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Grantmakers in Health Social Determinants of Health Audioconference Series
Nearly 70 years after John Steinbeck documented the fate of agricultural workers in The Grapes of Wrath, we continue to neglect the population that helps to feed our country. Farmworkers have alarming rates of occupational fatalities, chronic diseases, and exposures to agricultural chemicals, making them one of our nation’s most vulnerable populations. Join this one-hour webinar to discuss concrete strategies for tackling health and equity problems in the agricultural workforce, and opportunities to connect these efforts with philanthropic initiatives designed to improve rural health care, reduce racial and ethnic disparities, increase access to healthy foods, and build strong communities.
Speakers
Registration
To register for this webinar, please send an e-mail to sdoh@gih.org. You will receive dial-in information and related resources materials a few days before the webinar.
GCIR's 2012 National Convening, Global Trends, National Implications, Local Innovations, June 13-15 in Portland, Oregon, will bring together a community of grantmakers who share a commitment to helping immigrants become full and active members of our society. It will offer funders an opportunity to learn from one another’s experiences and expertise. And it will uplift a range of perspectives, strategies, and innovations from some of the field’s most inspiring leaders, thinkers, activists, and advocates.
"What really struck me was how many different kinds of funders from different parts of the country are involved in immigration…this was an opportunity for me to meet people who have more expertise, making the experience really valuable."
Open registration for GCIR members and non-members is now open. GCIR members can register at a special discounted rate! If you’re not a member, join now and receive this exclusive discount!
Co-sponsored by the International Migration Initiative of the Open Society Foundations and Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees.
This June, the International Labor Organization (ILO) adopted the Domestic Workers Convention a new landmark treaty that establishes the first set of standards for the estimated 50 to 100 million domestic workers across the globe and marks a milestone in the decades-long struggle for the rights of one of the most vulnerable groups of workers. The vast majority of these workers are women and girls, who are subject to excessive working hours without rest, non-payment of wages, forced confinement, physical and sexual abuse, forced labor, and trafficking.
Experts from across the globe will discuss the provisions of this landmark treaty and how it can protect this vulnerable population; examine its immediate and long-term implications; and explore how it can serve as a platform to initiate collaboration and coordination on advocacy efforts around ratification and meaningful implementation.
As a follow-up to the forum, International Migration Initiative will be screening the documentary Saving Dolma, directed by Kesang Tseten, on September 26th. The film looks at the experiences of women domestic workers in Kuwait and explores how all segments of society responded to Dolma’s situation and influenced officials to consider the plight of migrant workers.
Moderator:
· Elizabeth Frantz, Program Officer, International Migration Initiative
Panelists:
· Simel Esim, Senior Regional Technical Specialist, International Labor Organization
· Priscilla Gonzalez, Executive Director, Domestic Workers United
· Luna Ranjit, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Adhikaar
· Nisha Varia, Senior Researcher, Human Rights Watch
Registration
To RSVP to this event, please visit the event registration webpage.
This is a public event, so please feel free to circulate to your networks.
Led by Neighborhood Funders Group’s Working Group on Labor and Community Partnerships with co-sponsorship from Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees.
Just sixty miles east of Los Angeles, a huge workforce of some 90,000, comprised mainly of immigrants and people of color, unload, sort, and send out the goods we purchase in big box stores across the U.S., playing a vital role in our national economy. The residents of San Bernardino and Riverside experience wage theft, immigration raids, discrimination, health and environmental hazards at work and at home, as well as a hostile political climate. Despite these challenges, diverse and committed local leaders across the Inland Empire, with the support of public officials, are making positive changes to improve their communities.
Join the Neighborhood Funders Group’s Working Group on Labor and Community Partnerships and GCIR as we explore the connection of our issues and grantmaking to improve the working, living, and community conditions in two counties that are a microcosm of the issues that the U.S. is struggling with today – demographic change, high unemployment, low wage workers, foreclosure, and immigrant integration.
Where:
The funders’ tour will begin near Ontario, CA with a working dinner. The next morning funders will hear from an opening panel and take a bus tour of key sites; meeting with activists and leaders along the way in the afternoon. Finally, the tour will spend the late afternoon in a funders-only space debriefing and reflecting, and close before dinner.
To view the promotional flyer and additional event details, please visit NFG’s event page.
Registration:
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about issues facing vulnerable communities in the Inland Empire! To reserve your spot, please contact NFG Consultant, Dania Rajendra, at (718) 730-4672.
Presented jointly by Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees and Neighborhood Funders Group.
Immigrants play a vital role in our society during boom times as well as recessions. As native birth rates continue to decline and as the Baby Boom generation retires, immigrants and their children will become even more critical to U.S. economic vitality and global competitiveness. Together with longtime residents, newcomers can contribute to community problem solving and help address long-standing social issues like poverty and racial inequities.
Join fellow NFG members to explore the implications of the latest demographic shifts on the economy, the workforce, and the social fabric of communities across the country. Learn about local, regional and federal policy issues that affect the social, economic, and civic integration of immigrants and refugees. Understand how the immigrant integration framework can strengthen grantmaking, policymaking and community building efforts in neighborhoods in transition.
