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All three adult wage earners in one household sick for weeks with COVID--without a stimulus check, health insurance, or other help. A college student with DACA who is working 70 hours a week to support her sisters, one of whom lost her work permit for months, due to COVID-related delays in renewal. A domestic violence survivor who is trying to make a new start, without status to work legally or access many helping sources. A single immigrant father who lost his documents and was staying in his car with three children waiting for the paperwork to be processed to replace his work authorization. A household that included extended family members of three generations that lost nearly everything in a fire.
These are some of the needs addressed with Immigrant Allies Helping Fund grants since 2020.
Many of our immigrant neighbors face barriers to accessing traditional safety net programs, and have been disproportionately impacted during this pandemic--as well as the added hardships from the 2018 tornado and 2020 derecho in Marshalltown.
The Immigrant Allies Helping Fund serves as a complement to other programs and empowers trusted Community Response Coalition organizations to better serve immigrant or refugee families with extraordinary needs, needs outside of the scope of the COVID resources, needs not necessarily caused (but exacerbated) by the COVID pandemic, as well as help immigrants who may have ties with our community, but live outside county lines.
So far, since 2020, Immigrant Allies Helping Funds have been distributed in partnership with CAPS, ACCESS, MICA, House of Compassion, Al Exito, and CoSI.
Organizations using funds agree to the following requirements by signing this grant agreement:
1) to help someone who identifies as an immigrant or refugee or a family with immigrant and refugee members, who has needs determined to be basic/essential. These needs may include immigration-related fee or legal help, if related to the ability for the person or family to meet basic needs.
2) to use funds as a supplement to, not a replacement for, existing help that may be available. Info about what other sources of help were sought, as well as info about barriers to qualification.
3) to use alternatives to traditional identification requirements, if providing picture ID and/or other identifying documents is a barrier for the family in need.
4) to share with us some basic information and stories of individuals and families who have been helped (while protecting confidentiality) so we can share this impact with existing and future donors.
How to request funds:
A need for grants, up to $500, may be made at any time by Coalition organizations by contacting us. The organization representative in charge of spending the grant funds (with authority to sign on behalf of the organization) will need to sign the agreement or have a signed agreement already on file. The Fund Advisory Committee* will review the request and have a check issued from the fund within approximately one week of receiving the request. We are not able to issue funds to individuals directly, but may be able to help refer individuals to a helping organization that can receive funds to assist them.
The Community Foundation will verify non-profit status of applying organization. Please include the organization address that the check should be mailed to and/or to whose attention. If you are making a gift in honor or in memory of someone, please include your notification preferences with the donation.
How to donate to the fund:
Tax deductible donations can be made to the Immigrant Allies Helping Fund online or by mail:
Fund Information
(NOTE: the 3.5% referenced on the online system is a suggestion by the Community Foundation to cover credit card fees; it does not reduce or increase the amount of your donation to us.)
*Immigrant Allies Helping Fund advisory committee is made up of Joa LaVille & Maria Gonzalez, co-coordinators of Immigrant Allies, and Wendy Soltero, Immigrant Allies supporter and community representative.
These are some of the needs addressed with Immigrant Allies Helping Fund grants since 2020.
Many of our immigrant neighbors face barriers to accessing traditional safety net programs, and have been disproportionately impacted during this pandemic--as well as the added hardships from the 2018 tornado and 2020 derecho in Marshalltown.
The Immigrant Allies Helping Fund serves as a complement to other programs and empowers trusted Community Response Coalition organizations to better serve immigrant or refugee families with extraordinary needs, needs outside of the scope of the COVID resources, needs not necessarily caused (but exacerbated) by the COVID pandemic, as well as help immigrants who may have ties with our community, but live outside county lines.
So far, since 2020, Immigrant Allies Helping Funds have been distributed in partnership with CAPS, ACCESS, MICA, House of Compassion, Al Exito, and CoSI.
Organizations using funds agree to the following requirements by signing this grant agreement:
1) to help someone who identifies as an immigrant or refugee or a family with immigrant and refugee members, who has needs determined to be basic/essential. These needs may include immigration-related fee or legal help, if related to the ability for the person or family to meet basic needs.
2) to use funds as a supplement to, not a replacement for, existing help that may be available. Info about what other sources of help were sought, as well as info about barriers to qualification.
3) to use alternatives to traditional identification requirements, if providing picture ID and/or other identifying documents is a barrier for the family in need.
4) to share with us some basic information and stories of individuals and families who have been helped (while protecting confidentiality) so we can share this impact with existing and future donors.
How to request funds:
A need for grants, up to $500, may be made at any time by Coalition organizations by contacting us. The organization representative in charge of spending the grant funds (with authority to sign on behalf of the organization) will need to sign the agreement or have a signed agreement already on file. The Fund Advisory Committee* will review the request and have a check issued from the fund within approximately one week of receiving the request. We are not able to issue funds to individuals directly, but may be able to help refer individuals to a helping organization that can receive funds to assist them.
The Community Foundation will verify non-profit status of applying organization. Please include the organization address that the check should be mailed to and/or to whose attention. If you are making a gift in honor or in memory of someone, please include your notification preferences with the donation.
How to donate to the fund:
Tax deductible donations can be made to the Immigrant Allies Helping Fund online or by mail:
Fund Information
- Mail checks to: Community Foundation of Marshall County, 709 South Center Street, Suite 131, Marshalltown. Please note Immigrant Allies on your check or with your donation.
(NOTE: the 3.5% referenced on the online system is a suggestion by the Community Foundation to cover credit card fees; it does not reduce or increase the amount of your donation to us.)
*Immigrant Allies Helping Fund advisory committee is made up of Joa LaVille & Maria Gonzalez, co-coordinators of Immigrant Allies, and Wendy Soltero, Immigrant Allies supporter and community representative.