Resources

The voices of immigrants and refugees should be strongest when it comes to decisions that affect their communities. Too often they are not. The goal of the Elevating Migrant Leadership: Building Inclusive Futures Funding Opportunity is to shift power to where it belongs: to immigrants, refugees, and other communities whose voices are often unheard.

How? By supporting organizations that work with immigrants and refugees who are seeking to develop civic leadership and advocacy skills so they can more effectively influence the development of programs and policies that affect them and their communities.

In 2022, the WES Mariam Assefa Fund conducted a series of stakeholder interviews to understand what our partners and the field thought was needed to build more inclusive communities. As a result, the Fund launched a participatory grantmaking initiative and recruited an Advisory Committee that comprised immigrant and refugee leaders with deep expertise to help shape and lead this initiative. The Committee determined the need to prioritize supporting immigrant and refugee leaders to strengthen their influence in shaping their futures.