Fellowship Opportunity: Racial Equity and Immigrant Justice

The Opportunity

Echoing Green and the WES Mariam Assefa Fund are particularly interested in supporting leaders who are taking action to build wealth, realize justice, and create access to opportunities at the community level.

The initiative will provide support for up to 19 proximate leaders in the U.S. and Canada, including up to 6 new Fellows and up to 13 Echoing Green alumni. New Fellows will receive $80,000 in seed funding. Alumni Fellows will receive up to $25,000 in follow-on funding to scale their organization’s racial justice efforts. All Fellows supported through this initiative will have access to capacity-building opportunities and a community of practice.

To learn more about this fellowship opportunity and apply, visit Echoing Green’s website.

Background

This partnership is significant in light of the need for leadership that better represents shifts in population demographics. Currently, 50 percent of immigrants in the U.S. are from Mexico or other Latin American countries. A recent Pew Research Center report finds that 1 in 5 Black people in the U.S. is an immigrant or a child of immigrants from Africa or the Caribbean.

This initiative with Echoing Green will invest in leaders who work at the intersection of race and immigration and are tackling systemic issues of racism and xenophobia in order to create more equitable economies and communities for all.

The WES Mariam Assefa Fund is committed to shifting power and resources to leaders with direct knowledge and firsthand experience of their communities’ needs. The fellowship program will support Black, Latino, and Asian immigrants and communities, among other communities who add significant value where they live and work, but often go unrecognized. This is also an opportunity for the Fund to learn from the selected Fellows and understand their approaches to addressing structural barriers and supporting communities of color in workforce, education, and immigration systems.