The second major initiative of our Meeting the Moment work alongside Sustaining Families, Supporting Our Immigrant Neighbors is a collaboration with civic and community leaders, funders and our community of donors to provide legal protection, rapid relief, and advocacy – all essential supports to help immigrant individuals and families stay safe, housed, fed, and on a path to economic security.
Supporting Our Immigrant Neighbors is a three-pronged strategy to protect, support and stand alongside the more than one million foreign-born people in Greater Boston and Massachusetts—a commitment to service and compassion in the face of mounting social inequities, so we might contribute to a more just society, improve lives and strengthen communities.
We begin with protection. Immigrant families, and the organizations that serve them, are under increasing pressure, and demand for legal support is rising quickly. We will expand our support of legal aid and community-based efforts that defend rights, provide representation, and help families navigate systems that have become increasingly complex and intimidating.
We must also prepare ourselves and our communities for the longer-term fight. Beginning with a specially-focused round of our Safety Net Grants program, we will provide over $2 million to immigrant-focused and -serving organizations. These direct, flexible resources will help our partners respond to ongoing needs and prevent families from falling further behind.
Advancing this work also depends on truth-telling. At a time when too much of the public conversation about immigrants has been driven by misinformation, and access to data is being limited and distorted, we will redouble our commitment to credible research.
Boston Indicators, alongside other immigrant-focused research organizations, will pair data with the powerful stories of lived experience to inform public understanding, guide philanthropic investment, and support policies rooted in evidence. We will also partner with a diverse group of storytellers to elevate the narratives, contributions, and diverse lived experiences of immigrant communities.
Organizations represent four interconnected categories: Legal Aid, Community Organizing, Policy and Advocacy, and the Social Safety Net, that reflect the breadth of current needs and the work being done to support and protect the rights of immigrant neighbors.
Meeting the Moment: Supporting Our Immigrant Neighbors is powered by support from the Boston Foundation and its community of donors. While the Foundation makes grants from its discretionary endowment, those funds are supplemented by gifts from our donor community, as well as by aligned gifts, financial support given directly to immigrant-serving organizations by our Donor Advised Fund community.
This work requires all of us to take part, and provides ready opportunities for donors, nonprofits and community members to join this vital work.
Contribute to Supporting Our Immigrant Neighbors through your donor advised fund or through our donation form.
Learn more and apply for this special round of Safety Net Grants. Applications open on March 12.
Visit Boston Indicators to access the latest research.
Explore our Giving Guide to give directly to immigrant- serving nonprofits.
In this opinion piece, TBF President and CEO shares the Supporting Our Immigrant Neighbors strategy, and our commitment to service and compassion in the face of mounting social inequities, so we might contribute to a more just society, improve lives and strengthen communities.
Read the full piece