Fund for New Citizens

The Fund for New Citizens was established in 1987 after passage of the Immigration Control and Reform Act of 1986. The Fund coordinated foundation efforts to help the city’s immigrants understand and benefit from the new law. At the same time, it seeded the New York Immigration Coalition, now a statewide group of almost 200 immigrant-serving nonprofits.

Since inception, the Fund has continued to help the city’s immigrants understand and respond to complex and often-changing immigration laws and policies. It has made more than $26 million in grants to groups across the five boroughs that reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the city’s immigrant populations. Its grants support advocacy for policies that benefit the city’s immigrants, capacity-building for immigrant-led groups that anchor this advocacy, and affordable immigration legal services. It also provides opportunities for foundations to learn about current immigration issues and coordinate funding that reaches immigrant groups more effectively.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

·  Helping create the New York Immigration Coalition, an organization with nearly 200 members that is now the leading voice for newcomers in the state and a leader in national advocacy efforts;

·  Developing legal service partnerships to provide high-quality, free immigration legal assistance at trusted community organizations. With encouragement from the Fund and its grantees, the city’s investment in immigration services grew from $7 million in 2013 to $48 million in 2019;

·  Aiding thousands of young immigrants in obtaining Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status, which temporarily afforded undocumented young people the opportunity to live and work in the U.S. without fear of deportation;

·  Providing resources and technical assistance to build the capacity of more than 130 immigrant-led, grassroots organizations throughout the city’s five boroughs; and

·  Helping almost 100,000 New Yorkers receive cash assistance through the Fund for Excluded Workers.

·  Altman Foundation

·  The Catherine and Josephy Aresty Foundation

·  Booth Ferris Foundation

·  FJC, A Foundation of Philanthropic Funds

·  Interest on Lawyer Account Fund of the State of New York (IOLA)

·  The New York Community Trust

·  Morton K. and Jane Blaustein Foundation

·  North Star Fund