Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees - GCIR

As part of GCIR's California Immigrant Integration Initiative, GCIR announces the release of a new report, Integration Potential of California's Immigrants and Their Children: New Estimates of Potential New Voters at the State, County, and Legislative District Level. 

GCIR will be hosting two funder briefings, one in San Francisco and one in Silicon Valley, to examine the implications of the report's findings on the Bay Area.  To join Northern California Grantmakers and GCIR at the briefing in San Francisco, learn more here.  To join the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and GCIR at the briefing in Silicon Valley, learn more here.

Building Civic Engagement: Promising Nonpartisan Voter Education and Political Empowerment Strategies within New York's Asian Pacific American Community.

With Asian Pacific Americans (APAs) now comprising 10% of the region's population - and growing rapidly - the potential political power of the APA community is enormous. Join your colleagues for what promises to be a lively discussion on how funders can support nonpartisan strategies that draw APAs to become more involved in the political process.

This session will cover a wide range of issues, from the current status of voter education and outreach in the region to longer term civic engagement practices. The discussion will highlight successful strategies for better educating and informing our communities, and ways that funders can support nonpartisan, election-related efforts. Panelists will also discuss the challenges and obstacles to community participation.

Ultimately, the aim of this discussion is to lead funders and community activists to more effectively work together in building the infrastructure necessary to ensure sustained, vibrant civic engagement that will empower the APA community and bring about positive change.

Speakers include John Choe from the Office of NYC Council Member John C. Liu and Glenn Magpantay with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

RSVP by April 17 to Vanessa A. Llana at vllana@gmail.com or 201.889.6825.

With a record 200 million people living outside their country of birth, immigration is a global phenomenon with profound demographic, economic, social, and political implications for both sending and receiving countries. The debate over immigration policy, particularly in the United States, which is home to an estimated 12 million undocumented migrants, has become increasingly volatile and, in some instances, characterized by misinformation, hate, and xenophobia.

Beyond the politics of immigration, genuine challenges to integration abound. Yet successful integration of immigrants is critical to the long-term prosperity of host countries that rely on immigrants as workers, consumers, taxpayers, innovators, and entrepreneurs in light of their aging native-born populations and lower birth rates. Integration demands the involvement of all sectors of our society-from businesses and trade unions to governmental and non-governmental organizations to cultural and educational institutions. Through immigrant integration, foundations can play a unique leadership role to shape a vision for a vibrant, cohesive society that is shared and valued by all of its members, regardless of their race, national origin, or socio-economic status.

This mini-plenary will provide an in-depth opportunity to discuss strategies for winning fair and humane immigration policies and examine approaches to promote social, economic, civic, and political inclusion. Participants will hear the latest thinking from top immigration and immigrant integration experts from the United States, Canada, and Europe.  If you plan to attend the mini-plenary session, please contact Alison De Lucca at 213.346.3275 or alison@gcir.org for more information.

Please join Southern California Grantmakers for a special screening of At Issue: Immigration, a documentary film that presents a factual and comprehensive snapshot of immigration in the United States, including the history of immigration, current demographic trends, the affects of immigration on our communities and how immigrants fit into the United States economy. The film will be shown in short segments.  Discussion with experts will follow each segment.
 
The United States benefits greatly from immigration. It helps shape our culture and spur economic growth. Today, immigrants are a significant, increasing part of the U.S. labor force at both the high and low ends of the labor market. As the Baby-Boom generation ages, and the demand for younger workers grows, immigrants will become increasingly important to the U.S. economy as workers, taxpayers and homebuyers. Still, immigrants face major challenges and uncertainty in their daily lives-inadequate access to healthcare and education, lack of employment opportunities and poverty. This session will explore the most reliable facts concerning immigration, the demands of an aging population, current immigration law and why immigration is an important issue for foundations.  

More than 190 million people live outside their country of origin, 37 million of them in the United States. These migrants send an astounding amount of remittances to their countries of origin. In 2006 alone, they sent $260 billion to support their families and communities more than three times the amount of official development assistance. What drives this global migration phenomenon, and what role do remittances play in addressing it? Join funding colleagues in a discussion about the root causes of migration including the role of trade and globalization, and strategies for addressing them. Explore how the investment power of immigrants in their home countries can reduce the "push" factors of migration. This program is co-sponsored by the French American Charitable Trust, Funders Network on Trade and Globalization and GCIR.

Immigration characterizes the United States. As the nation grows increasingly diverse, demands on health care, education, and community development increase. Grantmakers must react strategically to engage the full community, including health care providers, educators, businesses, faith-based organizations, and immigrants themselves. This session will highlight approaches for working across issue areas in order to facilitate immigrant integration, address broad community needs, and seize opportunities that arise with these new community members. To register for the conference, visit www.gih.org.