WE STAND with our immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking neighbors. 
WE BELIEVE in the inherent dignity of all people. 
WE BELIEVE in welcoming the stranger. 
WE BELIEVE that loving your neighbor means stepping up to help in their time of need.

This moment calls for us to care for one another. The goal of the chaos and cruelty we are witnessing in our communities is terror and control. Community is the antidote. Care is resistance. Now is the time to lean into abundance, to draw together, and to be a resource of care for one another. We are seeing this happening every day in real time across our community: 

…in the support that people are giving to those who are sheltering in place.
…in the courage of those who are going to school and work and to volunteer despite the threat. 
…in the people who are in the streets to say: “Not in our name!”

This is the work we have been doing together for years: bringing people together, building community, mobilizing resources. If you have been part of this work, now is the moment that we need you to step up: we are calling you in. If this is the first time that you are getting engaged: Welcome. We need you, too. Here is how we are moving:

We are responding to immigrant and BIPOC leadership. We are blessed to have tremendous and experienced immigrant and BIPOC leaders here in Maine. We are following their lead: People like Mufalo Chitam and the team at Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, a critical resource for information, resources, and advocacy. People like Crystal Cron and the team at Presente! Maine and the Maine Solidarity Fund mobilizing mutual aid and providing food, resources, and support for directly impacted individuals. 

We are prioritizing safety and protection. Mufalo and Crystal are leaders who are stepping out in public roles. They have consented for us to highlight them and the work they are doing. And there are so many more immigrant and BIPOC leaders who are doing incredible work on behalf of community. But the reality is that being an immigrant leader and a BIPOC leader means you have a target on your back. In this reality, we need to adapt how we move to prioritize safety and protection for those who are on the front lines of this crisis. 

We are moving in community. We are drawing on the deep connections our Immigrant-Led Organizations Fund team has to community: both the immigrant and BIPOC leaders on the front lines of this crisis and the funder and donor community. We are convening, connecting, and moving at the speed of trust to get resources where they need to be when they need to be there.  

We are making grants. This is core to who we are. Last week, we made $260,000 in grants to 93 organizations that are on the front lines of community care. We are actively mobilizing rapid response grants from the Immigrant-Led Organizations Fund to the organizations providing critical, unique, and timely services to directly impacted communities right now.

All of these grants come from donors who step up to support this work. Your support of our work makes everything we do possible. Will you consider making a gift to support Maine Initiatives today? 

In Solidarity,
Phil Walsh
Executive Director