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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Deepening Community Across WES’ Mission Investing Partners to Advance Collective Impact and Action
By Matthias Pries, Impact Investing Manager “Sometimes you have to be together in a physical space with folks to forge trust and build genuine relationships and connection.” Betty Francisco, CEO of Boston Impact Initiative This idea captures the inspiration for World Education Services’ inaugural investee partner gathering. In late October, ahead of the SOCAP23 […]

Reflections on Convening Our Partners Supporting Rural Immigrants’ Success
Reflections by the WES Mariam Assefa Fund’s Lauren Crain, director of U.S. grantmaking and strategy, and Shevani Khatri, U.S. program associate For immigrants and refugees to experience communities as welcoming, inclusive access to economic opportunity is critical. However, in rural communities, there are major gaps in awareness of how and why it is important to […]

Meet Isempower, a Success Platform for International Students in Canada
As a former international student from Thailand, Pat Chaisang’s wish is to support other international students as they begin to pursue fulfilling careers in Canada. This desire ultimately led her to found Isempower – an all-in-one technology platform that helps international students bridge the gap between education and employment. According to Isempower, 70 percent of […]

How University Campuses in Rhode Island are Advancing Refugee Inclusion
Refugees arrive in the United States with tremendous skills, but too often face a tangle of barriers that make it hard for them to get good jobs and other critical supports. And too often, traditional resettlement approaches inadvertently create additional challenges. For example, resettlement agencies are typically focused on ensuring that refugees achieve “rapid economic […]

Fund Partners with United Way Greater Toronto to Support African Refugees and Asylum Seekers
In Toronto, the escalating housing crisis and gaps in federal funding have led to the city’s shelters reaching and even exceeding capacity. As a result, many recent refugees and asylum seekers have had to sleep on the city streets. While the allocation of federal and city funding is being figured out, there is an urgent […]

How Oakland Bloom Empowers Immigrant and Refugee Chefs
“Food is a powerful connector across communities, to lands, as well as to one’s own health, expression, home, lineages, and identity. But the food industry is also built on systemic extraction, appropriation, and exploitation, particularly impacting poor and working-class people of color and immigrants,” says Diana Wu, director of Oakland Bloom, a non-profit in Oakland, […]

A Playbook for Power-Shifting in Philanthropic Investment
by Smitha Das, Joi Edwards, Katheryn Witt Rethinking Who’s at the Table Philanthropy has the power and the resources to help build an economy where all people—no matter their race or class—can thrive. Power, ownership, and choice over where and how capital is used—to build a representative economy—should be shared. If we want investments to […]

Meet Said Hassan, Co-founder of Community Services Agency in Green Bay, Wisconsin
Said Hassan founded Community Services Agency (COMSA) in 2017 to meet the unique needs of refugees and immigrants arriving in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he had settled himself a year earlier. “Our goal is to build a resourceful community that contributes to the well-being of all residents, to recognize that newly resettled refugees face trauma […]

Meet Two of Toronto Community Benefits Network’s New Ambassadors
In June, Toronto Community Benefits Network (TCBN) kicked off its 2023 Community Benefits Ambassadors program. TCBN, a grantee partner of the WES Mariam Assefa Fund, works to ensure that Toronto’s construction projects provide jobs to immigrants, refugees, women, and other groups underrepresented in the sector. The Ambassadors are emerging leaders in the construction industry. This […]

How the Drivers Cooperative Is Helping Immigrant Workers Reclaim Their Power
The Drivers Cooperative, a grantee partner of the WES Mariam Assefa Fund, is a New York City-based organization of over 9,000 drivers who came together during the pandemic in pursuit of fundamental change in the rideshare vehicle industry. A driver-owned alternative to Uber and Lyft, the co-op has been able to create a guaranteed $30 […]

Building the Financial Resilience and Sustainability of Our Grantee Partners in Canada
Non-profit organizations in Canada play a crucial role in creating communities and economies that are inclusive of immigrants and refugees. However, a lack of flexible, stable, long-term funding often holds non-profits back from being innovative and providing the level of support that communities need. The available funding, in most cases from the government, is often […]

Fund Announces Lead Investment in Mission Driven Finance Capital Partners
The World Education Services (WES) Mariam Assefa Fund today announced a $500,000 commitment to Mission Driven Finance (MDF) Capital Partners, a new vehicle to fuel inclusive economic development by equipping businesses and projects doing good with the right capital in the right size at the right time. Mission Driven Finance, co-founded by Lauren Grattan and […]
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