CPER/FFF Special Opportunities Fund: “Improving Educational Opportunities for Immigrant Children”

To support work at the intersection of immigration and education reform, the Four Freedoms Fund (FFF), a national funding collaborative created to energize American democracy by supporting and engaging immigrants and refugees, is working with Communities for Public Education Reform (CPER), a partnership of local and national foundations working to improve educational opportunities and outcomes for students in low-income communities. Together, they have created the "Improving Educational Opportunities for Immigrant Children" special opportunities fund.

A key lesson from CPER's first-round grantees is that organizations working to improve educational quality and equity were increasingly working with newcomer parents and families, since children in immigrant families are a growing share of the public school population (projected to comprise 30% nationwide by 2015). Meanwhile, FFF donors' experience showed that education has become a priority issue for organizations working on immigration reform.

In response, CPER and FFF collaborated to create the "Improving Educational Opportunities for Immigrant Children," a joint-funding initiative to address such issues as access to higher education for immigrant students, bilingual education, and weighted student formulas for English Language Learner (ELL) students. This special opportunity fund supports organizations working in sites already funded by FFF and CPER: Chicago, Denver, New Jersey and Philadelphia.

The potential cross-fund benefits of this joint-funding initiative include:

  • Alliance-building between diverse grantees and donors
  • Meeting needs on the ground-addressing cross-movement community needs
  • Donor education - providing donors opportunities to learn about issues affecting both their and their grantees' work, where they intersect and how they can support each other
  • Knowledge and relationship-sharing, particularly among PIP and fund staff
  • Broadening the funding base for both funds, while leveraging additional funds beyond those already committed

To learn more about the CPER/FFF "Improving Educational Opportunities for Immigrant Children" special opportunities fund and its grantees, visit the CPER website.