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Announcing the 2025 Rural Welcoming Initiative Participants—Rural Communities Lead the Way
Rural America is changing. Across the country, we’re navigating shifting demographics, economic transitions, and growing divides. But rural leaders aren’t backing down—they’re embracing inclusion, opportunity, and connection. Since 2020, the Rural Welcoming Initiative (RWI) has provided nonprofits and local governments in rural places with the tools, resources, and support to make their communities more welcoming for…
Communities Are Still Welcoming—Let’s Help Them Thrive
It’s been a tough week, with challenges that have shaken us to our core. This week’s inauguration reaffirmed the importance of standing up for welcoming. The recent wave of executive orders issued by the new administration sent a stark message: the promise of belonging and thriving in America is not a right we all share,…
Stand Up for Welcoming: Take Action Against Anti-Immigrant Threats
With the inauguration, we’re seeing a rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric and actions targeting local leaders for their commitment to welcoming and inclusivity. Over 200 cities have already faced threats for standing up for immigrants, refugees, and newcomers—and the pressure is building. We know this is a critical moment to increase the volume of pro-welcoming voices…
Standing Up for Welcoming: Four practical actions for local leaders
To help local leaders prepare for an uncertain and rapidly changing immigration landscape, we’ve outlined four practical actions you can take to stand up for welcoming.
How intergroup relationships build community: Four success stories
Fund to Foster Belonging grantees have brought together immigrants and non-immigrants to build community-wide belonging since 2021. This year, we supported four grantees whose projects bridged immigrant, refugee, and U.S.-born communities through shared initiatives. Their efforts demonstrated how local bridge-building work between different groups – also known as intergroup bridging – can successfully create connections,…
From crisis to cornerstone: How welcoming is creating stability and belonging for this community foundation
Local institutions, like community foundations, can stopgap migration crises by leveraging their local knowledge, resources, and leadership. In this guest post, Valerie Carlin, the chief impact officer at Aspen Community Foundation, highlights how community foundations can go beyond short-term crisis response to build a lasting foundation for belonging and welcoming. In our rural community in…
Navigating the future post-election: we’re here for each other
Grounded in shared humanity, we are committed to fostering belonging and building stronger communities. Yesterday, the American public cast their votes and re-elected former President Trump. Regardless of our reactions—celebration or mourning—one truth remains: our strength in the days ahead will come from leading toward, and not away from, our shared humanity. This election carries…
Building inclusive communities: Welcoming resources for community foundations
As community foundations increasingly recognize the importance of fostering diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, they are discovering that welcoming is a key dimension of this work that is often overlooked. Also known as immigrant inclusion, welcoming refers to the constellation of practices and policies that create environments where immigrants and refugees are embraced into the…
The Role of Policy in Cultivating More Welcoming Communities
What is the role of policy — particularly at the local and state level — in helping integrate veterans, immigrants, and formerly incarcerated people into their communities?