Announcing the FirstGen Grantees: The Foundation for California Community Colleges and the Society of Refugee Healthcare Providers
To mark International Women’s Day 2023, FirstGen is honored to announce the recipients of its inaugural $25,000 FirstGen Spark Grant. The Foundation for California Community Colleges and the Society of Refugee Healthcare Providers both advocate for women who identify as refugees, immigrants, and migrants by providing access to services they are often denied—the resources, support, and care that give these women the greatest chance to thrive in their new home.
Founded in 2015, the Society of Refugee Healthcare Providers comprises doctors, nurses, social workers, and other professionals dedicated to the health care needs of refugees and asylum seekers. The nonprofit also works to reduce health disparities through education and advocacy at individual, institutional, and government levels. The ultimate goal is to improve the way North America approaches immigrant health. Society of Refugee Healthcare Providers members report serving over 195,000 refugees per year.
The $25,000 FirstGen grant will support the Society of Refugee Healthcare Providers in its missions to jumpstart a sexual and reproductive health and rights working group/committee; provide member scholarships to 60 health professional women identifying as refugees, immigrants, or migrants (RIM); and to develop open source education materials regarding key topics in RIM women’s health for healthcare providers.
The Foundation for California Community Colleges benefits, supports, and enhances the California Community Colleges. The vision is to help people achieve a better future through education and, in turn, create a more just, equitable, and thriving world.
With support from the FirstGen grant, the Foundation of California Community Colleges, will launch, ‘The Determined Voices: Stories of Immigrant Women.’ The project is an 18-month public awareness campaign that will share the stories of a cohort of diverse immigrant women, who have all launched successful careers after attending California Community Colleges.
The goal of the campaign, which will be showcased on social media, is to inspire women of all ages who are immigrants, regardless of immigration status, to explore higher education at the colleges as an accessible and proven path to future success. Video storytelling will document the hopes, struggles, and triumphs of immigrant alumnae during their journey from college to career.
The experiences of immigrant and refugee women are often ignored. The recipients of the FirstGen grant are ensuring their voices never go unheard again.
Meet the Grantees
The Society of Refugee Healthcare Providers
The Society of Refugee Healthcare Providers is the first of its kind: an organization created to enable health providers to deliver equitable refugee and immigrant health. We work to improve how the US and Canada approach refugee and immigrant health and reduce health disparities through: educating health providers, connecting professionals for integrated initiatives, and advocating change at individual, institutional, and governmental levels. Members and attendees of our annual North American Refugee Health Conference report serving over 195,000 refugees per year. Visit the Society of Refugee Healthcare Providers website.
The Foundation for California Community Colleges
The mission of the Foundation for California Community Colleges is to benefit, support, and enhance the missions of California Community Colleges. We believe in the unique power of community colleges, and the people and communities they reach and serve, to be the building blocks of a better future, capable of achieving the possibilities of a more just, equitable, and thriving world. We see our role as connectors, accelerators, problem-solvers, and trusted partners, serving as a hub for innovation and as an intermediary for transformative change at scale. Visit the Foundation for the California Community Colleges website.
