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1 in 4 Immigrant Children and Families Project

One in four U.S. children lives in an immigrant family, and the next four years will bring unprecedented threats to their safety and wellbeing. From ongoing family separations and the threat of mass deportations, denial of basic services, and elimination of birthright citizenship, children living in immigrant families - 90 percent of whom are U.S. citizens - are already experiencing trauma.

Families are being torn apart, and children are being uprooted from the only homes they’ve ever known or orphaned in their own homes. Efforts to deny access to health care, education, food assistance, and other essential public programs and services will cause immense harm to immigrant children and their families while sowing fear that prevents them from meeting basic needs.

The consequences of these threats will ripple across generations, shaping the country’s future for decades. Fortunately, there is an active, committed, and engaged network of organizations that are already mobilizing at the federal, state, and local levels. However, they require a coordinated philanthropic response to support their work and to protect the rights of children and their families. To support current and emerging philanthropic efforts, GCIR is launching the 1 in 4 Immigrant Children and Families Project. GCIR will, among other things:

  • Design and Host Virtual and In-Person Learning Programs to provide funders with reliable information and guide them toward holistic grantmaking strategies.
  • Facilitate Strategy and Sense-Making Sessions for funders and other stakeholders to strategize together, respond to policy changes, make sense of emerging needs, opportunities, and challenges, and discuss aligned or pooled funding.
  • Provide Up-to-Date Funder Recommendations and Resources in response to emerging policy developments and movement and field needs.
  • Offer Ongoing Analysis of Funder Impact for funders, movement and field groups, and other stakeholders to understand the impact of funder investment and action.

To learn more about the 1 in 4 Immigrant Children and Families Project and future programming, contact Kevin Douglas, Senior Director of National Programs or Marissa Tirona, President.   

Visit our upcoming programs page to stay up to date on program and meeting dates.