Immigration strategies

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Every day, organizations worldwide are engaged in a collective two steps forward, one step back march toward improved immigration services and policies. What hard-earned lessons are these nonprofits, and the foundations that support them, learning from their persistent efforts? This collection of evaluations, case studies, and lessons learned exposes and explores the nuances of effective collaboration, the value of coordinated messaging, the bedrock of ongoing advocacy efforts, and the vital importance of long-term and flexible funding.

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Farmworker Justice 40th Anniversary Booklet: Empowering Farmworkers to Advance Justice

August 2, 2021

This booklet provides a 40-year retrospective on Farmworker Justice's work to advance justice for farmworkers. The mission of Farmworker Justice is to empower farmworkers and their organization to improve wages and working conditions, improve occupational safety and health, improve immigration status, and improve access to the justice system. These four broad goals have shaped the agenda of Farmworker Justice since the beginning. Our founders decided that a multi-faceted approach would work best in pursuing these goals. Their agenda included a strategic mix of administrative and legislative advocacy, training and technical assistance, coalition-building, public education, litigation, and support for union organizing.

Coalition Building & Collaboration; Migrant Workers

Program Update: New York City, Conclusion of the Civic and Political Participation of Immigrant Communities Portfolio

January 5, 2015

From 2010 to 2014, the Fund made 44 grants totaling $3.4 million in the New York City democratic practice portfolio. Over the last five years, the Fund has supported immigration forums, new partnerships and collaborations, academic research, new tools for dissemination of best practices, innovative citizenship outreach models, and new leadership that have helped establish a positive perspective on the many contributions New York's immigrant communities make to its economy and civic dynamism.

Capacity Building; Civic Engagement; Coalition Building & Collaboration

Mentoring Practices in Europe and North America: Strategies for Improving Immigrants' Employment Outcomes

January 1, 2015

This study presents a number of promising mentoring and job coaching initiatives from Europe and North America, with a case study of the Belgian context. Mentoring -- an experienced individual coaching or advising a more junior partner or peer -- is increasingly recognised in Europe as a tool for advancing the labour market integration of disadvantaged individuals. However, the scope, methods, and sustainability of mentoring efforts vary widely by national and local context, and depend on a variety of actors and conditions.The mapping inspired the King Baudouin Foundation to launch a call for projects on mentoring to work in Belgium.

Coalition Building & Collaboration; Field Building

Transforming Lives, Transforming Movement Building: Lessons from the National Domestic Workers Alliance Strategy - Organizing - Leadership (SOL) Initiative

December 18, 2014

Today's millions of domestic workers in the U.S. play a critical role in our society, whether caring for our children, providing home health care for our elderly, or keeping our homes clean for our families. With the demographic growth of the elderly and disabled, domestic workers will only become more essential to our society. Yet, despite the importance and intimacy of their work to those who hire them, domestic workers have been largely invisible to society, undervalued in the labor market, and excluded from basic workplace standards and protections. We begin the report by describing the National Domestic Workers Alliance Strategy -- Organizing -- Leadership (SOL) Initiative program -- its design and the participants -- and the key questions posed for this assessment. We then define the core concepts and framework that underlie the curriculum. The second half of the report is devoted to lifting up a new set of metrics for capturing indicators of transformational leadership. Based on the findings, we discuss valuable lessons for the program and conclude with implications for movement building. This analysis is based on a review of the literature on domestic worker organizing and on intersectionality; on quantitative and qualitative data we collected through surveys, small group discussions, interviews, and observations; and on documents related to SOL provided by National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA). Using a mixed-method approach, we coded all the data and culled the results for common themes. Perhaps more important to note, the analysis in this report is the result of an iterative, co-creative process between USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE), NDWA, Social Justice Leadership (SJL), and generative somatics (gs) -- the sort of process we have called for when recommending a new model of assessment. We thus offer this report as a collective effort in a learning process about a dynamic and evolving model of transformative leadership development, transformative organizing, and transformative movement building.

Advocacy; Coalition Building & Collaboration; Domestic Workers; Staff & Leadership Development; Women

Opening Doors to Citizenship (Summary)

August 12, 2014

The New Americans Campaign (the Campaign) was formed in 2011 by a group of funders and national partners, including the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), to increase the number of eligible lawful permanent residents (LPRs) who apply to become United States citizens. The Campaign, led by the ILRC, draws together a national network of legal service providers, communityand faith-based organizations, foundations and other allies in the public and private sectors. In 2012, the Campaign commissioned Harder+Company Community Research to evaluate whether and how the original eight Campaign sites had increased naturalization rates. The evaluation found that the campaign efforts at these sites had produced increased numbers of completed applications, in large part because of beneficial collaboration, use of innovative approaches, and dynamic learning and support between national and local work.

