Which Latino-Serving Organizations Landed Grants From MacKenzie Scott's Open Call?
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immigrant rights march in new york, 2016. a katz/shutterstock
MacKenzie Scott’s giving entered a new chapter last month when Yield Giving announced the results of its first open call for grant applications. Although she planned to award 250 grants of $1 million each, Scott surpassed that initial goal, awarding a total of $640 million to 361 organizations across the U.S. Of them, 279 organizations received $2 million and 82 organizations received $1 million.
That’s a lot to unpack, and we've previously touched on some of the overall themes that showed up in the results, the features that make it so remarkable in the world of billionaire philanthropy, and the environment-focused groups that received awards. Now, we're turning our attention to the dozens of Latino-serving nonprofits that received open call grants, which span a number of issue areas and geographies.
Unsurprisingly, one of the main areas of focus was immigrant and refugee rights and support. The Yield Giving database shows that in this latest round, 67 grants were made with a focus on immigration or migration, for a total of $122 million.
Building One Community—The Center for Immigrant Opportunity (B1C), for example, offers a number of services, including immigration legal services, English and adult literacy, specialized training to help immigrants find employment through its Workforce Development Program, and academic enrichment services for elementary school-aged children. In addition, B1C provides much-needed individual and family support to help with medical, legal and social challenges.
The Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project (MICOP) is unique among immigrant organizations because it focuses specifically on Indigenous migrant communities in California's Central Coast. Many of the people MICOP supports face unique challenges, including language barriers, as many speak pre-Hispanic Indigenous languages, which can make accessing basic health and social support services difficult.
In addition to providing interpreter services and low-cost immigration legal advice and representation, MICOP's programs also include community organizing and policy advocacy, a domestic-violence-centered program that supports Indigenous survivors of domestic violence, and a youth group and youth scholarship, among others.
Other grantees included Arise Adelante, CAPI USA, the Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants, Florida Immigrant Coalition, Edu-Futuro, Immigration Equality, La Colaborativa, Mano a Mano Family Resource Center, Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, and The Immigration Project.
Support for healthcare, worker rights and Puerto Rico
Healthcare is another major area of focus for grants serving Latino communities. While a lot of grantees provide some form of healthcare support, a number of organizations that received funding in this latest round are specifically focused on healthcare, with an emphasis on Latino communities.
Grantees include Bienestar Human Services, Familias en Accion, The Wall Las Memorias and Vecinos. Bienestar Human Services, for example, works to support the health and wellbeing of Latino and LGBTQ individuals. Founded in 1989 as a direct response to the lack of resources for Latino and LGBTQ people at the height of the HIV and AIDS crisis in Southern California, Bienestar Human Services provides full-service medical care, HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, sexual healthcare, mental healthcare, substance use counseling and medication-assisted treatment.
Bienestar's other services include a food bank for low-income individuals living with HIV/AIDS, a harm reduction program, and youth resources, among others. It also works with Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA), a short-term assistance program that provides emergency help with rent, mortgage and utilities, among other fees.
Several award recipients are organizations that support Latino workers, including Vecinos, which provides culturally appropriate health and wellness services for the uninsured, low-income and farmworker communities in the Western North Carolina region. Justice for Migrant Women works to advance the human and civil rights of migrant women and their families. Another recipient is Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy Project (FLAP), which fights against wage theft, human labor and sex trafficking, hazardous housing, discrimination, family separation and workplace injuries for very low-income laborers in Illinois.
Interestingly, several award recipients are organizations that provide English courses for immigrants, perhaps a nod to Scott’s day job as a novelist. These include the English Empowerment Center, which serves the Northern Virginia area, English for New Bostonians, and Intercambio.
Several organizations based in Puerto Rico also received backing from Yield’s open call — notable because, while it is part of the U.S., Puerto Rico typically receives less philanthropic support than other parts of the country.
Grantees include Corporación La Fondita de Jesús, which is dedicated to helping homeless individuals and people from other vulnerable communities in Puerto Rico. Inciativa Comunitaria promotes health, education and prevention services to populations that have been marginalized by traditional health systems. And Proyecto Matria supports the women of Puerto Rico and works to end domestic violence and gender discrimination.
Other organizations that work to address domestic violence and advance gender justice are Enlace Comunitario, which combats gender inequality and intimate partner violence in the Latino immigrant community in Central New Mexico, and MUJER (Women United in Justice, Education, and Reform), which supports domestic and sexual abuse survivors in the Deep South Miami-Dade County area.
A full list of grantees can be found here.
