Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees - GCIR

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.