Migrant Youth and Families Giving Guide

For donors interested in finding ways to help amidst the migrant crisis in Massachusetts, TBF has compiled a list of direct service organizations with a specific focus on migrant youth and families.

• Ascentria Care Alliance. This nonprofit’s Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (URM) Program provides long-term foster care services to refugee and immigrant youth that have come to the U.S. seeking safety without a parent or guardian to care for them. URM youth are typically ages 16 to 22, are about 75% male, and come from 24 countries around the world.
• Association of Haitian Women in Boston. Women and children living in hotels and shelters around the state are the focus of this organization. They have been carrying out this work leveraging Boston-based Haitian volunteers (and existing staff/board members), but currently are seeking funds to support a dedicated staffer/point-person from their organizations to work with the migrants for 4 hours three to five times a week at the two shelters. In addition to being very involved in the response to the migrant crisis, they are also mobilizing policy makers to address the crisis.
• Caribbean Youth Club. This organization serves Afro-Caribbean immigrant and refugee youth who are relatively new arrivals (1-3 years) and are enrolled in Boston Public Schools. Their mission is “To help newly arrived Caribbean youth make successful transitions into American life and succeed through higher education,” CYB utilizes the richness and diversity of the Caribbean culture, as a platform for comprehensive support.
• Immigrants Assistance Center. The Center is dedicated to helping immigrants meet basic human needs and travel the complex road to American citizenship, employment, and financial self-sufficiency while maintaining their ethnic identity and pride.  
• Immigrant Family Services Institute (IFSI). This important organization helps immigrants navigate available services (Legal Aid, Housing, and Healthcare and Health Insurance) to address their immediate and longer term needs in transitioning to life in the U.S.  IFSI assesses each individual situation and forms a plan that includes the provision of direct services from IFSI as well as referrals to relevant agencies.
• International Institute of New England. The mission of IINE is to create opportunities for refugees and immigrants to succeed through resettlement, education, career advancement and pathways to citizenship.
• Youth & Family Enrichment Services (YOFES). This nonprofit is dedicated to educating, inspiring, and empowering youth living in at-risk immigrant communities in the Boston area. Their focus is on academic support and enrichment, health promotion, youth leadership training and support for parents.