More than 10 community groups that include the Black Immigrant Collective and ISAIAH, have launched the Minnesota Immigrant Families COVID-19 Fund to raise funds to help the state’s undocumented community who have been left without access to state and federal economic programs designed to offer relief during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of May 11, the fundraising which is going on at GoFundMe has raised over $217,000 of a targeted $300,000.
The fund is available to all undocumented individuals or households whose main sources of income is from immigrants who are not eligible for state and federal benefits.
Individuals can apply at this link.
The money can be used to pay for groceries, utilities, pay for DACA or TPS renewals and for short-term partial income loss to COVID-19 among others. Visit this link for further information.
Undocumented immigrants typically do not have social security numbers but instead use what is called Individual Tax Identification Numbers (ITIN) and the IRS takes in billions of dollars of tax payments from these undocumented workers. However, the $2 trillion CARES Act that Congress passed made people who filed taxes with an ITIN ineligible for assistance. Furthermore, US citizens or green card holders who jointly filed taxes with someone using an ITIN, they are also ineligible for the stimulus checks of about $1,200.
Minnesotans of goodwill can make donations to the fund at this link.
To apply for funds, use this link.
The community organizations involved in creating the Minnesota Immigrant Families COVID-19 Fund include: Asamblea de Derechos Civiles- St Cloud Chapter, Asian American Organizing Project (AAOP), Awood Center, Black Immigrant Collective (BIC), Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha (CTUL), ISAIAH, Navigate MN and National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) St. Cloud chapter and Release MN8.
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About Tom Gitaa Gitaa, Editor-in-Chief
Born and raised in Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa, Tom is the Founder, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Mshale which has been reporting on the news and culture of African immigrants in the United States since 1995. He has a BA in Business from Metro State University and a Public Leadership Credential from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He was the original host of Talking Drum, the signature current affairs show on the African Broadcasting Network (ABN-America), which was available nationwide in the United States via the Dish Network satellite service. On the show, he interviewed Nobel laureates such as 2004 Nobel Peace prize winner, Professor Wangari Maathai, the first woman from Africa to win the peace prize and heads of states. Tom has served and chaired various boards including Global Minnesota (formerly Minnesota International Center), the sixth largest World Affairs Council in the United States. He has previously served as the first Black President of the Board of Directors at Books for Africa. He also serves on the boards of New Vision Foundation and the Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium. He has previously served two terms on the board of the United Nations Association. An avid runner, he retired from running full marathons after turning 50 and now only focuses on training for half marathons.
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Hi . In my house hold we are 4 2 adults 2 kids . One adult doesn’t have social security number and we were disqualify for the relief fund from the government. I was looking for any fund in the state of MN. and I found one and seems that is closed due to high demand . I would like to know if there is any new information about new funds or something. Please and thank you.
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