Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees - GCIR

Organizing and providing legal assistance to migrant and guest workers poses a challenge to lawyers and activists on both sides of the U.S. and Mexican border.  Many workers are unaware of the living and working conditions they may encounter working in America, and they often do not know their legal rights as workers.  The Binational Labor Justice Convening brought migrant worker advocates from Mexico and the United States together to coordinate efforts to educate workers, understand international law, and strategize how to promote justice and human rights for migrant workers.

The need for a workforce to fill middle-skill jobs, those requiring more education than high school but less than a bachelor's degree, will likely remain strong in the coming years. Because Baby Boomer retirements will occur most rapidly in the lower to middle ranges of skills and immigrants are more likely to fill the bottom and top jobs, expanded educational opportunities and workforce training programs will be essential for less-educated workers to meet the demands of the U.S. economy.

Human trafficking is a global issue, with nearly 27 million people being held in forced labor around the world, including the United States.  This article outlines the issue of human trafficking and looks at ways that funders can have an impact.

In this issue, Kalpana Krishnamurthy, director of the Research and Action for Change and Equity (RACE) Program, illuminates effective strategies for building the leadership skills of first-generation immigrants and refugees. She shares insights from the Western Institute for Organizing and Leadership Development for Immigrants and Refugees (WILDIR) and offers lessons learned and recommendations for foundations. WILDIR’s curriculum provides a space where immigrants and refugees from around the world can share their experiences, explore issues of identity, and tackle tough topics such as the implications of race in their countries of origin as well as in the United States. As an outcome, the program endeavors to build a strong, multi-ethnic immigrant and refugee justice movement by strengthening the skills of immigrant leaders, and fostering a deeper understanding of political engagement strategies to ensure that a united immigrant voice can be heard.

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Shows how state laws and agency actions can advance the labor rights of immigrant workers; profiles selected local campaigns. Describes improved policies for language access, government benefits and services, confidentiality provisions, access to drivers' licenses, rights and remedies under labor and employment law, and access to workers' compensation.

Documents critical hazards to worker health and safety in the U.S. meat and poultry industry, which increasingly relies on immigrant workers. Explains how government failure to regulate the industry violates international human rights and labor standards protections; recommends ways that federal and state governments and meat and poultry companies can improve conditions and comply with international standards.

Finds that although working immigrant families were twice as likely as working native families to be low income or poor, they were much less likely than low-income native families to participate in the EITC, receive income assistance, Food Stamps, or housing assistance, and/or have their children enrolled in child care.

Leading portrait of economic factors facing low-wage workers, updated bi-annually by the Economic Policy Institute, examines trends in benefit growth and inequality, the shift to low-paying industries, the impact of demographic change on poverty, and international comparisons; includes information on Asian, Hispanic, and immigrant workers.

The author documents the growing role of worker centers in protecting rights and promoting social connection for low-wage immigrant workers. She identifies 137 worker centers in 80 cities and 31 states that assist immigrant workers in recovering unpaid wages, provide English classes and other services, advocate for enforcement and new laws, and organize members through leadership development. The author also assesses the strengths and weaknesses of worker centers in helping workers navigate the worlds of work and legal rights in the United States. A short version is available as an Economic Policy Institute Briefing Paper, December 2005.

During the 1990s, one out of every two new workers was an immigrant. While many immigrants speak English well and enter the United States with strong academic credentials and skills, many others do not. Like other low-skilled workers, few of these immigrants enjoyed the benefits of employer-provided training programs, most of which are geared to managers or highly skilled workers. Low-wage immigrant workers have also been outside the reach of government-sponsored job training programs that concentrate on getting welfare recipients into the labor market and have often underserved persons with limited English skills. The report looks at the reauthorization of the 1998 Workforce Investment Act (WIA)—the largest source of federal funding for job training, adult basic education, and English as a second language (ESL) instruction—sheds light on the need for policies that move in these directions.