Lessons Learned from Putting Grantees First
Edward W. Hazen Foundation
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Calling for Equitable Immigration Reform as a Mental Health Solution
Overview
The Edward W. Hazen Foundation is a 100-year-old private foundation committed to supporting the organizing and leadership of young people and communities of color in dismantling structural inequity based on race and class.
Challenge
In 2012, President Barack Obama announced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, an executive measure designed to protect young people who came to this country as children from deportation.
Despite its benefits, DACA falls short of providing permanent protection for over 600,000 recipients living in the United States. Over the years, there have been attempts to pass permanent solutions, but none have succeeded. Without a pathway to citizenship, DACA recipients grapple with an uncertain future, unable to fully integrate into society and lacking long-term stability and security.
Following a series of unsuccessful attempts to legalize DACA, there was a pressing need to communicate the effect this was having on recipients’ well-being.
Work
In collaboration with the Hazen Foundation, Minerva Strategies planned an opinion piece to come from the perspective of a DACA recipient. We worked with Hazen’s program associate, Rosio Santos Castelan, who came to the United States when she was three years old after making the dangerous journey from Mexico.
Over the course of two months, we spoke with Rosio to learn more about how DACA and the lack of legal progress impacted her mental health. We sought her feedback through one-on-one meetings to ensure she was comfortable sharing some of her story’s more personal and complex details—this also allowed her to have complete control over her experiences and story.
After Rosio approved the final draft, we pitched her opinion piece to outlets with predominantly Latinx audiences who were likely to see themselves in her story. We submitted the pitch to the executive director of POPSUGAR Juntos, the go-to source for POPSUGAR’s Latinx community, covering culturally relevant conversations and intersectional identities.
Young Rosio. Photo by Rosio Santos Castelan.
Result
Minerva worked with POPSUGAR Juntos to edit and create original artwork for Rosio’s opinion piece. Rosio’s story was also shared on POPSUGAR’s main page, showcasing it to more than 8 million visitors.
This placement allowed the Hazen Foundation to reach younger, socially engaged audiences beyond the philanthropic audiences it was used to. The piece garnered extensive engagement on social media, with NAMI, the National Immigration Law Center, Hispanics in Philanthropy, and more sharing the article.
Following the success of their original collaboration, POPSUGAR approached Minerva for a critical follow-up piece with Rosio, responding to the recent court ruling that once again declared DACA illegal. The request was urgent and aimed at addressing breaking news. Our deep understanding of Rosio’s viewpoint enabled us to effectively maintain the authenticity of her voice in the new piece. Rosio’s follow up expanded the original piece’s scope, spotlighting a Hazen Foundation grantee—a grassroots organization advocating for the rights of immigrant communities in Denver, Colorado. The article underlined the grantee’s sentiments but also aligned with Rosio’s narrative, further amplifying the reach and resonance of the Hazen Foundation’s mission.
Featured image: Photo by Rena Schild
Secondary image: Photo by Rosio Santos Castelan