Immigration Data Project Progress
Since joining us just 3 weeks ago, Coro Fellow in Public Affairs through the University of Missouri–St. Louis, Aubrey Lay, has made a strong start on an important project focused on strengthening how community partners collect, analyze, and share immigration data across Missouri.
During the first phase of his fellowship, he has immersed himself in understanding the landscape of our work and the systems that support it. He has met with partner organizations to learn what data is currently being collected, who is involved in the process, how information is gathered, and where it is stored. These conversations are helping create a clearer picture of both the strengths and gaps in our current data practices.
He has also explored tools that can improve efficiency and streamline existing workflows. As part of this work, he reviewed current systems in Airtable, identified errors, made immediate corrections, and highlighted opportunities for long-term improvement. He has also begun analyzing Ashrei and Advocates for Immigrant Lives data to identify possible areas of research related to arrest and detention patterns in Missouri.
In addition to systems work, he has helped expand outreach efforts by coordinating new multilingual hotline materials. Through this support, outreach resources are now available in French, Ukrainian, and Russian, helping ensure more families can access critical information and services in the language they understand best.
As the project moves into its next phase, his focus is shifting toward designing templates for public-facing reports that can help share trends and insights with the broader community. He is also outlining what data contributions will be needed from each partner organization moving forward to make collaborative reporting possible.
Finally, he will be developing recommendations for how Ashrei and our partners can continue improving internal systems while identifying additional data sources that can help paint a more complete picture of immigration enforcement in Missouri.
We are grateful for the thoughtful work, curiosity, and commitment he has brought to building stronger systems in service of immigrant communities. We look forward to sharing more progress in the months ahead.
