to Affiliate under a new or existing grant agreement. Part Ill. Site Leader A. Site Leader will distribute grant funds to Affiliate in the manner and amount(s) described in each Project Description and will perform any other responsibilities described in such Project Description. B. Site Leader will submit grant applications to Funders, enter into grant agreement with Funders, prepare MOUs with Affiliates, disburse funds to and receive reports from Affiliates, prepare reports to Funders, and serve as NAG's point person and liaison with Funders. Part IV. Communication A. Affiliate will identify two qualified and experienced staff members to represent their organization with the MNAC. B. Site Leader and Affiliate will each appoint an individual to act as the key contact from their respective organizations to coordinate the activities under each Project Description. Such appointees will be identified in the relevant Project Description. Affiliate's appointee will reply to Site Leader's communications, primarily emails, within 2 business days. C. Affiliate will notify Site Leader promptly of; a. Any changes in its status as a nonprofit organization in good standing under its jurisdiction of organization or any loss of its tax-exempt status; b. Any changes in its senior management team or key personnel responsible for carrying out NAC activities; or c. Loss of funding, the filing of litigation, or any other development that has or could have a material adverse effect on its financial condition or otherwise materially affect its ability to carry out its responsibilities under this MOU. Part V. Data Collection, Confidentiality and Reporting A. Affiliate will keep records of its work under this MOU in a manner that will enable the Site Leader to review Affiliate's use of funds and compliance with this MOU, and will make records available for review by Site Leader on reasonable notice. B. Affiliate agrees to complete, update and submit to the Site Leader accurate client and service information. C. Site Leader will merge programmatic, statistical and fiscal data submitted by the Affiliate with similar data collected by other Affiliates and the Site Leader. Site Leader will submit a combined report to ILRC at the frequency requested. Site Leader will share a copy of these reports with each Affiliate. D. Affiliate agrees to permit Site Leader or ILRC to access, examine and audit through inspection or other reasonable means, the quality, appropriateness and timeliness of services claimed under this MOU as well as the validity, accuracy and completeness of records which document and verify services. E. Affiliate and Site Leader will each keep Confidential Information (defined below) only in connection with MNAC activities and will keep it confidential, using at least the same degree of care as the party uses to prevent the unauthorized use or disclosure of its own confidential information. a. Confidential Information means information regarding one party and furnished to the other party that is marked or otherwise identified as "confidential" when it is disclosed. Part VI. Fiscal Matters A. Affiliate will use the funds provided by the Site Leader exclusively for the purposes set out in the relevant Project Descriptions. B. Affiliate will comply with provisions of any grant agreement relevant to the project and deliverables described in a Project Description. The provisions of any such grant agreements are incorporated into this MOU. Affiliate will be bound to Site Leader to the same extent that Site Leader is bound by any grant agreement. C. The Site Leader can and will only disburse to the Affiliate those resources authorized and made available by Marin Community Foundation under the Marin New Americans Campaign grant. D. Affiliate's total projected allocation for the current program year is $8,000.00 E. Full payment is conditional upon successfully completing the Affiliate's individual roles and responsibilities. F. Payment is conditional upon active participation in monthly collaborative meetings, participation in eligibility assessment events (off-site or in-office), and participation in naturalization workshops. G. Site Leader will provide Affiliate with payment on the following dates; a. 50% of payment will be disbursed upon execution from both parties of this MOU b. The remaining 50% of payment will be disbursed on April 1, 2019. Part VII. Termination A Each Party will have the right to terminate this MOU by providing at least a 30-day written notice to the other party. The Site Leader will inform ILRC and Marin Community Foundation of a termination, including the reason, prior to its effective date. If the MOU is terminated by either party, steps will be taken to ensure that the termination does not affect any prior obligation, project or activity already in progress. B. Affiliate agrees that if it ceases to