Time to Push the Senate to Act!

Dear Allies,

In today’s newsletter, we are sharing information about what you can do now to push the Senate to take action on an immigrant-inclusive COVID relief package. We also have an announcement about our 2020 PIF grantees and new research and resources to share. Before diving into those updates, as the Movement for Black Lives continues to inspire and ignite conversations around racism in our country's systems and structures, we want to share how we have been unlearning and combating anti-blackness as white and non-Black people of color.  Here are some resources and articles that we have found helpful, and hope you will too: 

• Dismantling Anti-Blackness Together (the Latinx Project, NYU)

• Solidarity Not Allyship: A Call to the AAPI Community [Op-Ed] (COLORLINES)

• We Can’t Talk About Immigration without Acknowledging Black Immigrants (Yes! Magazine)

• Rosa Clemente On Allyship And Confronting Anti-Blackness (NPR)

• The Asian American Reply to Pandemic-Era Racism Must Be Cross-Racial Solidarity [Op-Ed] (Truthout)

• Today through Thursday, July 23, we have a key opportunity to speak up for immigrant families when Congress returns from the Fourth of July recess. Join the PIF Campaign in a collective effort to urge Senators to support immigrant-inclusive policies in the next COVID relief bill.  There is a limited window for advocacy, as Congress is expected to pass legislation in late July or early August, and then will be out of session until the fall.  To support your efforts, we have an updated federal advocacy toolkit available at bit.ly/PIFCOVIDKIT.  The toolkit includes federal policy asks, key messages, state fact sheets, a social media toolkit, and more. 

• On Friday, July 24, the Children Thrive Action Network (CTAN) is partnering with the PIF Campaign to host a Day of Action for Immigrant Children and Families. Our main ask during the Day of Action will be to urge Congress to ensure sure that all children, including children in immigrant families, have access to the economic relief their families need to make it through this crisis. This Day of Action will occur in coordination with the #FocusOnKids second week of action led by the Children’s Defense Fund, Coalition on Human Needs, and First Focus. Stay tuned for new content in the #FocusOnKids Social Media Toolkit. 

We are thrilled to announce the grantees for the most recent funding cycle of the Protecting Immigrant Families Campaign! This was our most competitive cycle to date, with more applications than ever before. We were inspired by every single proposal, but unfortunately, the amount of funding we had available was not nearly enough to match the tremendous need.  We are thankful to work with and learn from such strong partners in communities across the country. Congratulations to the new grantees! 

Based on interviews with immigrant-serving providers in Las Vegas and Houston, the Urban Institute recently released two site-specific briefs that focus on chilling effects in immigrant communities and describe emerging efforts to engage and support immigrant families amid fear and confusion about the regulation.

• Supporting Immigrant Families in Las Vegas: Efforts to Reduce Chilling Effects Around the Public Charge Rule at the Local Level

• Supporting Immigrant Families in Houston: Efforts to Reduce Chilling Effects around the Public Charge Rule at the Local Level

The Center for Reducing Health Disparities at UC Davis and the California Health Care Foundation are hosting a three-part virtual symposium on Trauma-Informed Care and Services for Immigrant Families. In the first session scheduled for Tuesday, July 28 (12-2:30pm PDT), experts will discuss trauma in immigrant families in the context of public charge, DACA, and COVID-19. Free registration is available at: https://tinyurl.com/UCDTrauma-InformedSymposium.

Thank you for your continued partnership!

Madison Allen (CLASP)
Connie Choi & Jenny Rejeske (NILC)

Visit us at https://protectingimmigrantfamilies.org/