Description

In 2016, the Foundation approved an HRLI grant of $700,000 to support a project at New York University’s Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics (Hemi), “Ecologies of Migrant Care: Religious Actors and Civil Society in the Americas.” In that project, Hemi researched and documented the migrant crisis from Central America to the U.S., with a focus on the role of religious and other civil society actors, scholars, human rights advocates, journalists, photographers and physicians.
In the course of that work, Hemi developed close relationships with religious and civil society organizations in the New York City area. Hemi now requests an emergency grant aimed at providing food and medical care for undocumented communities, to be distributed through a network of churches and community organizations in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. In partnership with the Community Care division of the Health and Hospitals Corporation (H&H), the project will provide access to medical services, including visiting and online medical help, quarantine, and treatment for risk factors such as diabetes and hypertension. Food baskets will include information about health and other social services, translated into Spanish, Mixteco, Quiché, and other languages as needed, by H&H.
Hemi will research, document, and circulate video interviews with undocumented people and those who care for them, including activists, community organizers, scholars and faith leaders, during this critical period. Interviews will focus on the impact of COVID-19 in these communities as well as immediate needs. This material will be available on the Ecologies of Migrant Care platform and Hemi’s online video archive, freely accessible through NYU Libraries in perpetuity. As the project organizers write, undocumented immigrants are among the most vulnerable communities in New York City, and have been particularly hard hit by both COVID-19 and the broader effects of the pandemic. Many of the places of employment where undocumented workers earn their living have closed; many other workers are on the front lines in supermarkets, warehouses, and home delivery systems. As illness and unemployment have struck these communities, food insecurity and hunger have become a growing emergency, in a city where nearly one in four residents does not have enough food. Ineligible for government assistance and fearful of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents in hospitals and social welfare agencies, many are reticent to seek access to essential services. Hemi envisions a longer-term goal. The proposal concludes: “The enormous problems these communities of undocumented migrants currently face will not, unfortunately, be resolved with the abatement of COVID-19. We perceive the strengthening of the collaboration between migrant-led and city organizations as vital to their continued survival as they move past this crisis. New networks of care and mutual aid have come into being during this emergency, and some of them could well continue to provide some security and help to communities with ongoing needs. During this period, we will continue to establish, strengthen, and expand these ecologies of local care.”
The project will be linked to a group of ten COVID-related Theology Program emergency grants with similar goals and approaches in different parts of the country. One of those organizations, the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) will coordinate Zoom meetings, webinars, a dedicated Slack channel, and regular email updates. PRRI will also provide ongoing media and communications consulting to help identify and facilitate media opportunities at national and local levels.
This grant is being recommended jointly by HRLI and the Theology Program. Grant funds would support documentation, direct food supplies and distribution, and a project manager. NYU has agreed to waive all indirect costs.
Marcial Godoy-Anativia, Hemi’s Managing Director, will oversee the work.
Recommendation: That the Directors of the Henry Luce Foundation approve a one-year grant of $250,000 to New York University for the project, “ Local Ecologies of Migrant Care: Rapid Response to COVID-19.”