Meet Rosemarie Powell, Executive Director of Toronto Community Benefits Network
Wednesday April 14, 2021
Rosemarie Powell, who leads the Toronto Community Benefits Network (TCBN), has been at the forefront of pivotal community development and organizing throughout her 32 years in Canada. Rosemarie first arrived in Montreal from Jamaica at age 16 with her siblings to reunite with her mother. …
Our 2021 Funding Priorities
Thursday March 11, 2021
The WES Mariam Assefa Fund’s principle of “learning by doing” as a funder is a constant. Every day, we learn from our 35-plus grantee and investee partners about which solutions hold promise, where we can do more, and what it takes to create …
Actions for Funders: Strengthening the Advancement of Workers in Low-Wage Jobs
Thursday February 25, 2021
In 2019, the WES Mariam Assefa Fund partnered with the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation to explore how catalytic financing tools could drive more capital toward addressing the needs of immigrant and refugee workers. The impact of the pandemic made this …
Fund Joins Toronto’s Workforce Funder Collaborative
Thursday February 11, 2021
In 2020, the WES Mariam Assefa Fund joined Toronto’s Workforce Funder Collaborative (TWFC) alongside six other philanthropic funders: The Counselling Foundation of Canada, JPMorgan Chase, Metcalf Foundation, Ontario Trillium Foundation, United Way Greater Toronto, and TD Bank Group. This newly formed collaborative, the …
How the IRC’s Center for Economic Opportunity Is Making Finance More Inclusive
Friday February 5, 2021
Charles, a client of IRC’s Center for Economic Opportunity. Photo courtesy of IRC-CEO. Access to banking and financial services enables economic mobility. However, many refugees and immigrants in the United States face barriers to affordable financing, especially when they are new to the …
Driving Capital into the Immigrant-Serving Sector: 8 Key Takeaways from our Twitter Chat
Wednesday January 27, 2021
On December 15, World Education Services (WES) brought immigrant serving-organizations together for a Twitter chat to discuss funding for and investing in organizations and solutions that enable immigrants and refugees to thrive. The conversation focused on how to drive more capital toward creating …
Storytelling for Social Impact: Tools and Resources
Friday January 8, 2021
This fall, the WES Mariam Assefa Fund and the Tarsadia Foundation hosted a three-part webinar series, Storytelling for Social Impact. The series was offered to all who applied to the Opportunity Challenge: $1 Million to Uplift Immigrant Communities, a joint, open grantmaking initiative …
How Our Partners Inspired Us in 2020
Tuesday December 22, 2020
As we wind down the final weeks of the year, the WES Mariam Assefa Fund team is reflecting on all that we’ve learned and holding on to the inspiration and hope that will carry us into the new year. The year 2020 has …
The Welcoming Center on Engaging Immigrant Talent: Learning From a Shared Dialogue
Monday December 21, 2020
This piece originally appeared on the Welcoming Center’s website on November 25, 2020 and is cross posted here with permission. The Welcoming Center is a grantee partner of the WES Mariam Assefa Fund. Our world is collectively experiencing a pandemic as well as …
Fund Announces First Impact Investments to Support the Success of Immigrant and Refugee Workers
Tuesday December 15, 2020
NEW YORK — (Dec. 15, 2020) — The WES Mariam Assefa Fund today announced impact investments of $750,000 to ensure that immigrants and refugees in the United States have access to the tools and capital they need to acquire digital and other job-related …
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