Local organizations receive Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation grants to respond to termination of DACA

Press release from Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation:

The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation is providing $100,000 to organizations across the state in response to the end of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

On September 5, 2017, the President announced the termination of DACA, thereby rescinding work authorization and protection from deportation for nearly 800,000 undocumented young people. This action will have a devastating impact nearly 27,500 DACA recipients in North Carolina.

Recipient’s whose legal status expires on or before March 5, 2018 will have until October 5, 2017 to renew their two-year period of legal status. It is estimated that approximately 6,800 individuals in North Carolina will need to meet the October 5 deadline.

Legal service providers and immigrant advocates are working to coordinate “renewal clinics” to assist as many DACA recipients as possible in meeting that deadline. In addition, significant community education must happen, both about the short-term renewal needs, but also about other implications of the potential end to DACA.

As a philanthropic organization committed to fairness, justice, dignity, and equity, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation believes the termination of DACA is antithetical to fundamental American values, and exacts an enormous human toll, not only on DACA immigrants and their families, but on countless lives and institutions that these individuals have touched.

To this end, the Foundation is awarding a series of “rapid response” grants – through a DACA Rapid Response Fund – to support immigrant-serving and legal service organizations, to provide DACA renewal clinics, community education, and emergency planning services for affected individuals and families through the end of March 2018.

Through a process of requests for proposals to select groups across the state, the Foundation received 23 responses totaling nearly $650,000 in grant requests. Of those 23, the Foundation has awarded eight grants totaling $100,000 to the following:

  • El Centro Hispano will provide renewal clinics and emergency planning services in several NC counties.
  • El Pueblo will provide emergency planning services and community education in Wake County.
  • Hispanic League will partner with El Buen Pastor to provide renewal clinics and “Know Your Rights” workshops in the Triad.
  • El Refugio Centro de Recursos Familiares of Jonesboro United Methodist Church will partner with Apex Immigration Services to provide renewal clinics in several NC counties. El Refugio will also partner with the NC Justice Center to provide emergency planning services in several NC counties.
  • Latino Advocacy Coalition of Henderson County will partner with WNC Workers Center and Compañeros Inmigrantes de las Montañas en Acción to provide renewal clinics in Asheville, Hendersonville, Morganton, and Franklin Counties.
  • NC FIELD, NC Farmworkers’ Project and Student Action with Farmworkers will work in partnership to provide renewal clinics and community education in Lenoir, Johnston, Duplin, Greene, Sampson, Pitt, Cumberland, and Harnett Counties.
  • NC Justice Center is partnering with American Friends Service Committee (Greensboro); El Cambio (Yadkin, Wilkes, Surry Counties); Comité Popular de Asheville por la Justicia Social (Asheville); Comité Popular Somos Raleigh (Raleigh); Education Justice Alliance (Wake County); Mano Al Hermano (Dare County); El Vinculo Hispano/The Hispanic Liaison (Chatham County); YWCA High Point Women’s Resource Center and Latino Family Center (High Point) to provide renewal clinics, community education, and emergency planning services.
  • Pisgah Legal Services will provide renewal clinics in several Western NC communities.

The Foundation shared its plans of the DACA Rapid Response Fund with other funders in hopes of increasing support for affected individuals and families throughout the state. As a result of that effort, Foundation For The Carolinas, headquartered in Charlotte, is providing $70,000 to Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy and Coalición Latinoamericana to provide renewal clinics to serve DACA recipients in Mecklenburg County. Foundation For The Carolinas has reserved an additional $30,000 to fund emerging issues related to DACA beneficiaries.

“DACA immigrants are our friends, classmates, neighbors, and co-workers,” said James Gore, program officer with the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. “They worship alongside us and strengthen our communities as entrepreneurs, leaders, and volunteers and have become an integral part of North Carolina’s social, economic, and civic fabric.”

According to the Cato Institute, ending DACA could cost the state more than $10 billion over the next 10 years.

More information on how the philanthropic community can respond to DACA can be found through Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees at www.gcir.org.

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About Edwin Arnaudin
Edwin Arnaudin is a staff writer for Mountain Xpress. He also reviews films for ashevillemovies.com and is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association (SEFCA) and North Carolina Film Critics Association (NCFCA). Follow me @EdwinArnaudin

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