Grants

Grant Recipient

Fawohodie Foundation NFP

Awarded: August 2024 Awarded Amount: $100,000

Grant Recipient

TALLER DE JOSE

Awarded: August 2024 Awarded Amount: $10,000

For more than 15 years, Taller de Jose (TDJ) has served Chicago’s Latinx communities through our unique programs and services that connect, accompany, and advocate for people in need of help with issues ranging from immigration to legal, financial, medical, and others. Demand for services has risen dramatically in recent years, largely because we serve a great number of migrants seeking asylum and citizenship. As we endeavor to meet demand by increasing staff and volunteer participation, we gratefully seek funding through the Nuestro Futuro opportunity.

Grant Recipient

ARISE CHICAGO

Awarded: August 2024 Awarded Amount: $10,000

Arise Chicago is the lead organization in the nation in securing immigration protection for workers defending their rights on the job through the federal Deferred Action for Labor Enforcement (DALE) policy. Under DALE, immigrant workers involved in labor disputes have access to temporary work permits and valid Social Security numbers. In order to meet the needs of the community, Arise Chicago must rapidly expand our DALE campaign prior to the presidential election, when the policy’s fate is unknown. DALE cuts across race, class, gender, and age and has the power to dismantle racist, structural inequalities and indignities and the potential to bring greater stability to immigrant communities. A temporary work permit allows workers to speak up about unsafe conditions, unpaid sick days, unlawful scheduling, and other workplace abuses. It could provide upward mobility to immigrants, allowing them to fight to improve working conditions and wages. For example, Arise has supported El Milagro food production workers through the DALE process and to take collective action in the workplace to earn over $2 million in wage increases. Securing a valid SSN and being able to tie it to previously-used SSN without penalty from the employer means that workers who become residents or citizens can reap benefits of Social Security in retirement and access Medicare at age 65. This is a critical opportunity for health care access for immigrant workers otherwise often left out of health coverage. Arise Chicago members are immigrant workers who work in the lowest paid, least regulated industries, including non-union manufacturing and food production, restaurants, commercial cleaning, small non-union construction, and domestic work (home cleaners, nannies, care workers). 90% of our 1,624 current members are Latine-identified, the vast majority immigrants who could benefit from a program like DALE. Arise Chicago’s DALE programming is spearheaded by our Worker Center, which is led by a Latina and 100% of the staff is Latine-identified. In 2023, we invested heavily in growing our expertise and being at national tables on DALE strategy. Arise Chicago launched and learned from a successful pilot program, educated 1,500 new workers on their rights, and rapidly expanded staff to respond to the monumental need in the community. Arise Chicago is a national leader on DALE applications; thus far we have scheduled 444 intakes, submitted 428 applications, and 357 workers have received their work permit! Arise Chicago has also worked tirelessly to educate more agencies about the DALE program, assist other groups with establishing new systems for processing claims, and successfully advocated for a smoother application process. Thus far, Arise has: Initiated, designed, and led a symposium, with 100 immigration, community, and labor leaders attending (including Jessie Hahn from NILC as a presenter) Developed a 40-page DALE Resource Guide With Chicago Federation of Labor, led a second symposium Developed a 46-page DALE Toolkit Twice convened six offices from Chicago, Cook County, and Illinois government offices to guide and support them in developing their guidelines Invited to join tables with prominent national immigrant rights groups, including NILC to advocate for and learn latest DALE developments Educated over 700 workers about DALE in 2023 alone Developed worker handouts explaining DALE in easy to understand language Organized workers to testify to the Department of Homeland Security and the US Department of Labor Briefed Congress in Washington, D.C. in April 2023, with 2 El Milagro workers speaking Met with individual union leaders to educate them about how to best support their undocumented members Held workshops at consulates to educate immigrants on their rights Collaborated with national groups to develop legal strategies and programming Piloted the first individual domestic worker DALE case in the country, which will serve to create a national model Trained 13 other organizations, both locally and nationally, on the DALE program Similar to other forms of immigration relief, the application process is complex: It involves knowledge of approximately 10 government offices and their individual particular requirements, turn-around time, investigations, etc. Each application requires about 10-15 hours of individual attention from staff. DALE PROCESS For eligible workers who wish to apply for DALE, workers: Receive extensive training in the requirements to apply for DALE Identify the labor dispute in their workplace in order for Arise to secure the Statement