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2020 has been a year unlike any other in our lifetimes. The fourth consecutive year of escalating policy attacks on immigrants and many other marginalized communities.
Outside the U.S. Capitol, it was an unexpectedly beautiful winter day in D.C. - 60 degrees of sunshine with a breeze. Inside, we walked alongside energized groups navigating the buildings on their own missions. As part of the Foundations on the Hill delegation, Kevin Douglas, Senior Director of National Programs at Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR), guided a group of six of us in and out of the long halls and winding tunnels. In my excitement at being in the People’s House for the first time, where power could lead to transformation or repression, I thought back to the years of the Trump Administration’s inhumane immigration policies.
The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan is joining with Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees and The Kresge Foundation to create the Southeast Michigan Immigrant and Refugee Funder Collaborative, which seeks to address a needs gap of the immigrant and refugee population in the region.
In her latest President's Message, Marissa Tirona encourages philanthropy to move beyond short-term thinking and a laser-focus on national elections to resource a diversity of strategies with long-term impact in addition to supporting electoral and civic engagement work.