Grants To Support Services For Immigrants Awarded

Through Fund Managed By The Philadelphia Foundation for PA is Ready! Coalition

PHILADELPHIA, PA (3/14/2016) – Nearly $70,000 in grants to support education, legal services, local leadership and organizing capacity for organizations serving immigrants has been awarded by a coalition supported through a philanthropic fund managed by The Philadelphia Foundation.

The PA is READY! Coalition has approved $69,725 in grants to eight organizations for four projects. Each project represents a partnership between a community-based organization and a legal services provider.

Receiving the grants are:

Organizations must be active members of the PA is READY! Coalition to be eligible to apply for grants. For more information, visit www.paimmigrant.org/paisready.

About The PA is Ready! Coalition

The PA is Ready! Coalition is coordinated by the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition and currently includes 22 member organizations and six partner organizations representing diverse communities throughout the state.

The Coalition’s goals include increasing the capacity of organizations that assist immigrants, providing immigrant families with greater access to accurate information about their legal rights and strengthening the ability of immigrant communities to provide leadership and advocacy on issues that concern them.

The Coalition was formed in 2014 in response to President Barack Obama’s executive actions that would provide temporary relief from deportation and work authorization to as many as 5 million immigrants across the U.S. The Coalition seeks to ensure Pennsylvania is ready for implementation when those actions — currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court — become permanent.

Pennsylvania has one of the fastest growing populations of undocumented immigrants in the country – an estimated 170,000 – who struggle with workplace exploitation, the constant threat of separation from family members and limited access to education, health care and other resources.

Financial support for the Coalition is provided through a $100,000 challenge grant from Open Society Foundations, with matching funds from The Philadelphia Foundation, the Patricia Kind Family Foundation, the Lancaster County Community Foundation and the William Penn Foundation. Contributions are pooled, invested and administered through a charitable fund at The Philadelphia Foundation.

About The Philadelphia Foundation

One of America’s oldest community foundations (founded in 1918), The Philadelphia Foundation (TPF) is committed to improving the quality of life in the Pennsylvania counties of Greater Philadelphia (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia). A foundation and a public charity, TPF connects philanthropic resources to societal needs. TPF manages assets of approximately $370 million and more than 900 charitable funds established by its fund holders. It distributes about $25 million annually to nearly 1,000 nonprofits as grants and scholarships, and promotes greater philanthropy and stronger nonprofits in service to community needs. To learn more, visit www.philafound.org.