The 2009–2010 ELC grantee organizations include:
Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition (AIRC), Austin, Texas
The Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition is a grassroots coalition of immigrants, students, and labor, faith, and community organizations that works to achieve fairness for all immigrants. AIRC combines community organizing and policy advocacy, know-your-rights training and raid preparedness, and public education and strategic communications to advance its mission. AIRC’s current organizing work includes advocating for just and humane immigration reform, and working to limit Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s access to the Travis County Jail. The group’s Welcoming Committee educates the broader public on the contributions of immigrants to the diversity and vitality of our society.
Centro Campesino, Owatonna, Minnesota
Centro Campesino works to improve the lives of members of the Latino and migrant community in southern Minnesota through community organizing, education, and advocacy. Centro Campesino’s Immigrant Empowerment Project includes know-your-rights education, leadership development, and civic engagement activities, as well as organizing for fair and just immigration reform and policy changes at the local, state, and national level. Centro Campesino is currently organizing to get cities and police departments in rural Minnesota to accept foreign consular identification cards as an acceptable form of identification for immigrants.
Coalición de Líderes Latinos (CLILA), Dalton, Georgia
CLILA works to develop the leadership of Latinos in Northwest Georgia through civic engagement programs, leadership training, and grassroots organizing. Centered in Dalton, Georgia, a community that is over 60% Latino, CLILA works to build the political power of the Hispanic community, which has been largely excluded from participation in political and public life. CLILA’s current organizing campaigns are focused on support of comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level, and reform of local immigration enforcement policies.
El Comité Pro-Reforma Migratoria y Justicia Social, Seattle, Washington
Comité Pro-Reforma Migratoria y Justicia Social was organized in 1999 as a grassroots organization in Seattle to draw attention to the plight of immigrant laborers in Western Washington. El Comité seeks to advance the rights of immigrants and promote immigration reform through community organizing, leadership training and capacity-building, and alliance-building with unions, non-immigrant groups, and other organizations. Its current organizing priorities include passage of local and statewide legislation to prevent racial profiling, and support for comprehensive immigration reform.
CREER, San Juan Capistrano, California
CREER focuses on asset-based leadership development for the purpose of empowering and mobilizing Mexican/Latino leaders to pursue higher educational achievements, safer communities, and expanded cultural and recreational opportunities for their children. CREER links youth, education, parental involvement, and cultural programs to community organizing and civic leadership development. Its recent work has focused on ensuring fair and just implementation of the city of San Juan Capistrano’s gang injunction; fighting a city parking ban that imposed hardships on Latino residents; and promoting parental involvement and empowerment through the Latino Educational Attainment initiative.
Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC), Miami, Florida
Florida Immigrant Coalition seeks equal rights for immigrants and their integration into the civic and cultural life of their communities. With over 100 member organizations from throughout the state, FLIC advances its mission through coordination of immigrant organizations and community education, organizing, and advocacy. FLIC’s current organizing priorities include comprehensive immigration reform and reform of local immigration enforcement practices; passage of the “Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act” to promote immigrant access to college; temporary protected status for Haitians; and wage theft.
Hispanas Organizadas de Lake y Ashtabula (HOLA), Ashtabula, Ohio
HOLA seeks to improve the quality of life for Latinos in Northeast Ohio through community organizing, advocacy, coalition-building, and education. HOLA also publishes the HOLA journal, a bilingual newsletter that informs the public about issues important to Hispanics in Lake and Ashtabula County and provides a forum for Hispanic voices. HOLA’s organizing priorities include reforming local immigration enforcement practices, winning support from Ohio’s congressional delegation for comprehensive immigration reform, and developing the leadership skills of Latino youth.
Idaho Community Action Network (ICAN), Boise, Idaho
ICAN was founded in January 1999 with the mission of promoting education and advocacy on issues of social, racial, and economic justice, and eliminating poverty in Idaho, where the Latino population has doubled since 2000. ICAN engages its more than 2,000 members in organizing campaigns to address issues of health care, immigrant rights, affordable access to utilities, and food security. ICAN’s current organizing work is focused on comprehensive immigration reform at the national level, and defeat of anti-immigration measures locally. ICAN is also working actively to build support for immigrant integration among non-immigrants through its Welcoming Idaho campaign.
