Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees - GCIR

With an estimated 14 million refugees and asylees worldwide, this installment focuses on their dilemma. Plight of Refugees and Asylees Warrants Greater Philanthropic Attention examines the post-9/11 challenges facing these populations and provides funding recommendations for grantmakers. Profiles of five refugees and asylees put a human face on the issue while demonstrating the potential of the human spirit. The human rights of women seeking asylum are explored in an article that examines two prominent cases, and there's a look at how newcomers' remittances are helping communities in their homelands. There is information about our national convening this June in Chicago, our new board members, our redesigned website, plus links to additional facts on refugees and asylees and links to web-only features.

This volume explores the role philanthropy can play to help the 37 million immigrants and refugees in the United States become full members of our society. The included articles make a compelling case that the discussion and planning on immigrant integration must occur now to avoid chaos later. There is a review of Deporting Our Souls, a new book that examines both sides of recent immigration reform proposals, a preview of GCIR's 2008 National Convening, and a close-up look at an empowering and inspiring workers center.

The Fall 2006 issue of New Americans focuses on the heated national debate in the United States over immigration policy reform, which spurred the activism of millions of immigrants and their supporters in 2006. In this special issue, a diverse group of thoughtful local and national leaders in the field share their perspectives on reform strategies and priorities. Our goal in publishing this special issue is to help philanthropy understand the various policy positions, how they affect the issue areas in which foundations have a vested interest, and the roles that foundations can play to leverage the contributions that immigrants make to our society.

This issue focuses on the plight of immigrant children caught in a tangled web of U.S. law and immigration policy. Due to decisions their parents made, these adolescents and adult children find themselves in the crossfire of a no man's land of policy shifts, fear, and deportation centers. Their stories are wrenching, their sentiments innocent, and their terror real.

This volume spotlights some of the key immigration concerns that face the United States, and focuses on regions where immigration is a relatively new phenomenon. Articles examine the challenges and opportunities of immigration and implications for grantmaking, the burgeoning anti-immigrant movement, and nontraditional alliances shaping the immigration debate in Nebraska. An interview with a leader from the Manhattan Institute sheds light on the conservative case for immigration reform and immigrant integration.

Read about the Bermuda-based Atlantic Philanthropies' efforts to support lobbying efforts for comprehensive immigration reform and the restoration of immigrants' pre-9/11 civil rights and liberties. Also included in this volume is a look at multilingual and multi-cool entrepreneurs, and a snapshot of immigrant integration practices in Minnesota. There are highlights from GCIR's 2004 Convening and an analysis of a joint report by GCIR/AAPIP.

Taryn Higashi of the Ford Foundation makes a case for new immigration policies that reflect social and economic realities as well as genuine security needs. There are profiles of the Rosenberg Foundation and New York's Fund for New Citizens, a peek at the Four Freedoms Fund, a quick study of Santa Clara County's immigrant integration programs, and a look at how a partnership between Microsoft and the American Bar Association benefits immigrant detainees.

This issue provides an immigration policy update and looks at a coordinated and comprehensive effort between a group of Catholic funders and CBO providers intent on redressing the abuse suffered by immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border. There is a synopsis of a new report by GCIR and the Neighborhood Funders Group's Working Group on Labor and Community on immigrants in the American workplace as well as a perspective on immigration by Rebecca Clark of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

What happens when collaboration takes shape among 66 grantees, 27 funders, and $6 million? The lessons learned in Chicago are in this issue. There is also a glance at a report on capacity-building strategies for small immigrant organizations, a review of Web-based information on international migration, and a look at the film The New Americans, which documents the devastation caused to families of our newest citizens wreaked by post-9/11 immigration laws.

The focus of this issue is immigrant children. Ruby Takanishi, president of the Foundation for Child Development, writes a column in which she asserts that true support for low-income immigrant families includes health care and early childhood education. Takanishi urges private and public funders, regardless of their field of interest, to evaluate their funding strategies to address the needs of the growing number of immigrant and refugee children and families. An article on immigration detention in the anti-terrorism aftermath re-evaluates the 1996 immigration law, which mandated the detention of asylum-seekers and other immigrants and resulted in a dramatic increase in the detainee population. The article also looks at who the detainees are, how philanthropy has helped, and outlines funding recommendations for foundations. Fast facts on children and immigrant families, policy issues to watch, and information on conferences and programs are also included.