participate in the Project for any reason, all its current time eligible clients will be transferred to the Site Leader to be served by the Site Leader or other Affiliates for the remainder of the Project. C. Termination of this MOU will not affect the Affiliate's membership status within the Marin New Americans Campaign collaborative. The MNAC will develop a separate decision- making process governing the collaborative. tes set forth below. , Executive Director 12 /13 /1~ 1-J-11 Date Date EXHIBIT A § 13.8 What Are Legal Ethics? The standards by which we judge good and bad ways of treating people are called ethics. All attorneys are required to abide by certain ethical standards in the practice of law. State laws and state bar rules govern legal ethics. Each state bar has its own set of ethical rules attorneys must obey, and each state has some mechanism for enforcing these rules. When an attorney breaks an ethical rule, she can be admonished, censured, suspended, or disbarred. One good way to research your state's ethics rules is to contact your state bar association. In addition, the OHS agencies, the immigration courts or BIA also have a set of ethical duties that are found in the regulations at 8 CFR §§ 292.3, 1003.102 and 1292.3 and apply to those appearing before these agencies. These duties apply to all attorneys and any "representatives" authorized in the regulations at 8 CFR §§ 292.1 (a)(2)-(6) & 1292.1 (a)(2)-(6), which includes accredited representatives, law students and law graduates, and reputable individuals. The Department of Justice has stated in its preamble to the rules that the primary purpose of these rules is to protect the public, preserve the integrity of the immigration courts, and to maintain high professional standards . The rules are described in more detail in § 13.13, below. Even persons involved in representation who are not technically covered by the rules need to know about the rules because these are also general rules of conduct that might be enforced in a civil suit for malpractice. Paralegals under the supervision of an attorney must be aware of ethical rules because the attorney could be held responsible for any ethical violations the paralegal makes. These rules do not apply to government attorneys employed by the Department of Justice because these attorneys are subject to a disciplinary system that is run by the Office of Professional Responsibility for the Department of Justice. This department investigates allegations of misconduct against Department of Justice lawyers and judges. 8 CFR § 1003.109. § 13.9 What Other Rules Govern Ethics of Nonlawyers? Aside from the formal ethical rules discussed above, there are laws that ensure that legal workers maintain ethical standards in their practice. Federal law imposes criminal penalties for certain misconduct. For example, a person who advises a client to lie to the OHS, or who lies to the OHS herself, may be found guilty of a federal crime, under 18 USC § 1001. Most ethical questions that you will encounter are not as clear-cut as outright lying to an immigration official. It is these "gray areas" that legal ethics are supposed to help lawyers navigate. In the following sections we will discuss the major areas where legal workers tend to encounter "sticky situations." Working with a group of nonlawyer immigration advocates, the ILRC drafted a sample set of rules for ethical conduct. This "Model Code of Professional Responsibility for Accredited Representatives" is found at Appendix 13-1. This code of ethics does not have the force of law. But it was written to assist nonprofit organizations in formulating their own office policies on issues of ethics and duties to our clients. § 13.10 The Duty of Zealous Representation Many legal workers feel that the most important duty owed to a client is to provide the most vigorous and effective representation possible. This duty is usually included in state Codes of Professional Responsibility and the American Bar Association Model Codes for attorneys. Interestingly, this duty does not appear in the DHS's regulations for the conduct of attorneys and representatives. However, 8 CFR § 1003.102 states, "[n]othing in this regulation should be read to denigrate the practitioner's duty to represent zealously his or her client within the bounds of the law." The preamble to the DOJ rules reinforces this caveat by stating that the rule specifically prohibiting "contumelious or obnoxious conduct" is not "intended to impinge upon a practitioner's zealous representation of his or her client." Arguably, these provisions recognize the duty of a practitioner to represent his or her clients zealously. The duty of zealous representation means that your first loyalty is to your client-and not, for example, to other members of the client's family or others who wish to influence her. It also means