Friday, June 15, 2007

Casa gets $50,000 donation for day labor center

Money is a gift from a Leisure World executive and will come in installments over two years

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Chris Rossi⁄The Gazette
‘‘This is an amazing opportunity to partner with local government and the private sector to assure that our clients get jobs,” Executive Director of Casa de Maryland Gustavo Torres (left) said after Montgomery exec Isiah ‘‘Ike” Legget passed it on from developer Norman Dreyfuss (right) Tuesday at a news conference.
Casa of Maryland has received a $50,000 donation to use at a Montgomery County day laborer center from an area developer impressed with the organization’s work with the immigrant community.

Norman M. Dreyfuss, an executive with the company that developed Leisure World in Silver Spring, said he is impressed with Casa’s work in securing employment for immigrants and the English language classes it hosts.

‘‘If I make a contribution, I like to have it targeted at something that I feel actually gets done,” said Dreyfuss, whose parents immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1937. ‘‘I’ve seen the work they do and the people they are trying to help. I have a big spot in my heart for immigrants that come to this country.”

His personal donation includes $25,000 for use this year, with the remaining $25,000 to be awarded next year.

Gustavo Torres, Casa’s executive director, said Dreyfuss’ donation will help secure more jobs at the Derwood center near Rockville and pay for legal representation for Casa clients.

‘‘This is an amazing opportunity to partner with local government and the private sector to assure that our clients get jobs,” Torres said at a news conference Tuesday in the Executive Office Building in Rockville.

Joining Dreyfuss and Torres was County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) — who thanked Dreyfuss for the contribution — and nine day laborers from the Derwood center.

‘‘[With the additional money] we are going to become more professional in serving the people of Montgomery County,” Mario Ramirez said in Spanish. Torres translated.

Although a status report of the center requested by the Planning Board has not been released, Torres reported 594 jobs were registered at the center during May and 210 jobs through the first 10 days of June.

‘‘Self-sufficiency is our goal, and we are pleased to say we are fulfilling that mission,” he said.

The day labor center, which opened earlier this year, was the culmination of years of debate between the city of Gaithersburg and Montgomery County to find a location for the center. Leggett ended the debate by opening a county-funded temporary day labor center amid criticism from anti-immigration groups that disapprove of using taxpayer money for services for possible illegal immigrants. Casa has maintained that its role is immigrant advocacy and not immigration enforcement. It also operates the day labor center in Wheaton, in space leased from one of Dreyfuss’ companies.

‘‘The government knows how to get things approved and Casa knows how to run it,” Dreyfuss said. ‘‘My monetary contribution is really to the people who have the expertise. I would not have had the patience or the subtlety of Leggett in getting this thing done.

‘‘This community has been good to me and this is my way of giving back a little to the community,” he said.

Dreyfuss is executive vice president of IDI Maryland, a branch of the development firm IDI Group Cos., which builds condominiums in the Washington area. He is also the co-founder of the advocacy group, Affordable Housing Conference in Montgomery County. In addition to his Casa donation, Dreyfuss maintains a scholarship for college students through the Jewish Social Services Agency in Rockville. He is also the executive producer of a soon-to-be-released Spanish-language film, ‘‘La Misma Luna,” or ‘‘The Same Moon,” about an immigrant boy and his mother.

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