Mark your calendars for CIJF Live!
We are excited to announce our first-ever, in-person fundraising event, CIJF Live!
We’ll share more details in the coming weeks, but mark your calendars for Saturday, August 27th, 4:00 - 6:00 pm Mountain Time. The location will be at Denver Community Church, 1595 Pearl Street in Denver.
We’re looking forward to meeting you in person, sharing immigrant stories, and celebrating with you as CIJF grows in its capacity to welcome our immigrant friends!
CIJF to launch on its own!
We have some exciting news to share regarding the upcoming re-launch of the Colorado Immigrant Justice Fund (CIJF). But first, some background:
A bit of history
In July 2020, several of my friends and I started a legal defense fund for asylum-seeking immigrants we met in detention centers around the country. Without legal assistance, our detained friends were at high risk of being deported to their dangerous home countries.
We had no idea if this could be a sustainable effort, so we didn’t enter into the lengthy process of obtaining 501(c)(3) non-profit status. Instead, we launched the Colorado Immigrant Justice Fund (CIJF) under the auspices of Project Renew - a faith-based organization with 501(c)(3) status.
Today, we are grateful to share that over 200 of our friends have donated more than $100,000, which has enabled us to fund
legal counsel for nearly 30 asylum seekers
legal consults for over 100 immigrants detained in rural areas of Louisiana
ancillary services like expert witnesses for court hearings and work permit applications for newly released immigrants.
Time for the next step
We have been told by numerous non-profit experts that our work is ‘very fundable’ and that we can likely attract significant funding from foundations if we obtain our own 501(c)(3) non-profit status.
With this in mind, we submitted the IRS paperwork, and were granted non-profit status in late May!
What this mean for our current and future donors?
We plan to implement our own online payment processing system in July. We will then communicate how our existing monthly donors can easily transfer their donations to our new payment system. In the meantime, Project Renew will continue to credit all CIJF donations to CIJF as usual.
With hope and gratitude,
Greg Mortimer on behalf of the Colorado Immigrant Justice Fund team
