Causes: Ethnic & Immigrant Centers, Human Services, Immigration

Mission: Luminus empowers New Americans by providing programs and direct services to help them achieve their goals and/or access community resources and opportunities.

Target demographics: Immigrants and refugees.

Geographic areas served: Maryland

Programs: Luminus acts to empower New Americans by providing programs and direct services to help them achieve their goals and access community resources/opportunities. In recent years, this empowerment occurred through the offering of legal, social, and language services.

For many immigrants,  language and cultural barriers can make it difficult to integrate into a new country. Our Family & Community Services team provides and connects immigrants to many different services including:​

​​
• Referrals to local human and social service providers
• Registering children for Head Start
• Information on enrollment for school and other educational programs
• Completion of applications and forms 
• Referrals to discount programs, government, health, dental care, and mental health services
• Assistance applying for discounts or payment plans for medical bills
• Referrals for prescription drug programs, and sexual assault and domestic violence centers
• Referrals for crisis counseling and preventative health counseling 
• Health materials in other languages

Luminus has also been a Department of Justice accredited provider of immigration legal services since 2000 and offers a wide range of immigration services for those with limited resources. Luminus provides immigration services at either a modest fee or pro bono. The types of cases Luminus currently handles include:​
​

• Naturalization & Citizenship Applications
• Permanent Residence Applications
• Family Based Petitions & Consular Processing
• VAWA based applications
• U & T Visas
• Special Immigrant Juvenile Status 
• Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act (LRIF)
• DACA 
• Work authorization applications
• Consultations regarding eligibility & guidance on immigration laws and regulations
• Non-detained deportation defense
• Detained deportation defense
• Federal Appeals

In addition, language services are offered by Luminus to bridge the language gap by connecting immigrant-serving organizations with professionally trained interpreters. Luminus interpreters provide both in-person and virtual services to assist with essential communication such as health services, social services, and employment.  Each client is ensured a capable,  caring interpreter focused on the client and their community. Luminus translators provide both human translations by native language speakers and translation of documents including legal, documents for immigration, school paperwork, webpages, and more.  The language services team is also available for proofreading of translated documents, voice recording transcriptions, and notarized translations.