August 26, 2024

Maine Initiatives is thrilled to announce the 2024 Immigrant-Led Organizations Fund Cohort, 10 immigrant-led, community-based organizations dedicated to advancing immigrant flourishing in Maine. 

Capital Area New Mainers Project 
Community Organizing Alliance 
Generational Noor 
In Her Presence 
Khmer Maine 
Maine Association for New Americans 
Maine Community Integration 
New England Arab American Organization
Presente! Maine 
Somali Bantu Community Association 

Each of these organizations will receive a $45,000 unrestricted grant paid out over three years, $15,000 per year, and are invited to participate in a series of capacity-building and community outreach activities with their fellow grantees over the course of their grant period. 

Through our community-led, participatory process, the 2024 cohort members were identified as leaders across our state providing critical direct service support to immigrant communities; advancing immigrant flourishing through community building, grassroots organizing, advocacy, and/or policy change; and strengthening immigrant communities by embracing and preserving cultural practices. We encourage the public to learn more about each of these organizations’ missions and listen for their volunteer opportunities and calls to action.

Since 2018, the Immigrant-Led Organizations (ILO) Fund at Maine Initiatives has sought to organize people and resources in support of efforts across the state that intervene on persistent barriers experienced by immigrants of color: xenophobia, racialized discrimination, and insufficient support from municipal and state governments. We believe that immigrants enrich our communities and should be included, valued, and celebrated in all aspects of life. 

2024 marks the ILO Fund’s transition from a rapid-response fund into a community-led, participatory grantmaking program. This participatory process incorporates the input of hundreds of volunteer application Readers across the state, and convenes a Grantmaking Advisory Committee composed of immigrant leaders, organizers, and activists to collectively decide each annual grantee cohort.

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Maine Initiatives is a community-based foundation supporting social, economic, and environmental justice in Maine through informed, intentional, and collective philanthropy. Our core programs are Grants for Change, the Immigrant Led Organizations Fund, the Outdoor Equity Fund, The Giving Project, and MaineShare.

Photo credit: 2024 ILO Grantee Maine Community Integration.