Search GCIR
This four-page timeline summarizes immigrant and refugee policy developments and philanthropic responses from 1990 to 2020.
This two-page infographic covers major policy developments for immigrants and refugees between 1990 and 2015, as well as the efforts over that time period by GCIR, our members, and partners.
In partnership with California philanthropy, Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR) today announced the launch of the California Dignity for Families Fund, seeking to raise $20 million to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of migrants at the southern California border, ensure due process for asylum seekers, support their integration into receiving communities, and restore dignity to the asylum process.
At GCIR, we talk about doing our work in a networked way, and we could not have accomplished all that we did in 2023 without the many movement, field, funder, and government partners we have collaborated with along the way. The strength of those partnerships helped us create strategic opportunities to move money and power to immigrant and refugee communities and to galvanize stakeholders and decision-makers to resource a robust immigration and refugee rights power-building ecosystem.
What do we hope to accomplish? What will success look like? What will it take to get there? These are some of the questions I grapple with as GCIR’s Programs Learning Manager. My position is new, reflecting the organization’s commitment to proactive learning throughout our work. In a nutshell, I aim to support the team in building evaluative capacity, including through the design (and constant iteration) of ways of working that make it easy for people to engage meaningfully in learning processes.
In her quarterly message, President Marissa Tirona calls on philanthropy to act to address forced displacement, the systems that drive it, and secure the safety and dignity not only of those who are forcibly displaced but also of marginalized communities who experience violence and discrimination.
As we face a new federal administration, GCIR is sharing recommendations for philanthropy to help protect and support the immigrant justice movement. View this page to download our full funder recommendations.
The first quarterly President Message from Marissa Tirona, GCIR President.
GCIR invites you to join us in Washington, D.C. as part of our 3rd annual Foundations on the Hill (FOTH) delegation. Hosted by the United Philanthropy Forum, FOTH will take place Sunday, February 23 to Wednesday, February 26.
As we approach 2025, we at GCIR know that working together will be our greatest asset as we face impending challenges for immigrants and the immigrant justice movement. As we continue to mobilize funders into action, philanthropy must utilize its enormous power and privilege to stand with immigrant and refugee communities, one of the primary targets of the incoming administration.
GCIR is thrilled to host our 2024 National Convening in Detroit, Michigan. To help tell the city's migration story, we have created "Destination Detroit: A Timeline of Black, African, Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian Migration." This timeline is focused on the history of Black, African, Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian (BAMEMSA) communities in the United States – from the arrival of Juan Garrido and Esteban de Dorantes in the 1500s, to the publication of The Life of Omar Ibn Said in 1831, to the arrival of Arab immigrants after the Civil War, to the Great Migration of African Americans out of the South through most of the 20th century, to the embrace of Islam by many Black Americans, to the emergence of a coordinated movement of BAMEMSA groups advocating for justice and dignity in the 21st century.
In the wake of last night’s presidential debate, with its divergent and often troubling messages about the future of our country, it is essential that we double down on our commitment to honoring the rights and dignity of all individuals, regardless of their country of origin.
In her second quarterly message of 2022, GCIR president Marissa Tirona shares some of the highlights of GCIR’s recent work, including GCIR’s national convening in Houston in May, grantmaking and learning through the California Dignity for Families Fund, developing a theory of change though the strategic planning process, and partnering with Upwardly Global to advance the economic power of immigrant and refugee women of color.
Why have so many people in the Americas made the perilous migration journey to the United States, especially in recent years? Why have migration patterns in the Western Hemisphere shifted over the years, and why are migrants from some countries treated differently than others? How are the policies and practices of the U.S. connected to the reasons people in the region have moved over time? To get at the root of these questions, GCIR is releasing a new timeline: U.S. Intervention and Modern Migration in the Americas, which delves into this history to allow for a nuanced analysis and deeper understanding of the migration flows and patterns we see today.