Coalition Building & Collaboration; Litigation/Legal Services; Research & Evaluation

Evaluation of a Pilot Project to Advance Pro-Immigrant Advocacy for Center for New Community, National Immigration Law Center, Progressive States Action

March 31, 2014

Since the four pillars were articulated in 2007, the immigrant rights movement has expanded in a number of significant ways. It has built stronger partnerships, both with other progressive groups, and with moderate and conservative allies. It has taken on a more state-level focus, as the continued failure to achieve comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level has led to a proliferation of state-level laws and initiatives. And new voices and leaders have emerged within the movement, most notably the "DREAMers," young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children who would benefit from the DREAM Act, which would provide a path to citizenship and other benefits for those in their specific situation.The net result of these changes has been a movement that is more adaptable, more localized, and more diverse -- but not necessarily more effective, when judged by the national-level metric of achieving comprehensive immigration reform. And it is debatable to what extent advances at the state level have been the result of state-level, ground-up organizing vs. coordinated action from national organizations.The pilot project that is the subject of this evaluation gets at these very issues. It addresses the possibility of pro-immigrant advocacy at the state level, and tests a model of national-local collaboration to advance this goal.

Advocacy; Coalition Building & Collaboration; Research & Evaluation

Evaluation of EPIM III: Emerging Insights From the Evaluation So Far

January 1, 2014

This report sets out some emerging insights from the ongoing evaluation of the European Programme for Integration and Migration (EPIM) 2012-2015 programme. The activities of EPIM and this evaluation lie at the very heart of EPIM's efforts to strengthen the capacity of NGOs active in migration and integration issues, to engage with and influence decision-making at EU and Member state levels, and to do so by drawing on a rigorous evidence base, and through a pragmatic approach. Founded in 2005 as an activity of the Network of European Foundations (NEF) in a unique effort to fund European migration and integration organisations, EPIM's activities include strategic grant-making as well as networking, capacity-building, supporting advocacy and policy work. The Programme has now disbursed over €3m to more than 24 grantee organisations. Drawing on experience and learning from previous phases, EPIM's current three core areas of focus are asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, and equality, integration and social inclusion of vulnerable migrants. Recognising the importance of the role played by civil society, one of EPIM's key goals is to strengthen the advocacy capacities of NGOs at the European level. This goal reflects the fact that over the past decade the EU has become an important actor in the field of immigration and asylum, as well as that the majority of countries face some challenges in this area.

Advocacy; Coalition Building & Collaboration; Communications & Media; Litigation/Legal Services

CONEC Volunteer Matching with Legal Service Providers

January 1, 2013

In early 2013, with Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) looming on the horizon, Silicon Valley Community Foundation launched a technology innovation project to support the technology needs and aspirations of immigration legal services providers in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties in California. The effort was envisioned as an opportunity to engage a cohort of agencies in a unique co-creation process exploring the use of technology to enhance citizenship and naturalization services for immigrants in Silicon Valley.

Capacity Building; Coalition Building & Collaboration; Litigation/Legal Services

Bolder Together

April 1, 2012

Shares lessons learned from a funder collaborative in support of efforts to boost voter participation and citizen engagement. Outlines benefits of collaboration and elements of success, including common strategies and goals and a focus on four counties.

Civic Engagement; Coalition Building & Collaboration

Collaborative Strategies for Day Labor Centers

September 16, 2011

This guide is designed to assist local officials, immigrant serving organizations, day labor center planners and leadership, and others to understand how collaborative relationships and partnerships can help communities to effectively establish, support and sustain day labor centers.

Coalition Building & Collaboration; Community-Based Outreach & Activity; Migrant Workers

Using Experiments to Improve Progressive Hispanic Voter Registration

July 1, 2010

This was an ambitious project. By bringing together leading organizations from different areas of the progressive movement, The Atlantic Philanthropies sought to address a gaping need for progressives: how can we be more effective at progressive Hispanic voter registration? With over 12 randomized controlled experiments, across different modes of voter registration, this research project has yielded several useful results, and quite a few unexpected ones. Many of these results involved collaborations between the groups involved in this project: Campaign for Community Change, Democracia Ahora, Rock The Vote Action Fund, and Women's Voices. Women Vote Action Fund. This spirit of cooperation was critical to the success of this project, as each group contributed its own unique strengths and expertise to the broad portfolio of projects.

Civic Engagement; Coalition Building & Collaboration; Research & Evaluation

Media, Public Storytelling and Social Justice: An Introduction to FOMACS, Forum on Migration and Communications

February 1, 2010

This case study, commissioned by Atlantic Philanthropies, presents snapshots of projects demonstrating how The Forum on Migration and Communications (FOMACS) strengthens the voices of migrants and NGOs who work in the migrant sector by using collaboration, creative arts, digital media and storytelling as catalysts for social change, advocacy and educational transformation.

Advocacy; Coalition Building & Collaboration; Communications & Media