Demonstration Project: Nexus

Strengthening Refugee and Immigrant Led Organizations

Related links:
• Project Partners
• Project Bibliography
• Research Report: Factors in Successful Capacity Building with Immigrant- and Refugee-Led Organizations
• Final Report: Crossing Borders Sharing Journeys: Effective Capacity Building with Immigrant and Refugee Groups (1,515k pdf)

Between 1990 and 2000, the number of foreign-born residents in the United States increased by 31.5%, according to Mapping the Immigrant Infrastructure report prepared for the Annie E. Casey Foundation by the Applied Research Center, Spring 2002. There has been a parallel rise in the number of nonprofit organizations that are assisting immigrants and refugees with resettlement issues and helping them contribute to their new communities. New refugee-and immigrant-run organizations are being formed to aid in this task.

But the leaders of these organizations are often dealing with resettlement issues themselves, are unfamiliar with how nonprofit organizations operate in the U.S., and are in addition faced with the funding and organization development challenges that any new nonprofit faces. In addition, as new immigrant populations grow in the cities and regions across the country, many mainstream nonprofits become interested in learning to effectively serve refugee and immigrant communities.

Over the past ten years, Wilder Center for Communities (WCC) of the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation (now with Fieldstone Alliance) has been exploring different approaches to increase the capabilities and performance of refugee- and immigrant-run organizations. We know that other capacity building organizations around the country have also been trying different approaches to achieve the same goal.

Nexus is a two-year project funded by a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation Innovation Fund. The project brings together 10 capacity building organizations that are committed to strengthening refugee- and immigrant-led organizations. Our group of capacity building organizations, brought together from across the country, are sharing what we've learned, and identify and try promising practices to strengthen refugee- and immigrant-led organizations.

For more information, please contact Sandy Jacobsen at 651.556.4510 or email her at sjacobsen@FieldstoneAlliance.org.