of Interest Co-strategize with Arise as to which government office to apply for the SOI Cooperate with government office’s investigation if required Acquire SOI that verifies their labor dispute Meet individually with an Arise DALE Navigator for an intake; and to verify all DHS-required documents are compiled Allow Arise to fingerprint them, to screen for outstanding violations that could flag problems* Meet with DALE Navigator to develop draft of written narrative about their experience in border crossing, required for DHS application Meet individually with Arise-appointed attorney to be interviewed Be screened for eligibility for U-visas, advanced parole, and parole in place Sign the final document that gives permission to the attorney to submit the DHS application When possible, engage Consulates to help defer a portion of the $410 DHS application fee *For complex cases that were flagged, Arise will secure a highly seasoned attorney with complex case experience. AFTER DHS APPROVAL workers: Complete biometrics process required by applicants DHS has approved Receive a 2-year temporary work permit Complete process with Social Security Administration to secure new SSN Develop strategy with Arise on how to update SSN in employer’s personnel records Bring their hard-earned Social Security benefits from the past into their new valid SSN Begin renewal process 6 months before expiration of the two-year work permit Receive support, if eligible, to recover Social Security benefits Receive support, if eligible, to revise status to access Medicare Bring financial stability and dignity to workers, their families, their communities In order to better meet the need of our base, Arise Chicago hired 2 Arise members as full-time DALE Coordinators (one of whom is a DALE recipient herself); hired an Arise member as full-time DALE & Membership Assistant; contracted 3 Arise worker members as DALE Navigators; secured pro bono or low bono services from 20 lawyers from 12 firms and non-profits; secured volunteer retired immigration attorneys to help screen cases; and secured a volunteer Ecuadorian lawyer who is unable to practice in the US as a DALE Navigator and Data Coordinator. There is increased urgency to rapidly expand our capacity to submit DALE applications because the fate of the program is unknown following the presidential election later this year. In partnership with groups across the country, Arise has developed a strategy to submit as many DALE applications as possible prior to the fall 2024. We believe that the more workers are processed, the more likely it is that the Department of Homeland Security will continue this crucial program. We also plan to advocate to make this program permanent should the election outcome be favorable to immigrants. So many community members stand to benefit from DALE protection. Attendance at our Know Your RIghts workshops have quadrupled since the start of 2023. We believe that, as word-of-mouth grows, we could have 20,000 people at our door. Our waitlist grows exponentially every day, expanding further because many of the initial cases will be up for renewal in the coming months. Arise has the expertise and systems in place, but lacks the financial resources to hire and contract the needed personnel, and purchase the necessary equipment and supplies to scale up to meet the need. In order to respond to this urgent need, Arise must expand its capacity. With this funding, Arise could: Train 2,000 more community members on their rights in the workplace Increase current 3 DALE Navigator hours to meet the urgent demand in the community Contract and train 2 additional DALE Navigators Assess growing need for DALE Navigators and continue to increase their hours and/or recruit, contract hire, and train more Navigators as needed Contract and/or hire legal personnel to coordinate, recruit, assign, track, oversee and update cases with lawyers; Contract an immigration attorney or legal non-profit to develop an Arise pilot program of pro se cases to conduct staff trainings, oversee applications Recruit law students Recruit volunteers Transition to a fully digital application process Purchase additional laptops and other tech equipment for processing applications

Grant Recipient

Enlace Chicago

Awarded: August 2024 Awarded Amount: $10,000

Enlace Chicago is requesting consideration for funding for our immigration services. Our services include free Legal Aid Clinics and immigration focused workshops. Enlace collaborates with Beyond Legal Aid to oversee the free Legal Clinic, offering a wide spectrum of services. These services include legal advice, community-based legal education, extended assistance, and full representation in various areas such as immigration, family law, employment/labor, housing, criminal records, public benefits, and consumer issues. Additionally, Enlace offers a range of immigration-related educational workshops and assistance with immigration applications. Our initiative is flexible, adapting to the evolving needs of the community. Our workshop topics include adjustment of status, citizenship, the U-Visa, power of attorney, and know your rights. Our immigration team works closely with local institutions to deliver these workshops and services. We also support these institutions in becoming "sanctuary spaces" for immigrant community members, providing a safe and supportive environment.

