Community, Events & Creators · Web + Mobile
CityArrival: an immigrant resource guide by city, kept current
A living map of who helps new arrivals in one city, kept current by local organizations.
CityArrival is an immigrant resource guide by city, covering who runs the food pantry, which clinic takes walk-ins, and where the school enrolment office sits. CityArrival is a map of who helps, built with the local organizations already doing the helping.
Waitlist Not built yet Updated 5 September 2026
What problem does CityArrival solve?
The printed guide in the welcome folder was accurate on the day somebody made it. By the time it reaches you the legal clinic has moved above a different shop, the free English class runs on Tuesdays instead of Thursdays, and one phone number rings in an office that shut. Nobody lied. A PDF simply has no way to change. So the real directory lives in people's heads. A volunteer at a church knows which door to knock on. A cousin knows which office opens early. A group chat passes along the name of somebody helpful, together with three names that stopped being helpful last year. That knowledge works beautifully if you already know the right person, and it fails completely in your first month, which is exactly when you need it. The organizations doing the work keep their own lists in a spreadsheet, and they have no way to tell each other what changed this week.
What would CityArrival do?
CityArrival would be built one city at a time, with the organizations already doing the work holding the pen. Each card describes a place or a service: the address, which entrance, opening hours, the languages spoken at the desk, whether you can walk in or must book, what to bring, and who to ask for. Every card shows the date a person last confirmed it and the organization that confirmed it, and a change log records what moved this month. No card gives advice about anybody's case, because the cards say who helps rather than what to do. Cities and funders pay for the editing tools, which is what pays the people who keep the guide current. Readers pay nothing, sign in to nothing, and are asked for nothing about themselves.
How would it work?
- 1Choose your city and the language you read most comfortably.
- 2Browse cards for housing, legal clinics, health, schools, food, and work.
- 3Check the confirmed date and the organization standing behind each card.
- 4Follow the change log to see what moved, opened, or closed this month.
Who is it for?
- People in their first months in a new city, working out who to ask.
- Caseworkers and volunteers who keep the same phone numbers taped to a wall.
- City offices and funders who keep paying for guides that go stale.
How do you find an immigrant legal clinic near me and tell a live listing from a dead one?
Start with the organizations whose job is knowing all the other organizations. In most cities that means a public library, a community foundation, a mutual aid network, a resettlement agency, or a hospital's social work desk. In the United States, dialling 211 reaches a local referral line run for this purpose. Ask any of them for names rather than leaflets, and ask which of those names answered the phone this month. Libraries deserve a line of their own. A reference librarian will search local directories alongside you, will print what you find, and does not ask who you are. School district enrolment offices and adult education centers keep similar lists, because families ask them these questions every week. Then test a listing before you travel to it. Ring during working hours on a Tuesday or a Wednesday, since Monday queues and Friday closures hide the truth. Notice whether a person answers or a voicemail box is full, because a full box usually means nobody is minding it. Ask three things: are you open at this address, do you take walk-ins or appointments, and which languages are spoken at the desk. Then look at whether the organization's own website or social page has been touched recently. A page whose last post is two years old is a warning rather than proof. For anything legal, ask the organization directly whether it employs or supervises people qualified to give legal advice, and whether that service costs anything. That is a question about them, not about you, and it is safe to ask. Take questions about your own situation to a qualified adviser rather than to a directory or a group chat. Write every answer down with the date and the name of the person who gave it.
What do people use today?
| Option | Good at | The gap |
|---|---|---|
| A printed or PDF welcome guide | Thorough on the day it was written, easy to hand over, and works with no phone and no data. | Frozen at the moment of printing, so a moved office or a changed clinic day stays invisible until you arrive. |
| Search engines and map listings | Produces an address and a phone number in seconds, in any city, in many languages. | Cannot separate a clinic taking new people from one that stopped, and hours are often whatever somebody typed years ago. |
| Referral helplines | A trained person on the phone who knows the local network and can transfer you to it. | Nothing can be browsed beforehand, and every new question means queueing for the line again. |
| Community group chats and social pages | Fast, current, and in your own language, from people who did this last year. | Good answers and rumour arrive in the same feed, nothing carries a date, and everything scrolls away. |
| Each organization's own website | The authority on its own hours, services, and whether it is taking new people this month. | You have to know the organization exists before you can read its site, which is the hard part. |
What would it cost?
Residents
$0
- Every city guide, with no account and no tracking
- All languages published for that city
- No record kept of what you looked at
City license
$400/mo
- Editor tools for your named organizations
- Change log and confirmation reminders
- Your city's languages and branding
- Reporting a funder will accept
Network
$800/mo
- Several cities under one agreement
- Shared categories across a region
- Training and support for new editors
Prices are proposed. Founding members lock in the lowest price if we build CityArrival.
Questions people ask
What is an immigrant resource guide by city?
An immigrant resource guide by city is a directory of the local services a new arrival needs: housing help, legal clinics, health services, school enrolment, food, and work. Being tied to one city is the whole point, because addresses, opening hours, and the languages spoken at a front desk are all local.
Does CityArrival give immigration advice?
No. CityArrival would point to the organizations and clinics that help, and stop there. Questions about anybody's status, paperwork, or rights belong with a qualified adviser, and this guide exists to help you find one rather than to answer in their place.
Which city would come first?
CityArrival has no cities in it yet. The first would be wherever enough local organizations agree to hold the pen and a funder covers their time. The waitlist is how that gets decided, rather than a map drawn in advance by strangers.
Which languages would it be published in?
Languages are chosen city by city by the organizations editing it, starting with the ones already spoken at their own front desks. Machine translation would not be published on its own, because one wrong word about where to go costs somebody a morning.
How does a card get marked as current?
Editors confirm a card by checking it and pressing one button, which stamps the date and their organization's name onto it. A card nobody has confirmed for a while is shown as unconfirmed rather than left quietly looking fresh.
Do I have to give my details to read it?
Reading needs no account, no sign-in, and no location. CityArrival would ask nothing about you and would keep no record of what you read, because a directory has no reason to know who is reading it.
Who pays for CityArrival?
Cities, foundations, and service networks license the editing tools, and that is what pays the people who keep the guide current. Readers pay nothing. No organization can buy a better position in the guide.
When will CityArrival launch?
There is no date. CityArrival is built only if enough local organizations and funders join this waitlist and say they would use the editor tools and pay for them. Joining costs nothing and creates no obligation.
Where does this stand?
CityArrival is a proposal, not a product. This page collects demand from search and answer engines. Askwright builds it only if enough people join the waitlist and say they would pay. Read how this works.
General information only. Immigration and legal questions need a qualified adviser, not a directory. Nothing here describes what applies to your own situation.
Sources: https://www.211.org/