The California Immigrant Justice Infrastructure Fund

The California Immigrant Justice Infrastructure Fund (the Fund) seeks to invest in and strengthen a thriving power-building ecosystem that can address the immediate and long-term needs of immigrant, migrant, and refugee communities across the state. The Fund aims to move at least $1 million to $3 million annually over the next three years to organizations on the front lines of the fight for immigrant justice in California.
The Fund is building on the success of the California Dignity for Families Fund (CDFF), which GCIR launched in May 2021 as part of a public-private partnership with the State of California. CDFF mobilized philanthropic dollars to provide humanitarian relief to migrants arriving at the southern California border, ensure due process for asylum seekers, and support their integration into receiving communities. Over two years, CDFF disbursed nearly $11 million in timely, equitable investments to 44 community-based organizations.
Those organizations are part of a growing ecosystem of migrant justice groups that assist newly arrived migrants through humanitarian relief, legal services, and holistic case management; provide humane and effective alternatives to detention and surveillance; and advocate tirelessly for local and statewide programs that meet the needs of immigrant communities. Some of these organizations have also implemented power building and narrative strategies, recognizing that such approaches support long-term, systemic, and sustainable change.
In order to advance, evolve, and grow this work, the California Immigrant Justice Infrastructure Fund will:

  • Resource and strengthen the internal and external capacity of grassroots organizations serving migrant and refugee communities often excluded from grantmaking priorities.
  • Fortify existing regional organizing infrastructure by investing in the collective capacity of formal and informal networks, coalitions, and hubs to plan, strategize, and coordinate, particularly in under-funded regions.
  • Advance, protect, sustain, and implement policy opportunities at the state and local levels by resourcing discrete and timely campaigns grounded in community needs, interests and strategies.

To learn more about the California Immigrant Justice Infrastructure Fund, contact Cairo Mendes, Senior Director of State and Local Programs.