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Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Advancement seeks more funding as demand outstrips grants and consultation capacity
Summary
At an April 28 Ways and Means hearing, Monique Nguyen, executive director of the Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Advancement, said demand for ESOL classes, legal help and mental‑health supports far exceeds available grant dollars and staff capacity, with multi‑month wait lists for consultations and major unfunded grant requests.
Monique Nguyen, executive director of the Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Advancement (MOIA), told the Boston City Council Committee on Ways and Means on April 28 that demand for English learning, legal assistance and mental‑health services for immigrants has surged and that MOIA’s current grant funding covers only a fraction of requests.
Nguyen said MOIA distributed about $2,100,000 in grants to more than 100 nonprofits in the past fiscal year and coordinated more than 900 free immigration consultations, but offices remain over capacity: “We have a 2 month long wait list for our immigration consultations.”
The office told the council it served 375 residents who applied for citizenship at a recent citizenship day, helped more than 100 participants graduate from a Boston multilingual cohort, served 626 youth in the last year, and responded to more than 3,500 constituent inquiries. Nguyen said MOIA recently received 41 grant applications requesting a combined total of roughly $3,200,000 for legal access, and 49 ESOL grant requests totaling about $3,500,000. MOIA was able to fund approximately $700,000 for legal access grants and $500,000 for ESOL this year, the presentation said.
Why it matters: councilors pressed MOIA about the shortfall in ESOL funding and legal services as immigration‑related federal policy shifts increase local demand. Councilor Flynn emphasized the need to hire more Cantonese‑speaking staff to serve seniors in Chinatown who “only speak Cantonese,” and other councilors urged greater coordination with philanthropy and neighborhood providers.
Nguyen described MOIA’s FY26 program priorities as economic mobility and workforce development, strengthening immigrant communities, and community well‑being and mental health. She said MOIA is expanding nonclinical community well‑being supports and trauma‑informed practices for community‑based organizations.
Council members and MOIA staff discussed practical steps to stretch resources, including using public library capacity for ESOL classes and coordinating with philanthropy to raise additional funds. A public witness, Franklin Peralta of English for New Bostonians, urged the council to level‑fund ESOL at $500,000 in FY26 so that classes now funded through December could continue.
Discussion versus action: the hearing recorded discussion and budget requests; no formal votes or budget allocations were taken at the session. Staff and councilors agreed to continue the budget review process through June and to pursue partnerships to increase ESOL and legal services capacity.
Ending: the council hearing continues through June; presenters asked residents and nonprofit partners to use the city’s budget testimony channels to provide further input and to share data on community needs so allocations can be targeted.