Latina Initiative, Denver, Colorado
Since 2002, Latina Initiative (LI) has worked to strengthen the political power of Latinas and their families through education and leadership development programs, policy advocacy, research, and civic engagement. Latina Initiative’s organizing and advocacy work addresses issues of education, equal opportunity, health care, humane immigration reform, and sound economic and environmental policies. LI’s current priorities include strengthening its youth and other leadership development programs, expanding its membership base, and reengaging Latinas it reached through its 2008 get-out-the-vote activities.
Mano a Mano Family Center, Salem, Oregon
Mano a Mano Family Center is the oldest Latino organization in the Salem-Keizer area in Oregon’s Mid-Willamette Valley. Its mission is to support the social and economic integration and inclusion of low income and Latinos families and individuals of color in Salem-Keizer, through popular education programs and a model that links direct services with community organizing. Its current organizing work is focused on addressing juvenile justice issues, increasing Latino and minority access to resources from the federal stimulus package, and increasing the political participation of grassroots Latino community members.
Mississippi Immigrants’ Rights Alliance (MIRA), Jackson, Mississippi
The Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance (MIRA) is a membership-based alliance that works to ensure the human rights of immigrants and all workers in Mississippi. MIRA supports immigrants in the exercise of their rights through providing services, organizing, advocacy, and public education. MIRA has also lobbied the successful defeat hundreds of anti-immigrant legislative proposals, including English-only bills and employer sanction legislation. The group’s current priorities include defeating anti-immigrant and anti-worker laws, expanding opportunities for minority green jobs, and promoting high Census participation among communities of color.
Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Advocates, St. Louis, Missouri
The Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Advocates (MIRA) is a coalition of more than 40 organizations that promotes the basic rights of all immigrants through rapid-response/know-your rights programs, direct action organizing, and legislative advocacy. MIRA has defeated more than 60 anti-immigrant bills during the past three years, and works statewide to build support for comprehensive immigration reform. Currently, MIRA’s organizing and advocacy work is focused on securing access to higher education for undocumented students in Missouri and eliminating the five-year bar to access health care for legal permanent resident children and pregnant women. MIRA has also launched the Welcoming Missouri initiative, a positive, proactive, values-based campaign targeted to non-immigrants that highlights the contributions of immigrants to the community.
Nebraska Appleseed, Lincoln, Nebraska
Nebraska Appleseed focuses on advancing policies and practices that promote self-sufficiency for Nebraska’s working poor families, promote the integration and participation of immigrant populations in communities across Nebraska, provide safe and adequate child welfare services, increase low-income people’s access to the legal system, and foster low-income people’s participation in the electoral and public policy decision-making processes. Nebraska Appleseed uses all “paths to justice” available to address problems at their roots, including community education, negotiation, research, network-building, legislation, and litigation. The organization’s current organizing work is focused on immigration reform, meatpacking worker health and safety, and countering hate messages/anti-immigrant proposals while proactively working to build stronger, integrated communities.
Progreso Community Center (PCC), Nashville, Tennessee
PCC is the first Hispanic grassroots membership organization and community center in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded by a diverse group of day laborers, small business owners and their employees, and women workers in 2006, PCC fosters community empowerment through community organizing, education, health, and cultural programs. PCC’s current organizing work is focused on reforming local immigration enforcement practices, increasing local participation in the national campaign for comprehensive immigration reform, and developing a community health promoters program.
Unete, Center for Farmworker Advocacy, Medford Oregon
Unete is a volunteer-led movement of farmworkers and immigrants in rural Southern Oregon, educating their community and advocating for worker rights, humane immigration policy, and full participation in the decision-making processes affecting their lives. Unete is the only Latino-led nonprofit in the Rogue Valley. The organization’s current priorities include addressing inequality in public education through the organizing and advocacy work of its youth and parent leadership groups, Razas Unidas and Voces Unidas, as well as community organizing to address law enforcement and racial profiling issues.
VOZ Workers’ Rights Education Project, Portland, Oregon
VOZ works to promote the rights of day laborers in Portland, Oregon through organizing, leadership development, and community education. VOZ addresses issues of wage theft through worker’s rights training, legal advocacy, and direct action; promotes employment opportunities for its members; and conducts organizing campaigns around local and national immigration issues. VOZ’s current organizing priorities include support for comprehensive immigration reform, and passage of federal anti-wage theft legislation.
