Irish Diaspora Center

“The form 990 is reviewed by the executive director and treasurer. The form 990 is then provided to the board of directors for review prior to filing.”

“The organization makes its governing documents, conflict of interest policy and financial statements available to the public upon request.”

“The mission of the irish diaspora center is to strengthen our heritage by providing the irish diaspora in the greater philadelphia area with consular, immigration and community-building social services. Our community welfare program encompasses five main focuses: immigration, consular services (crisis management), senior services, youth programs, and mental health services. The irish diaspora center's (idc) immigration services consist of legal consultations with licensed immigration attorneys who volunteer their services to the community. Every other monday, clients discuss more complicated legal issues related to u.s. Immigration with the attorney. From there, the staff of the idc follow up with the required applications, or the matter is referred to an attorney for further needs. Our immigration program includes helping those in need of legal consultations, citizenship applications, permanent resident applications, temporary protected status applications, and deferred action for childhood arrival applications. One hundred percent of the clients report having had their questions answered and feel more confident in their application. Through our immigration program, we served 143 individuals. Our office is often the first call in a crisis situation for irish citizens living in or visiting the philadelphia area in the u.s. This year has seen an increase in the number of crisis cases, including some that required a tremendous number of staff hours. We have helped irish citizens who have experienced domestic violence, medical emergencies, deportation crises, and family crises both in the u.s. And in ireland. In addition to the crisis management of consular services, the idc also serves as a resource for those seeking an irish passport or foreign birth registration. The online application systems for both are difficult or intimidating for many people to manage. The idc helped 388 people through the process. Our senior program (silver to gold) serves free lunch three to four wednesdays a month and offers two monthly genealogy classes. In the 2024 fiscal year, served 2,220 lunches, hosted twelve trivia games, called twelve bingo games, and welcomed five guest speakers/entertainers with topics like safety for seniors, intergenerational programming, a guitar concert, and irish dancing. On average, we see 45-50 seniors at lunch each week. The idea program has secured 14 scholarships between dublin city university and the university of galway for u.s.-based irish diaspora students to study for four years of university in ireland. This year, to date, we have seen ten students express interest in the programs. The mental health programs we offer include wellness courses, awareness projects, and counselling referrals. One hundred five individuals have specifically reached out to seek guidance and referrals to mental health services for issues of addiction, depression, suicidality, family matters, and more. Our community raised a small pool of funds to help offset the cost of counselling and to encourage those in need to start seeking help. Through an evaluation of local and national community needs, this is the area we see requiring more resources in the future.”