Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees - GCIR

Our researchers interviewed a broad cross-section of immigrant leaders, advocates, and policymakers and have produced this report summarizing their findings. The report briefly describes the circumstances that produced the large immigrant marches and offers concrete funding recommendations for supporting immigrant communities under different scenarios. A key theme that runs throughout this report is the need for funders to provide increased support at this pivotal moment, while coordinating their efforts to maximize impact and avoid duplication.

Promising Practices in Civic Participation and Citizenship

Part of GCIR's Immigrant Integration Toolkit.

Integration Potential of California's Immigrants and Their Children: New Estimates of Potential New Voters at the State, County, and Legislative District Levels.

The foreign-born population in the United States has nearly tripled over the last four decades, and by 2010, an estimated one in seven people will be an immigrant. Responding to the dramatic growth of the foreign-born population, immigrant organizations are implementing strategies to engage newcomers in community life.

Like the ancestors of today's native born, newcomers fill crucial jobs, revitalize communities, and contribute to the nation's social and economic growth. And like previous generations of immigrants who came before them, today's newcomers also face challenges to participation and integration. Discrimination, cross-cultural misunderstanding, and injustice in the workplace and the community can create cynicism and erect formidable barriers to engagement and integration.

Commissioned by the Zellerbach Family Foundation, this report discusses the scope and capacity of nonprofit groups that provide immigration-related legal services in the 38 counties of Northern California. Based on survey findings, it makes the case for greater philanthropic and public investment in immigration legal services.