Press release from Pisgah Legal Services:
WHAT: Pisgah Legal Services’ 9th Annual Justice Forum (formerly known as the Poverty Forum)
WHERE: Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, US Cellular Center, Asheville
WHEN: October 3, 2019
Advance Reception: 5:30pm; Forum: 7:00pm
Tickets to the Reception are $60/person. For the first time, tickets to the Forum will be free and open to the public. Advance registration is required.
Registration and ticket sales begin August 15th
Sponsorship opportunities are available now. Contact Ally Wilson: 210-3444.
WHO: Jose Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and a leading voice for the human rights of immigrants. He is the Founder and CEO of Define American, the nation’s leading nonprofit media organization that fights injustice and anti-immigrant hate through the power of storytelling. Mr. Vargas shares details of his journey to American from the Philippines as a child and his journey through the U.S. as an immigration reform activist. He has been called the most famous undocumented immigrant in America.
In 2011 The New York Times published his groundbreaking essay revealing and chronicling his life in America as an undocumented immigrant. A year later, he appeared on the cover of TIME magazine worldwide with fellow undocumented immigrants in a follow-up cover story.
Mr. Vargas then produced and directed Documented, a feature film about his personal experiences. The film received a 2015 NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Documentary. He published a best-selling memoir in 2018 called Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen.
Since 1978, Pisgah Legal Services has helped low-income people meet their basic needs, such as protection from domestic violence, avoiding homelessness, finding safe housing, accessing health care and increasing income. The nonprofit’s main service area includes eight counties in WNC, with offices in Asheville, Brevard, Hendersonville, Marshall, Spindale and Rutherfordton.
This is the ninth year Pisgah Legal Services has hosted this event, formerly known as the Poverty Forum, to draw attention to the plight of low-income people in Western North Carolina and to elevate the conversation about pressing local and national issues. This year’s Forum focuses on the challenges faced by area immigrants and the work that Pisgah Legal Services does to help immigrant families and individuals.
For more information about the event, call Ally Wilson at Pisgah Legal Services at 828-210-3444 or visit www.pisgahlegal.org.
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