21 A 28-year-old Honduran woman raped and left to die by her abuser; a mother escaping El Salvador with her five-year-old after her older son was murdered by a local gang; a Ugandan woman beaten first by a domestic abuser and again by the police she ran to for safety. These are stories of refugees who turn to Community Legal Services and Counseling Center in Cambridge, says Executive Director Mojdeh Rohani, whose agency provides legal and counseling services for immigrants and low-income residents. Shifts in immigration policies and their enforcement have had devastating effects on immigrant families. This is why the immigration crisis emerged at the forefront of the issues we addressed this year. We leveraged all our resources as a grantmaker, philanthropic partner, and civic leader to raise awareness, rally friends, and collect funds to help the most vulnerable in our community. In partnership with Mayor Marc McGovern, we launched Cambridge Legal Defense Fund for Immigrants with a grant of $50,000. In 6 months, that seed money grew to $200,000 through more than 280 private donations ranging from $5 to $50,000. Major contributors included the Louis Foundation the Johnson Family and Why Wait Funds of the Foundation, and the Fish Family Fund. At our CCF forum Lives in Limbo: Immigration as a Human Rights Issue, June 27, scholars from Yale, Boston College, and Harvard and legal experts discussed the “These are some of the most compelling human rights issues, and I believe one of the most compelling human rights movements of our time. We’re experiencing the culmination of what amounts to a long crisis over immigration in this country.” Daniel Kanstroom, Professor of Law at Boston College and co-director of its Center for Human Rights and International Justice immigration crisis: where we are, how we got here, and where we are headed. Cambridge residents hosted and attended other conversations and encouraged their neighbors to get engaged. In October 2018, we awarded a quarter of a million in grants to four local legal defense organizations to increase legal services for low-income immigrants on a fast-track for removal or those threatened by removal, including young people protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). CCF Forum Lives in Limbo: Immigration as a Human Rights Issue CCF gathering The Immigrant Experience: Learning through Art and Community Voice $50,000 donation from Louis Foundation CCF issues request for proposals for grants CCF awards $255,000 in grants to four legal defense organizations June 27, 2018 Sept. 24, 2018 October 2018 July 2018 August 2018 “It’s time we start putting our bodies, our wealth, our privilege on the line for justice. We need to find concrete ways to harness the outrage we feel, put an end to this injustice, and make Cambridge and our country the socially and economically just community we truly want it to be.” Mayor Marc McGovern, City of Cambridge Photos by Phil Johnson, Jeffrey Blackwell, and Lauren Marshall