Many undocumented immigrants in the United States don’t know that, regardless of their immigration status, they have rights under the US Constitution. Some authorities take advantage of this lack of knowledge in order to detain and deport them, needlessly and unconstitutionally breaking up families and communities in the process. Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC) works to inform immigrants of their rights but getting the information to them is challenging because undocumented immigrants are hard to reach and generally distrust authorities and institutions, including non-profit organizations like FLIC.

FLIC needed to find a new way to reach the undocumented immigrant community, letting them know that they are a trusted resource that can help undocumented immigrants with everything from educating them about their rights to getting free legal advice about their status.

We turned the napkin into a bill of rights for undocumented immigrants. The Napkins of Rights give immigrants information about their rights in a place they feel comfortable, a place where they enjoy food from their home countries and feel safe - their community restaurants.

The napkins themselves feel familiar, elevating the element of trust: They were designed by a master artisan sign-maker from Mexico and have the look and feel of street food signs and menus common across Latin America.

Each napkin explains specifically what to do in the most common situations in which immigrants encounter the authorities: when driving, when in need of medical attention and when the authorities show up at their home. The napkins are scannable, leading to more information on our website. They’re also foldable, so people can keep them for whenever they need the information.

FLIC understands that informing undocumented immigrants of their rights is a true grassroots effort. Immigrants often can’t be reached through conventional media, since they have a deep mistrust of authorities and institutions. Reaching them through community restaurants is an effective way to connect with them, but we also have to connect with them emotionally.

The Napkins of Rights are a simple and scalable way to get this information to immigrants in a medium that is as common as it gets: the napkin, which every restaurant needs.

We also partnered with Cristina Martinez, an undocumented immigrant and James Beard Award winner who's been featured on Netflix’s “Chef’s Table,” to distribute the napkins in her restaurant and promote them on her channels.

As the Napkins become more known across the country, more restaurants are choosing to purchase them, extending the reach of the message exponentially and at no extra cost to FLIC.

Each napkin made covers the most common situations/issues where immigrants need to know their rights, this included: what to do if authorities show up at their door, if they’re pulled over in their car, if they need medical attention, or if they’re detained within 100 miles from the coast.

For the napkins’ designs, we enlisted a master artisan sign-maker from Mexico City to give them a familiar look and feel, inspired by street food signs and menus common across Latin America. The sign-maker also created a hand-painted font, which was digitized to use on our website and in future campaigns.

To get the napkins out in the world we targeted restaurants in communities with large immigrant populations that offered cuisines from Latin America and the Caribbean. We printed thousands of napkins and gave them out to these restaurants with the option to purchase more.

To date over 50 restaurants, food trucks and eateries in Miami are using the Napkins of Rights with about 30 more looking to join the project.

Through our website, napkinsdelosderechos.com, the napkins are available for any restaurant across the country to purchase, in any language.

We also partnered with award-winning chef Cristina Martinez, an undocumented immigrant that has been featured on Netflix’s Chef’s Table, to distribute the napkins in her restaurant and promote them on her channels.

Understanding our target audience does not like attention, we knew this was going to be a true grassroots initiative. We worked under the radar, relying on word of mouth and reaching out to restaurants directly to scale the idea. As the idea grows, we have interest from restaurants and organizations in other states to expand the idea further.