Speakers:
Moderator:
NFG Members: To register, please visit NFG's registration page.
GCIR Members: To register, please send an email to nfg@nfg.org.
For more information about this program, please contact GCIR's Program Director Diana Ip.
Immigration is an indispensable piece of any strategy to boost economic growth and prosperity. Alongside investments in education and workforce-training systems, research and development, public infrastructure, and thoughtful regulatory policies that reduce barriers to employment, immigration policy can contribute directly to innovation, technological progress, and rising human-capital levels. While the United States has a natural advantage in attracting the world's most talented workers, employment-based immigration makes up too small a proportion of overall permanent immigration in the United States — even though it admits the country's most highly skilled foreign workers and serves as the most direct channel through which policymakers can shape the economic impact of immigration. The authors discuss the impact of immigration on the economy and the various policies directed toward workers. The authors also consider the role of immigrants in two important sectors: health care and information technology.
Designed by Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees and Workfore Matters Funder's Network.
With unprecedented and unrelenting high unemployment rates, it is hard to believe that some jobs are going unfilled. Addressing the skills mismatch is essential to driving economic recovery and growth. Yet there are reasons to believe the situation might get worse. According to new research from the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, 97 million U.S. jobs require high-level skills, but only 45 million Americans are currently qualified for such positions. By 2018, 63 percent of all new jobs will require at least some postsecondary education. To meet this demand, 300,000 more Americans will need to earn a college degree or credential each year than are currently projected to do so. The workforce funding community is playing an important role in building workers’ skills and meeting industry needs while improving economic security of families. This discussion will highlight ongoing strategies and initiatives and will allow participants to ask questions about grantmaking, advocacy, partnerships, and reform approaches.
To register for this event, please visit COF's 2011 Annual Conference registration page. GCIR members qualify for the COF member rate. To receive the rate, please use our affinity group discount code, 4562, at the time of registration.
Minnesota has a long history of immigration with immigrants at the beginning of the 20th century contributing to the state's economic growth. With a new age of immigrants from new parts of the world, the state is beginning to ask critical questions to guide its growth in the coming years: What impact do immigrants have on the state’s economy and our public institutions? What role should immigration play in Minnesota’s future?
This report, commissioned by The Minneapolis Foundation, seeks to answer these questions and also identifies future research topics.
Through the H-2B program, employers fill temporary and seasonal positions outside of the agricultural sector with low-skill immigrant workers. Although a small program with only 66,000 H-2B visas available each year, the program plays a critical role in the economy, helping large and small employers to meet their staffing needs. From ski resorts in Colorado, seafood processing in Maryland, and the hospitality industry in Nantucket, workers on H-2B visas support regional industries. Many critics claim the program hurts American workers and leaves foreign workers vulnerable to exploitation. This report argues there is no economic evidence to support these claims, yet provides recommendations for streamlining and improving the program.
As the immigration debate continues, the guestworker program continues to be one of the most contentious part of any effort to move federal comprehensive immigration reform. Many advocates now characterize guestworkers as “indentured.” But business leaders and numerous elected officials say anything short of expanding the program is a deal breaker: You can’t have federal reform without a temporary worker program.
The voices missing from the debate have been guestworkers themselves. Until recently, they’ve been invisible, working across the United States without access to direct participation in the rancorous policy debate about them. In the last three years, the guestworkers of the post-Katrina Gulf Coast have changed that. Members of the Alliance of Guestworkers for Dignity (a project of the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice) have run campaigns across the South, winning a place at the table in the ongoing debate.
One group of workers in particular launched a heroic campaign to expose the realities of the guestworker program and promote an alternative vision. Indian workers trafficked to the US Gulf Coast after Katrina escaped labor camps in 2008. They embarked on a civil rights journey, travelling by foot from New Orleans to Washington, D.C., to bring the guestworker reality to the attention of Congress. Along the way, they built relationships with African-American communities. They became the first H2B workers to testify in Congress and won broad support from elected officials, clergy, civil rights leaders, and unions. They also faced severe retaliation from immigration authorities—and will launch a new phase of their campaign in the coming weeks to expose misconduct by authorities in the Department of Homeland Security.
Firelight Media, an award-winning New York City-based documentary production firm, produced a film highlighting their courageous campaign. The film focuses on the explicit connections and collaborations between the Indian guestworkers and the post-Katrina African-American community. This presentation and discussion will start with a viewing of the short film. The presentation will feature representatives of the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice and members of the Alliance of Guestworkers.
Lunch will be served.
A Philanthropy New York Members Briefing presented by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Public Interest Projects, the Ford Foundation, Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, the Open Society Institute, Unbound Philanthropy, and Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock.
REGISTRATION:
NYRAG members: Please log in to register yourself or a colleague online by clicking here. (visible through February 19th).
Non-members: Please fill out this online form. (No fee.)
OTHER INFORMATION: Please contact register@philanthropynewyork.org with any questions.
To order a copy of one of GCIR's publications, click here.