that you have a duty to put forward any reasonable arguments on behalf of the client, if it is in the client's best interest to do so. However, a legal worker has other ethical responsibilities that balance this duty. For example, you cannot commit fraud on behalf of the client, and should not put forward "frivolous" (totally worthless) arguments, even if the client wants you to. The line between these sometimes conflicting concerns can be murky. It is important to consult with a more experienced person when you find yourself faced with a difficult situation. § 13.11 The Duty of Competence Being a competent representative means doing a good job for your client. Specifically, it means taking only cases you know you can handle, making sure the work gets done adequately and on time , and not neglecting cases. This duty appears in all of the model codes of professional conduct and state rules governing attorney conduct, for obvious reasons, and is a component of the duty of zealous representation. The DOJ regulations have written into law this duty by providing that a practitioner whom an immigration judge or the BIA finds engages in ineffective assistance of counsel may be subject to disciplinary proceedings. 8 CFR § 1003.102(k). EXHIBIT B 1. Basic Project Data Project Purpose: Site Leader will provide a sub-grant to the Affiliate to participate in naturalization collaborative activities in Marin County and to participate in the Marin New Americans Campaign. Project County: Marin Affiliate: The City of San Rafael Public Library Project start date: October 1, 2018 Project end date: September 30, 2019 Primary contacts at Site Lead org: Viridiana Acosta-Ramirez, Lucia Martel- Dow, Omar Carrera Primary contacts at Affiliate: Joshua Alperin and Alejandra Barrios Maximum disbursement and $8,000.00 contingency: Deliverables: A. Conduct 20 pre-workshop naturalization screenings through Citizenshipworks. B. Support site leader with post workshop follow up for 10 applications. C. Support volunteer and client outreach efforts for NAC workshops. D. Provide support finding and reserving venues for workshops E. Attend at least one 2 hour in- person MNAC workshop planning meeting. F. Have a one-hour phone call check-in once a month with Canal Alliance's Civic Engagement Supervisor. G. Attend one workshop per quarter. H. Support outreach efforts to inform the community about Marin NAC. I. Fulfill duties of the rotating roles within the collaborative to achieve a successful workshop (for more detailed description of the rotating roles see (Exhibit C). NAC-wide required activities: Affiliate will engage in the following NAC- wide required activities and will report at least biannually to the Site Leader about their progress on these activities; a) Communications with other local NAC gartners and site leaders: maintain regular communications with local partners and site leaders to communicate important information relevant to NAC work. b) Site meetings: participate in all in- person MNAC collaboration meetings as well as conference calls. c) Deliverables: use best practices, efficiencies, and innovations to meet, or hopefully exceed, the MNAC MOU deliverables. d) Mobilization: deploy existing resources to implement local activities directed at reaching greater numbers of LPRs than you are currently reaching and motivating LPRs to apply for naturalization and respond to the increased demand for naturalization services. e) Citizenshigworks (CW): Use CW to reach populations that existing service models cannot reach. Reporting Submit Canal Alliance reporting form on April 1st and October 15, 2019 (Enclosed as attachment). EXHIBITC Roles and Responsibilities The following is a description of the roles and responsibilities that are to be executed prior and during every naturalization workshop that the Marin NAC collaborative organizes. Please keep in mind that some roles may rotate amongst Affiliates. Coordinate administrative volunteers: Will keep a master list of all administrative volunteers and will be the main person of contact for the volunteers. The administrative volunteer coordinator will put together a workshop orientation packet to give to the volunteers as well as give the volunteers an orientation the morning of the workshop. During the workshop they will be the main point person for the administrative volunteers and this coordinator will ensure oversee their work and will report back to the MNAC group their observations during the debrief meeting. Coordinate equipment and IT (rotating): Will be in charge of securing printers and laptops for the event. This person will also add the immigration forms in PDF form to all laptops that will be used during the workshop. This coordinator will be responsible to respond to any equipment malfunction and have a back-up plan in case some of the equipment fails. This coordinator can