Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees - GCIR

As the push for comprehensive immigration reform stalls at the nation’s capital, communities large and small are experiencing an alarming growth of anti-immigrant sentiment and policy. This environment of fear and unwarranted attacks impacts all members of the community—and threaten to undermine immigrant integration efforts supported by many foundations. The philanthropic community can play a leadership role to support programs and strategies that promote effective integration and strengthen the community at large.

The integration of immigrants presents challenges and opportunities for communities across the US. Learn about model state and local policies and programs that promote integration and explore the practical roles funders can play to build service, organizing, and advocacy capacity at the state and local levels.

Registration:

To register, please visit the Council on Foundation's 2010 Annual Conference website.

As the immigration debate continues, the guestworker program continues to be one of the most contentious part of any effort to move federal comprehensive immigration reform.  Many advocates now characterize guestworkers as “indentured.”  But business leaders and numerous elected officials say anything short of expanding the program is a deal breaker:  You can’t have federal reform without a temporary worker program.

The voices missing from the debate have been guestworkers themselves.  Until recently, they’ve been invisible, working across the United States without access to direct participation in the rancorous policy debate about them.  In the last three years, the guestworkers of the post-Katrina Gulf Coast have changed that.  Members of the Alliance of Guestworkers for Dignity (a project of the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice) have run campaigns across the South, winning a place at the table in the ongoing debate. 

One group of workers in particular launched a heroic campaign to expose the realities of the guestworker program and promote an alternative vision.  Indian workers trafficked to the US Gulf Coast after Katrina escaped labor camps in 2008.  They embarked on a civil rights journey, travelling by foot from New Orleans to Washington, D.C., to bring the guestworker reality to the attention of Congress.  Along the way, they built relationships with African-American communities.  They became the first H2B workers to testify in Congress and won broad support from elected officials, clergy, civil rights leaders, and unions.  They also faced severe retaliation from immigration authorities—and will launch a new phase of their campaign in the coming weeks to expose misconduct by authorities in the Department of Homeland Security.

Firelight Media, an award-winning New York City-based documentary production firm, produced a film highlighting their courageous campaign.  The film focuses on the explicit connections and collaborations between the Indian guestworkers and the post-Katrina African-American community.  This presentation and discussion will start with a viewing of the short film.  The presentation will feature representatives of the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice and members of the Alliance of Guestworkers.

Lunch will be served.

A Philanthropy New York Members Briefing presented by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Public Interest Projects, the Ford Foundation, Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, the Open Society Institute, Unbound Philanthropy, and Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock.

REGISTRATION: 

NYRAG members: Please log in to register yourself or a colleague online by clicking here.  (visible through February 19th).
Non-members: Please fill out this online form. (No fee.)

OTHER INFORMATION: Please contact register@philanthropynewyork.org with any questions.

Sometime over the next few months, Congress will begin debating legislation for Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR). As part of its commitment to protect and advance the rights of immigrant workers, labor unions are playing a central organizing and advocacy role in the CIR campaign. Learn about how labor unions are strengthening and complementing the CIR efforts of immigrants rights organizations, religious groups, community organizations, business groups, and others. Hear about how the campaign has built off of unions’ commitment to organizing low-wage immigrant workers. Examine the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in the campaign during this hour-long webinar.

Report:

A More Perfect Union, traces the historic shift in the position of organized labor to its current aggressive support for immigration reform. It also highlights labor's role in supporting and protecting the rights of all immigrant workers, regardless of their immigration status.

Registration:

Please visit our registration page.

Due to inclement weather in the D.C. region, this webinar has been rescheduled for a later date. 

In a time of economic instability, a diminished social safety net, and increased public needs, making the economic case for immigration reform has never been more difficult. How do we talk about immigration in the context of a recession and high unemployment?  Would creating a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants strengthen or weaken the economy?  Join us for a one-hour webinar explore these questions and learn about the findings of two hot-off-the-press reports that make a strong case for the economic benefits of creating a path to legalization and the potential cost of not doing so.

Registration:

Please visit our registration page.

Join Cities of Migration and Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR) for a 60-minute discussion on integration strategies for municipal leaders.

Learn about The Chicago Community Trust’s partnership with municipal governments in the larger Chicago region. The Chicago Trust funding model is designed to address the needs of growing newcomer communities while securing wider investment from community and private sector stakeholders that can help build local capacity for the long-term.

