The Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund (LALDEF) has received an expedited payment of $25,000 from a multi-year grant from the Fund for Women and Girls.
Additionally, the fund has removed the grant’s funding restrictions so that LALDEF can use this money to respond to the community’s most urgent needs resulting from the COVID-19 crisis.
Currently, LALDEF is in the second year of a three-year $75,000 grant in support of FUTURO, a youth mentoring program for first and second generation immigrant students who are determined to go to college, according to information provided by LALDEF. The grant will also be used to support clients, many of whom have lost their jobs due to the pandemic.
Currently, LALDEF’s legal consultation fees are waived so that clients are still able to receive desperately needed legal assistance without having to worry about making a payment. Legal services help immigrant victims of domestic violence, those fleeing an ongoing armed conflict, and those eligible under DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), among many others.
“We are grateful for the continuing generosity of the Fund for Women and Girls as they continue to apply their wide-lens thinking to this time, where our most vulnerable communities are most impacted by the pandemic, to support all our efforts to continue providing services most needed by our regional immigrant community,” Dina Paulson-McEwen, executive director of LALDEF, said in the statement. “We are additionally grateful that the Fund recognizes how important it is to support high school youth, as they are advancing towards their new chapters in their lives as college students and young adults, and in particular, to honor and support the women students who currently make up the majority of our cohorts.”
Founded in 2004, the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund is a social impact organization whose mission is to promote the rights of all immigrants by facilitating access to health care, education, and legal representation; advocating for the integration of immigrants; and fostering inter-cultural communication to strengthen our communities. To learn more, visit laldef.org.
Founded in 1998, the Fund for Women and Girls is a field-of-interest fund of the Princeton Area Community Foundation. It is a diverse group of community members who together invest in nonprofit organizations that improve the lives of economically vulnerable women and children in greater Mercer County. Last year alone, the Fund made grants of nearly $200,000 to over a dozen nonprofits serving women and children in Trenton, Hightstown and Princeton. Information about the Fund for Women and Girls can be found at www.pacf.org/fwg