have an I. T. volunteer to help them with this task, but then this coordinator will be responsible to oversee their work. During the workshop this coordinator will oversee the IT coordination and will respond to any issues. They must also ensure that all equipment be returned to their respective owners at the end of the workshop. Coordinate form/legal volunteers: Will be in charge of "Quality Control/Legal Review" the day of the workshop. Will also help recruit these volunteers as well as provide training prior to the workshop day. Coordinate lawyers: Will be in charge of "Quality Control/Legal Review" the day of the workshop. Can work with the Marin Pro Bono Network to help recruit pro bone attorneys. Will also help recruit these volunteers as well as provide training prior to the workshop day. Coordinate outreach (including press): This role requires more than one person. The group will make sure that all the partners have done their part to outreach to the community about the workshop. They will report back to the group to inform us of the group's outreach efforts. Coordinate supplies and food: This person will be in charge of obtaining the necessary supplies in order to have a successful workshop and food for volunteers. The supplies should be purchased in advance and ready for set-up the day before the event. Coordinate venue {rotating): This coordinator knows who the person of contact is at the venue for any logistics needed leading up to the event and the day of the event. This person will be in charge of venue logistics the day of the workshop. Coordinate with Marin County Health and Humans Services: This partner will be in charge of contacting a HHS employee from the County of Marin and invite them to participate at our workshop. We need this station to help our fee waiver station. This coordinator will also be in charge of this station the day of the workshop. This coordinator will provide a sample letter that the DHHS employee must draft for all clients. Follow up with client {legal): This can be a shared role. These coordinators will divide the applications after the workshop and they will individually be responsible for reviewing all the forms and meeting with applicants individually if they need more time to finish preparing their forms. Manage workshop {rotating): This person will run the operation the day of the workshop. The manager will assign tasks to the planning committee and to the volunteers the day of the event. The workshop manager should be very familiar with workshop logistics and flow. Pre-screen clients: This can be a shared role. The main purpose of this role is to ensure that all workshop participants are properly screened for naturalization. This is to ensure the quality of our workshop. Take photos: This coordinator will find volunteers to take photos the day of the event and will share them on the Marin NAC's social media pages for further advertisement. They will also be responsible for distributing and ensuring that all applicants and volunteers that attend the event have signed a photo release agreement. CONTRACT ROUTING FORM INSTRUCTIONS: Use this cover sheet to circulate all contracts for review and approval in the order shown below. TO BE COMPLETED BY INITIATING DEPARTMENT PROJECT MANAGER: Contracting Department: Library Project Manager: Henry Bankhead Extension: 3436 Contractor Name: Canal Alliance Contractor's Contact: Lucia Martel-Dow Contact's Email: LuciaM@canalalliance.org □ FPPC: Check if Contractor/Consultant must file Form 700 Step RESPONSIBLE DESCRIPTION DEPARTMENT 1 Project Manager a. Email PINS Introductory Notice to Contractor b. Email contract (in Word) & attachments to City Atty c/o Laraine.Gittens@cityofsanrafael.org 2 City Attorney a. Review, revise, and comment on draft agreement and return to Project Manager b. Confirm insurance requirements, create Job on PINS, send PINS insurance notice to contractor 3 Project Manager Forward three (3) originals of final agreement to contractor for their signature 4 Project Manager When necessary, * contractor-signed agreement agendized for Council approval *PSA > $20,000; or Purchase> $35,000; or Public Works Contract> $125,000 Date of Council approval PRINT CONTINUE ROUTING PROCESS WITH HARD COPY 5 Project Manager Forward signed original agreements to City Attorney with printed copy of this routing form 6 City Attorney Review and approve hard copy of signed agreement 7 City Attorney Review and approve insurance in PINS, and bonds (for Public Works Contracts) 8 City Manager/ Mayor Agreement executed by Council authorized official 9 City Clerk Attest signatures, retains original agreement and forwards copies to Project Manager tf-~-l-1-8 COMPLETED DATE NA 12/6/2018 12/6/2018 Click here to enter a date. □ Or NA [?/j)lf{l f n' tl- I Y/(1 I , N\~ REVIEWER Check/Initial □ ~ l8l LMM - On/a LMM □ □ (JJlu L n{~ rJ ~ ~~