In addition, read GCIR's newest case study on The Chicago Community Trust's public-private strategies, The Chicago Community Trust: Investing in Public-Private Partnerships! 

From the City of Turin, you will learn about The Gate Project at Porta Palazzo, an urban regeneration initiative that uses a flexible, participatory approach to community development. With a wide platform of public and private participation and support, the city of Turin has transformed The Gate from a pilot project into a local development agency that integrates social inclusion, poverty and crime reduction and sustainable urban renewal.

Requirements:
To participate, you will need a computer with internet access and a landline telephone. We ask participants not to use mobile phones as it reduces call quality for all participants. 

Registration:
To register for this webinar, please visit Cities of Migration’s Learning Exchange page.

Questions:
For more information, contact citiesofmigration@maytree.com.   
 

 Presented Jointly by Grantmakers for Education, Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, and Philanthropy New York

One in ten K-12 students is an English Language Learner (ELL), and limited English proficient students are the most rapidly growing population in U.S. elementary schools. While states like New York, California and Texas continue to serve the largest numbers of ELL students, the fastest increases in ELL populations-growing at rates over 250%-are occurring in states such as South Carolina, Kentucky, and Delaware, where school systems have not previously served many ELL students. How can education grantmakers ensure that all schools and communities implement successful strategies to promote the success of these young people?

Framed with an understanding that engaging the families of ELL learners is critical to driving school success, this member briefing will address a range of issues related to early learning, K-12 systems, and out-of-school time. Sessions will explore strategies for making ELL a priority for local and national funders and for policy makers, as well as showcasing innovative approaches to address the opportunities and challenges facing ELL learners.

Presenters include Andrés Henríquez of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Pedro Noguera of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education at New York University, Laurie Olsen of the Sobrato Family Foundation and Delia Pompa of the National Council of La Raza, along with a range of experienced ELL grantmakers. The member briefing begins with an optional site visit on the morning of the 22nd, and it coincicdes with GCIR's national convening, also in New York City.

This briefing is free to members of GFE, GCIR and Philanthropy New York. The cost is $200 for eligible non-members. GFE appreciates the generous support for this briefing provided by The Annie E. Casey Foundation and W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Advance registration is required; registration closes on June 4.

Visit GFE's event page to register today!

California, home to nearly one in four of the nation’s immigrants, has a lot at stake in the federal debates on critical policy issues from immigration and health care reform to education and workforce investment. With immigration reform legislation expected to be introduced in the next two months,  this briefing will focus on how any proposed legalization program might be structured and the potential impact of such program on integration services for immigrants, from ESL classes to health care. The briefing will also provide an update on the immigrant provisions of health care reform legislation and the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act and No Child Left Behind.  Participants will have ample opportunity to discuss the funding implications.
 
Lunch will be provided.
 

To Register:
 
Please email GCIR's Membership and Administration Associate Amanda Graves.

Organized by the California Immigrant Integration Initiative of Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees.

For many immigrant communities, the hefty fees attached to the citizenship process are a key obstacle and deterrent. Today over 8 million legal permanent residents (LPRs) run the risk of being excluded from healthcare and other public benefits if citizenship is not pursued. And an additional 12 million will be eligible for citizenship in the near future if comprehensive immigration reform is adopted. Given fiscal constraints at the state and federal levels, finding alternative sources to public monies is needed to address a key barrier faced by all immigrants - the high costs of achieving citizenship.
Join grantmaking colleagues for a 90-minute webinar to explore practical approaches to overcoming financial barriers to citizenship. Learn about new research and proven practices for using loans to cover the full range of costs. Explore the roles philanthropy can play to assist immigrants in overcoming this hurdle.
The webinar will highlight the cutting-edge work of the following organizations:

• Texas Appleseed and the Silverton Family Foundation will talk about the Family Unification Program which supported members of mixed legal status families to get loans to pay for citizenship costs and also helped these members receive up to three years of unclaimed Earned Income Tax Credits once citizenship was achieved. Thirteen loans ranging from $900-$5,000 were administered by a micro-lender with 70 percent paid back in full.

• United Neighborhood Centers of America and Ways to Work will talk about findings from their research on the costs of Pathways to Citizenship and their emerging business plan to create an alternative to predatory loans for immigrants tied to citizenship costs. Currently, Ways to Work has successfully helped over 27,000 poor and working poor families receive loans for automobiles and other work supports.

Co-sponsored by:  Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR); Neighborhood Funders Group (NFG); and the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

To register for this program, please click here.