Collaboration will be supported by grant from Pivotal Ventures, a Melinda French Gates company
NEW YORK — Upwardly Global — a leading workforce development organization focused on connecting immigrants and refugees to skill-aligned employment — is teaming up with Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrant Refugees (GCIR), the nation’s philanthropy-mobilizing organization focused on advancing immigrant and refugee justice, to address and dismantle systemic barriers that immigrant women of color face to economic security. The partnership is made possible through a grant from Pivotal Ventures and directly aligns with their goal advancing social progress for women and families in the United States.
“We know that immigrant women and, in particular, immigrant women of color face the most extensive barriers to workforce reentry and economic mobility in the U.S. These barriers include employer discrimination, social isolation, limited access to services, time poverty, and sexual harassment. As a result, immigrant women of color are far more likely than their white counterparts to be unemployed or underemployed,” said Jina Krause-Vilmar, President and CEO of Upwardly Global. “We are partnering with GCIR and Pivotal Ventures to address these barriers, expand their power and influence, and ultimately strengthen our communities.”
Collaborating over the next three years, GCIR and Upwardly Global will work to build economic inclusion and social power across class, industry, and geography for immigrant and refugee women of color through movement building, skilling, and investing in mutual aid networks and worker cooperatives. Upwardly Global will leverage its network of 150+ employer partners to engage the private sector, while GCIR will mobilize its network of 140+ local, state, and national funders to invest in this population.
More broadly, the work also seeks to shift the narrative on immigrant and refugee women’s power, influencing company culture to ensure corporate diversity/equity/inclusion initiatives are inclusive of and advance immigrant women of color, and shifting philanthropic strategy to invest more resources in immigrant and refugee women leadership.
“At GCIR, we envision a society in which everyone thrives no matter where they were born. We are proud to partner with Upwardly Global and Pivotal Ventures to move money and power for immigrant and refugee women and girls of color historically marginalized and excluded from philanthropic investment,” said Marissa Tirona, President of GCIR. “In particular, we will shine a spotlight on those disproportionately impacted by the wealth and wage gaps, including Black, Indigenous, Brown and LGBTQIA+ immigrants as well as migrant workers in rural areas.”
As a result of this groundbreaking partnership, Upwardly Global and GCIR will support a transnational workers’ movement aimed at advancing the economic power and security of immigrant and refugee women, galvanizing both philanthropy and the private sector to invest in this population’s well-being and ensure their successful social and workforce inclusion.
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About Upwardly Global
Upwardly Global is a national nonprofit whose mission is to eliminate employment barriers for immigrant and refugee professionals and advance the inclusion of their skills into the U.S. economy.
About Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrant Refugees (GCIR)
GCIR galvanizes philanthropy to advance immigrant justice and belonging. Since their founding in 1990, they have played a critical role in the social justice ecosystem as a thought leader and an intermediary between philanthropy and the field. Their work has mobilized hundreds of millions of dollars in investments to address issues affecting immigrant communities across the country.