In early February, 16 community foundations of the Comunalia network met in Mexico City to share their strategies and partnerships as they address the rising numbers and diversity of people staying in their country, returning, in transit, or internally displaced.
The Forum began with a panel of experts who gave a panorama of mobility of foreigners within Mexico, internal displacement of people, and people seeking refuge and protection. Then, seven community foundations shared their strategies for supporting people in mobility in their states and the local nonprofits that support them. The states that were represented were Sonora, San Luís Potosí, Nuevo León, Estado de México, Morelos, Querétaro and Jalisco.
Community foundation strategies included:
- Fundraising and grants for local shelters and other nonprofits
- Supporting programs and government alliances for addressing local social and labor integration
- Capacity building for nonprofits serving people in mobility
- Research and publications on labor integration for people with refugee status
- Recognizing the intersectionality of needs of people in mobility as they arrive
- Promoting and facilitating collective action to address public policy and human rights
- Promoting and facilitating the sharing of expertise and information between local organizations
- Researching the experiences and data concerning people in migration on state and local levels
- Forming alliances with federal and international programs
There was an intentional use of language around people in the situation of migration or people in mobility instead of migrants or immigrants during the forum – emphasizing humans as whole beings and not as defined by their state of mobility. In the afternoon, participants visited a local refugee center to learn first-hand about the strategies and challenges of a direct service organization.
On Day 2, the participants were divided into two groups – one to map projects and programs of community foundations within Mexico and the second to map projects and programs of international entities within Mexico and along the borders.
The group then discussed implications, strengths, opportunities, and moving toward a collective commitment to this work within the Alliance of Community Foundations of Mexico (Comunalia). Ideas included:
- Internal coordination and growth of Comunalia to serve its members effectively
- A common communications strategy but that respects the diversity within the membership
- External advocacy and articulation
- Innovation and financing of initiatives
- Specializations and impact measurement
To learn more about the forum in Spanish, read the Relatoria: Alianza por el Futuro de la Migración en México, written through a partnership with Corporativa de Fundaciones and Xenia Consultores.