Grant Recipient

Healing to Action

Awarded: August 2024 Awarded Amount: $15,000

Healing to Action’s mission is to end gender-based violence (GBV) by building the leadership and collective power of the communities most impacted–survivors from immigrant, low-income, disability, LGBTQ+, and communities of color. Through leadership development, grassroots organizing, and movement capacity-building, HTA’s innovative and culturally competent program model directly addresses the systemic barriers, root causes, and cultural stigma that prevent the most marginalized survivors from accessing the support necessary to leave abusive situations and rebuild their lives. Nearly two thirds of our powerful base of survivor leaders are immigrants who identify with a variety of nationalities and ethnicities, including Mexican, Guatemalan, Peruvian, Mongolian, Ecuadorian, Colombian, and Kichwa. Because of this, much of their community leadership activities take place in immigrant communities across Chicago, and particularly with immigrant survivors of gender-based violence. The rest of HTA’s leadership base represents other communities disproportionately impacted by gender-based violence: survivors from Black, Latinx, low-income, LGBTQ+, and disability communities. 100% of survivors in our leadership base identify as low-income, 94% as women of color, 65% as immigrants, and 19% as people with disabilities. Gender-based violence disproportionately impacts all of these communities, further enabling their marginalization, exacerbating their healthcare costs, increasing their likelihood of criminalization, and jeopardizing their economic security. By meeting survivors from non-immigrant communities that are experiencing intersecting forms of marginalization, HTA’s immigrant survivor leaders are able to overcome their isolation and forge powerful relationships across culture, language, and nationality. With the support of Nuestro Futuro funds, this summer we will launch our fourth cohort of Healing Generations and provide 15-20 new survivor-leaders with skill-building, healing support, and leadership development. Healing Generations is an 8 week program that was designed in collaboration with low-income, immigrant, and Latine survivors across the city and helps survivors develop a shared political analysis of the root causes of gender-based violence. Participants develop skills to support survivors in their communities, and learn about community organizing so they can dream and implement new solutions for survivor safety that are grounded in their own experiences and wisdom. Incoming and current HTA survivor-leaders will build community with one another and engage in an arts healing practice during Healing Generations. Current leaders will also provide peer mentorship to incoming graduates and support onboarding new leaders into our active survivor-leader base through the HTA Circle structure. Funds will also support graduates of Healing Generations (both this current and previous cohorts) in using their skills to support other immigrant survivors in their communities. Using a hybrid promotora and grassroots organizing model, HTA’s survivor leaders will plan and implement workshops with immigrants and other low-income communities of color that are dynamic and accessible. In these workshops, they will discuss gender roles and expectations, consent, healthy relationships, and how to have intergenerational and community-centered conversations about gender-based violence to prevent future harm. Survivor leaders will also build awareness and capacity within Chicago Public Schools to support caregivers in talking about gender-based violence at home, and becoming agents of change in their school communities. These activities will be powered by HTA’s close-knit Leader Circles which meet regularly, where survivor leaders set collective goals and assign roles to execute them based on specific skill sets or interest areas that each individual leader wants to develop. Our Community Support Circle bridges together previous and current Healing Generations cohort members to strengthen our network of powerful leaders, identifying areas for continuing education, developing peer support and outreach strategies, mentoring new leaders, promoting relationship-building, and recruiting future cohort participants. In our Organizing Circle, survivor-leaders develop strategies and tactics to build community voice to address gender-based violence through grassroots outreach, narrative work, civic education, and working with community institutions. Some of our target goals and objectives for 2024 include: Goal 1: Deepen HTA’s powerful peer-to-peer network for isolated survivors through leadership development and peer outreach a. Through Healing Generations 8-week leadership program, 12-18 survivors deepen their understanding of the root causes of gender-based violence. b. HTA leaders co-facilitate at least 40% of sessions of the Healing Generations Leadership Program and mentor at least 50% of new cohort members. d. Through a collective arts healing opportunity, HTA fosters connection and community-building between new cohort members and existing leaders. e. HTA survivor leaders facilitate 2-3 workshops to connect with new communities of marginalized survivors. Goal 2: Create a blueprint for building the capacity of school communities to support youth in preventing gender-based violence a. Through a three-part train-the-trainer program, 5-10 caregivers at Parent University Networks 7 and 8 (a majority immigrant community with a large influx of newly arrived migrant families) understand critical components of sexual health and consent education and commit to training other caregivers. b. Through 1-2 healing cafecitos, 3-8 parent leaders at Walsh Elementary (a majority immigrant community with a large influx of newly arrived migrant families) will deepen their understanding of gender-based violence and sexual health and foster parent support with one another; building a sense of belonging and community. C. 3-8 Walsh parent leaders will develop and execute organizing strategies for advancing sexual health and prevention education through 1-3 strategy/action-planning sessions and bi-monthly 1/1s with HTA. Goal 3: Provide intensive leadership development and healing support to HTA survivor leaders through ongoing skill-building and healing retreats so they can effectively initiate peer-led dialogues in their communities a. HTA strengthens leaders' facilitation, public speaking, and outreach skills through offering 3-4 training opportunities in leader circle meetings. b. Through 3 retreats, HTA leaders learn 1-2 healing modalities/skills they can use to build relationships with each other, regulate stress, and sustain their leadership over time. c. Through quarterly 1/1s with each HTA leader, HTA's organizers will provide individualized support so leaders can achieve personal growth while contributing to collective Circle goals. Goal 4: Break isolation and stigma and connect immigrant survivors to HTA’s community of support through leveraging P2P network to reach marginalized survivors in target communities a. As trusted access points, HTA leaders hold 350 conversations about gender-based violence with community members. b. HTA leaders receive 150 disclosures from survivors, and provide 125 referrals to resources.

