Photo Credit: African Communities Together
Africans Communities Together (ACT) is excited announce that they have received a major gift of $3 million from philanthropist Mackenzie Scott, as part of Scott’s commitment to distributing funds to organizations supporting the voices and opportunities of people from underserved communities. This is thanks to you, our members!
For nearly 10 years, ACT has supported, organized, and empowered African immigrant communities through legal and other services, leadership development, and advocacy. What started from a dining room table in New York City, is now a multi-city community of hundreds of grassroots members nationwide, with offices in New York City, Washington D.C., and Philadelphia.
“African immigrants are the fastest growing immigrant population in the U.S.,” said Amaha Kassa, Executive Director of African Communities Together. “Black migrant organizations like ACT are in the center of some of the biggest immigrant rights and civil rights battles in the country, and globally. And yet, organizations that fight for us, led by us, are often chronically under-resourced.”
“We welcome and celebrate this major gift by Ms. Scott, and eagerly anticipate the boost it will give to the work we do with and for African communities. We commend the prioritization of racial justice, commitment to grassroots leadership, and provision of unrestricted, general support funding as models that should be embraced by philanthropy at large.”
Amongst its key accomplishments, ACT pioneered a language access policy in New York that expanded translation to key languages for African New Yorkers, including Arabic and French. Over the course of the Trump Administration and Biden Administration, ACT has advocated and sued to block anti-immigrant policies, including Title 42, the Muslim and African Bans, the elimination of Temporary Protected Status, and the termination of Deferred Enforced Departure for African immigrants. As a result of this litigation, hundreds of thousands of immigrants retained their legal status; the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness program, the first new pathway to citizenship in decades, passed into law; and an estimated 8 million people worldwide regained eligibility to apply to the Diversity Visa program, with African nationals being the largest group of beneficiaries.
Over the past three years, ACT has organized to fight displacement of African immigrant tenants in the Northern Virginia community of Southern Towers, fighting illegal evictions by the CIM Group and winning rent relief for thousands of low-income African tenants.
Among the priorities that the funding will support is the recent launch of the organization’s third chapter in Philadelphia, a city whose African population has increased 121 percent since 2000.
The donation to ACT signifies the largest single source of funding ACT has received in its decade of operation, providing a major boost to African immigrants across the country!
Source: African Communities Together. Click here for the Press Release https://africans.us/african-communities-together-welcomes-3-million-gift-mackenzie-scott-enabling-major-expansion
Editor’s Note: We, at Africans Help Desk extend our congratulations to African Communities Together for this historic grant received, and we believe that they will continue to provide the services and support needed, particularly in the growing African population throughout the Country
