Supporting Our Immigrant Neighbors: 'They Are Us, and We Are Them'
On March 10, the Boston Foundation was proud to announce the launch of Meeting the Moment: Supporting Our Immigrant Neighbors as part of a public-private partnership with the City of Boston, the United Way of Massachusetts Bay, the Barr Foundation and more than a dozen other nonprofits and philanthropic organizations.
In his statement, TBF President and CEO Lee Pelton called on everyone in the city and region to step up, stand up and speak up for the more than one million foreign-born residents of Massachusetts facing threats from federal actions. Here are his remarks as prepared for delivery.
Good morning.
Mayor Wu, thank you for your inspired leadership, and thank you for bringing us together today.
And thank you, especially, for your Executive Order protecting immigrants in Boston. Your leadership sends a clear message that in this city the rule of law, due process, and human dignity represent enduring values of this great city. I also want to recognize the many nonprofit leaders and community advocates who are supporting and aiding our immigrant families and individuals.
I recently noted elsewhere that the actions of our mean-spirited and imperialist federal government in places like Chicago, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Maine have made something very clear: this is a moment that calls for vigilance, truth-telling, mutual aid, courage, and resolve.
The Boston Foundation has a 110-year history of supporting immigrants and immigrant-serving organizations dating back to its founding. Some of our earliest major grants helped immigrant families rebuild their lives in Boston after World War I. From the very beginning, our work has been informed by a simple, but profound truth: immigrants have been and continue to be essential to the vitality and strength of Boston and beyond.
In times like these, our role has been and will continue to be to rouse our citizens to action and mobilize generosity on behalf of those in need and support.
Here a few data points that sometimes get lost in moment:
In Massachusetts, 18 percent of residents are foreign-born – almost one in five. Yet immigrants make up 27 percent of entrepreneurs and 40 percent of Main Street business owners.
Drive down almost any Main Street in this Commonwealth — in Boston neighborhoods, in suburban towns, in communities across the state — and chances are one or more of those businesses would not exist without immigrants. Immigrants and their entrepreneurial energy help to sustain our local economies and enrich community life.
Without immigrants, the population of Greater Boston would have declined by about 100,000 people over the past decade. Instead, because immigrants chose to build their lives and raise families here, our region has grown by roughly 300,000 people.
And $20 billion dollars: that’s the amount immigrants in Massachusetts paid last year in federal, state, and local taxes.
So, when we talk about immigrants, we are talking about neighbors, entrepreneurs, workers, and taxpayers who are helping to build the future of our Commonwealth.
Today, the Boston Foundation is announcing a new program: Meeting the Moment: Supporting Our Immigrant Neighbors.
First, we are making immediate grants to organizations protecting immigrants’ legal rights and due process.
Second, we will very soon launch at least $1.4 million in new grants for immigrant-serving organizations, selected through a community-led process and focused on organizations serving the most vulnerable communities.
And third, our peerless research center, Boston Indicators, we will advance truth telling as we broadly share data and stories that illuminate the real experiences and contributions of immigrants in Greater Boston.
Over the past year, the Boston Foundation has supported immigrant-serving nonprofits with grants, technical assistance, and a Giving Guide for donors. And our donor-advised fund holders have contributed more than $1.7 million to immigrant-serving organizations right here in Greater Boston.
Moments like this remind us of something important:
Boston has always been a city shaped by immigrants. And when our immigrant neighbors are threatened or vulnerable, we do not stand aside — we step forward. They are us and we are them.
There comes a time when you have to stand for something. As Martin Luther King reminds us in his famous speech in the opposition to the Viet Nam, there comes a time when silence is a betrayal.
This is one of those times.
Thank you.