Funding and Financing for Impact
Learn how the innovative use of financial tools—including participatory grantmaking, investments, and more—creates access to opportunity for immigrants, refugees, and the communities they join.
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Tips for Funders Beginning Their Participatory Investing Journey
This piece is co-authored by Smitha Das and Katheryn Witt and is the result of a partnership between the WES Mariam Assefa Fund and Common Future. In March 2022, Common Future launched the Action Lab: Participatory Investing, a partnership with the WES Mariam Assefa Fund. The Action Lab is a 12-month initiative in which funders are learning […]
New Workforce Initiative Will Connect Immigrants and Refugees in Rural Areas with Employment Opportunities
BOSTON (OCT. 3, 2022) – Jobs for the Future (JFF), a national non-profit driving transformation in the American workforce and education systems, today announced an ambitious two-year initiative for economic advancement for immigrants, refugees, and migrant workers in rural areas. The Rural Immigrant Success Exchange (RISE), a partnership with Ascendium and the World Education Services […]
Reflections on the Fund’s Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Journey
In 2021, the WES Mariam Assefa Fund team set out to specify how we center justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) in our work. We asked ourselves what our priorities and philanthropic practices looked like, and the steps we could take to put equity at the forefront. As a funder focused on building more inclusive […]
NASH Announces $230,000 Grant from the Fund to Catalyze Leadership Role for Public University Systems in Refugee Resettlement
Funding will enable public higher education systems across the nation to support their campuses in serving as communities of welcome for refugees in both urban and rural areas as U.S. ramps up refugee resettlement efforts Washington, D.C. – The National Association of System Heads’ (NASH) Refugee Resettlement Initiative (RRI) announced today a $230,000 grant from […]
Five Ways Employers Can Invest in Untapped Immigrant Talent
This blog piece was originally published by JFF (Jobs for the Future). At JFF’s 2022 Horizons summit, experts from across sectors offered insights on how to engage, support, and upskill an overlooked talent pool—and boost your company’s bottom line. With more open roles than jobseekers to fill them, employers in every sector are rethinking how […]
How Six Community Organizations are Bridging Economic Gaps for Newcomers in the Peel Region of Ontario
Originally published on the Future of Good website, this post was written by Neha Chollangi. The WES Mariam Assefa Fund is partnering with Future of Good on a series of digital stories to highlight the Fund’s first ever participatory grantmaking project. Developed in the Peel region of Ontario, the project is facilitated by the Tamarack […]
Fund Announces $1M in Grants to Advance Inclusive Employer Practices and Career Pathways for Immigrants in the U.S. and Canada
The WES Mariam Assefa Fund today announced US$1 million in grants to eight organizations in the United States and Canada working to shift employer practices and develop career pathways that support the economic mobility and success of immigrants and refugees. In the U.S., the Fund awarded grants to African Bridge Network, Center for Southeast Asians, […]
Fund Announces Grants to Support Newly Settled Afghan Refugees in the U.S.
Over the past 10 months, resettlement agencies in the United States have welcomed more than 76,000 Afghan refugees as part of Operation Allies Welcome. As they settle into their new communities and lives here in the U.S., there is a need to ensure their longer-term social and economic inclusion. Refugees need more than a roof […]
Paving the Way for Internationally Educated Early Childhood Educators in Nova Scotia
In 2020, Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS) approached the WES Mariam Assefa Fund with a project idea to help internationally educated early childhood educators (ECEs) and primary school teachers better access jobs as ECEs in the province. ECEs are trained to support the social, emotional, and physical development of children under the age […]
Shifting Power in Impact Investments
This blog post was created by Katheryn DeWitt of Common Future and originally published on Medium. Foundations in the United States hold over $1 trillion in assets — 93 percent of which is invested in Wall Street rather than being used for the common good. What’s worse, decisions about the allocation of these assets are regularly […]
Employee Ownership: Helping to Close the Racial Wealth Gap and Benefiting Immigrants and Communities of Color
This blog post was created and originally published by SOCAP. Employee ownership is a powerful business model that can scale businesses, create higher-quality jobs, and strengthen communities, but limited financing is available to help businesses make this transition. Impact capital can expand democratic employee ownership to build generational wealth, help close the racial wealth gap, […]
Meet Claudia Rosales and Alfonso Neal, Co-Directors of Pioneer Valley Workers’ Center
As executive co-directors of the Pioneer Valley Workers’ Center (PVWC), Claudia Rosales and Alfonso Neal embody the organization’s mission of harnessing the collective power of immigrant workers. Claudia and Alfonso leverage their personal and professional experiences to lead PVWC, a WES Mariam Assefa Fund grantee partner that launched in 2014 to strengthen and center power […]
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