Grant Recipient

Northern Illinois Justice for Our Neighbors

Awarded: August 2024 Awarded Amount: $10,000

NIJFON's vision is a world where all immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees are welcomed, supported and able to live without fear. NIJFON works towards its vision everyday through its mission of providing free immigration legal services to low income immigrants throughout Northern Illinois, providing education and advocacy on immigrant rights and building cross cultural communities. Racist systems perpetuate the advancement of immigrants by keeping them in poverty, silent and vulnerable. NIJFON works on uplifting immigrants and integrating them into society by providing them the opportunity to have their day in court and building a quality of life through just policy while challenging and dismantling racist systems. NIJFON fights against harmful legislation that threatens to permanently separate immigrant families, educates and trains on the challenges faced with the immigration system, and advocates to increase political will to make needed reforms. NIJFON's respectfully requests operating funds of $20,000 to support much needed free legal immigration services. Support will help us fund legal services for immigrants seeking relief throughout cook county and collar counties throughout Northern Illinois. With this request, NIJFON will continue to increase its legal capacity, education and advocacy to protect immigrant rights, support new legal intake and continue to lower its caseload, allowing our legal team to provide free consultations and immigration legal services throughout the year. With this funding NIJFON can help clients with humanitarian cases in areas with little or no access to legal services. NIJFON also continues to respond to the increasing needs of recent arrivals, partnering with organizations to provide Temporary Protected Status and Employment Authorization applications, educate on the asylum system and processes, and help recent arrivals get access to benefits for asylum seekers, a free legal consultation or referral. NIJFON also understands that it is extremely important to continue to advocate for the rights and protections of the long term undocumented immigrant population that has been in the United States for 10, 15 and 20 + years in the shadows. It is urgent that as we help and support recent arrivals, we continue to build the advocacy around the broken immigration system that is unjust and unfair and keeps 11 million plus individuals in the shadows, with no access to benefits, health care, work authorization, legal status and citizenship (among many other things) depriving them of living a good quality of life and making them vulnerable to fraud, injustices and unsafe work conditions that have cost many immigrants their lives.

Grant Recipient

CENTRO ROMERO

Awarded: August 2024 Awarded Amount: $10,000

Centro Romero is seeking $20,000 in grant funds for our Community Navigator program, which trains and empowers members of all ages to be pillars of their own immigrant communities through education and outreach.

Grant Recipient

DISABILITY LEAD

Awarded: August 2024 Awarded Amount: $500