Black Migrants Are a Key Part of America's Multiracial Future. Funders Need to Empower Them

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By 2060, the Black migrant population in the United States is expected to grow by 90%. For anyone watching global demographic trends, this growth should come as no surprise.

Within six years, the World Economic Forum estimates that Africans will account for 42% of the world’s youth. According to the New York Times, within the next decade, “Africa will [soon] have the world’s largest workforce, surpassing China and India.” Already, 1 in 10 Black people in the United States are migrants, according to a 2020 report from State of Black Immigrants.

Like Black Americans, Black migrants are marginalized by systemic racism, xenophobia, disenfranchisement and more. Philanthropy underinvests in supporting Black migrants. Less than 2% of funding for pro-immigrant and pro-refugee movements goes to Black migrant justice groups.

This missed opportunity is short-sighted. Black newcomers — like myself — will be a vital catalyst for change in the U.S. Growing up in Africa, I never doubted my dreams because of the color of my skin. Thirteen years ago, when I moved to America, I discovered the many ways, both intentional and inadvertent, in which Black people are excluded from the systems that decide who thrives.

Grantmakers such as the World Education Services (WES) Mariam Assefa Fund use philanthropic dollars to help chip away at the vast American architecture of inequity. The fund seeks to ask how our own philanthropic dollars can empower and support Black migrants.

As immigration remains one of the top issues of the 2024 election cycle, such questions are especially pressing. Recently, the number of African migrants arriving in the United States has surged, and nonprofits working on the border have seen the number of migrants from African countries increasing. Meanwhile, the U.S.-Mexico border is considered the deadliest land migration border in the world.

One immediate intervention that the WES Mariam Assefa Fund has undertaken is to invest in Black migrant leaders and organizations who are closest to the situation and positioned to address it at both the immediate and the systemic level. The Black Migrant Power Fund is one such organization. The Black Migrant Power Fund provides, in its words, “immediate, no-strings funding to Black-led, grassroots organizations addressing the urgent needs of Black migrant communities and building power with and for Black migrants in the U.S.” These chronically underresourced grassroots organizations are neglected by philanthropy.

The Black Migrant Power Fund has recently turned its sights on the border, supporting organizations that are combating the increased criminalization of Black migrants crossing the southern border. These organizations are working to free Black families from detention, win temporary protected status for Cameroonians and repeal Title 42, which blocks people from seeking asylum at the southern border.

As one of the few community-led funds in the immigration space, the Black Migrant Power Fund stands as a proof point that philanthropy can be done differently — in deep alignment with power-building, racial justice and community leadership. In its inaugural year, the Black Migrant Power Fund raised over $4 million and gave $1.3 million to 13 Black migrant organizations, and is planning to move $2.1 million to community-led organizations in its second year. These critical resources fill gaps in program budgets, support overhead costs like rent and utilities, and build a small safety net for organizations concerned about funders pulling back their commitments. They build the capacity for these organizations to drive impact, while freeing them from the scarcity and competition that traditional philanthropy often creates.

Haitian Bridge Alliance is another organization advocating for African migrants at the Southern border. In partnership with the African Bureau for Immigration & Social Affairs, the Haitian Bridge Alliance provides free assistance and relief to Black immigrants through the Black Immigrants Bail Fund, which has raised $400,000 to bond out 87 detainees. Haitian Bridge Alliance also recently called attention to language barriers in CBP One, a problem-plagued online app that U.S. Customs and Border Protection requires asylum seekers to use.

The future of this country will be shaped in large part by migrants, including those who are Black. With effective support and adequate investment, Black migrant leaders are positioned to dismantle longstanding systems of oppression and disenfranchisement that affect all Black Americans and damage our society.

The decision about where to invest philanthropy’s limited dollars is always urgent. It is now more so than ever. With one eye on the current situation at the southern border and the other on long-term demographic trends, I believe now is the time for funders to ask hard questions, to re-examine their investment strategies and commit to directing resources toward Black-led organizations that are working to ensure that Black migrants — who will be at the core of our country’s multiracial future — can thrive.

Nomzana Augustin is Associate Director of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships at the World Education Services Mariam Assefa Fund.