Boston Council Panel Advances $200,000 Immigrant Legal Services Grant to Full Vote

BOSTON — July 30, 2025 — Boston City Council panel advances $200,000 Boston Foundation grant for immigrant legal services. The Committee on Civil Rights, Racial Equity and Immigrant Advancement, chaired by Councilor Benjamin J. Weber, held a July 30 hearing on Docket 0890, which would allow the city to accept and expend the funds through the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Advancement. The $200,000 was folded into MOYA's existing $700,000 grant pool, bringing the total fiscal year 2025 immigration legal access grant program to $900,000 across 20 funded organizations selected from 41 applications. MOYA Executive Director Monique Wen told councilors the office is trying to deploy roughly $1 million this year for legal access alone, even as officials acknowledged no private philanthropic fund equivalent to the 2017-era Greater Boston Immigrant Defense Fund currently exists. Council President Ruthzee Louijeune called current resources "barely scratching the surface of the need." Weber said he intends to bring the docket to a full Council vote as early as the week of August 4.