Immigrants Rising’s Facilitated Activity Groups offer undocumented young people tangible skills, knowledge, and accountability to pursue personal, educational, and professional goals.

Facilitated Activity Groups provide a space for undocumented high school and college students to explore a topic while building relationships with one another. All activity groups will be guided by a skilled facilitator who is intimately familiar with the undocumented experience.

Activity Groups will meet for 6 consecutive weeks in a virtual setting. Explore the topics we’re offering this year below.

#ICanAffordCollege: Financing a College Education as an Undocumented Student

We are currently not offering new Activity Group sessions.

SEED Grant is now closed – with no expectation to re-open. We are proud to have offered almost $5.5 million for immigrant entrepreneurs in California through our SEED initiative between 2022-24!

SEED Eligibility

Through the SEED initiative, we offered funding to California residents who were starting or growing a business in California. SEED applicants identified with at least one of the following:

• Non U.S. citizens or Lawful Permanent Residents (green card holders). This includes undocumented individuals, and individuals who have been granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
• Limited English proficiency, regardless of immigration or citizenship status.

Types of Grants

We offered two different types of one-time, non-renewable grants:

1. Developing Business Owner Grants ($5,000): Grants to individuals starting or growing a business with annual gross business revenue less than $100,000.
2. Mature Business Owner Grants ($10,000): Grants to individuals growing a business with annual gross business revenue more than $100,000 up to $1,000,000.

Support Immigrant Entrepreneurs

Interested in our entrepreneurship initiatives? Please email our Entrepreneurship Team at [email protected].

La Subvención SEED esta cerrada – sin expectativa de ser reabierta. Estamos orgullosos de haber ofrecido $1.5 millones para emprendedores inmigrantes en California a través de nuestra iniciativa SEED.

Elegibilidad del solicitante

Los fondos de SEED estuvieron abiertos a los residentes de California que estaban iniciandoo desarrollando un negocio en California que aborodo un problema social o una necesidad comunitaria. Los solicitantes se identificaron con al menos uno de los siguientes:

1. No ser ciudadano estadounidense o residente permanente legal. Esto incluye a las personas que sean indocumentadas y a las personas a las que se les ha otorgado Acción Diferida para los Llegados en la Infancia (DACA) o Estatus de Protección Temporal (TPS).
2. Dominio limitado del inglés, independiente del estado migratorio o ciudadanía.

Tipos de subvenciones

Ofrecimosdos tipos diferentes de subvenciones únicas no renovables:

1. Subvenciones para propietarios de negocios en desarrollo ($5,000): subvenciones a personas que inician o desarrollan una empresa con ingresos comerciales brutos anuales inferiores de $100,000 en el año fiscal 2021/2022.
2. Subvenciones para propietarios de negocios maduros ($10,000): subvenciones a personas que desarrollen un negociocon ingresos comerciales brutos anuales de más de $100,000 hasta $1,000,000 en el año fiscal 2022.

Apoya a emprendedores inmigrantes

¿Interesado/a en nuestras iniciativas de emprendimiento? Envia un correo electrónico a [email protected] si tiene alguna pregunta.

Everyone, regardless of immigration status, can make money by building their own businesses and working for themselves. We’re here to show you how to generate income through entrepreneurship and freelancing. See below for tools to help you get your #UndocuHustle on!

ImmigrantBizHub Learn how to leverage your skills, knowledge, and experience to generate income through contracting or business start-up opportunities.

INCOME GENERATION WEBINAR SERIES
Understand what it means to work for yourself, develop an entrepreneurial mindset and launch your own business. Click here to watch the webinar in Spanish.

5 TIPS TO GET STARTED AS AN INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR/FREELANCER
Learn how to get started as an independent contractor or freelancer. This guide outlines the entire process from industry research to contracts and taxes.

INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR BRAINSTORMING WORKSHEET
Use this worksheet to brainstorm the type of gig work and professional services you can provide as an independent contractor.

CALIFORNIA EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT (CALEITC)
Check out CIPC’s resource to learn whether you qualify for CalEITC—now available to all low-income workers who file taxes, regardless of status (resource available in multiple languages).

Explore our full set of resources

Venturize Visit Venturize to learn about loans, retirement, and healthcare for small businesses and get connected to trusted providers who can help your enterprise grow.

	Entrepreneurs @ Immigrants Rising Ask questions, share resources, and network with other immigrant entrepreneurs through our Facebook group.
	Get email updates about making money

“I gained a wealth of knowledge, new friends that are like family, and a new mindset on achieving success. Overall, it was one of the best experiences of my life. Thank you!” — Antoinette Tobore Oweh, Festival of UndocuInnovation Attendee

In September 2017, Immigrants Rising organized our first-ever Festival of UndocuInnovation. We brought together 50 undocumented entrepreneurs from around the country to connect, learn, inspire and motivate one another. Participants learned from experienced undocumented entrepreneurs, attended workshops, and improved their ability to generate and present winning ideas through simulations and feedback. They came from 16 different countries of origin, traveled to the Festival from 14 different states, and were pursuing a wide variety of projects in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors.

Read about the Festival in this Forbes article.

We look forward to planning our next Festival of UndocuInnovation in Spring 2020.

“This grant gave me the confidence to take my business to the next level, to create a space to help others and, most importantly, to grow as a social entrepreneur.” — Maria Mendez, Entrepreneurship Fund Grantee

Immigrants Rising’s Entrepreneurship Fund provides grants to undocumented entrepreneurs working to create positive social change. The Fund showcases the talents of undocumented young people and amplifies the positive impact of their work.

WHAT WE SUPPORT

We offer two different types of grants:

1. Kickstarter Grants: Short-term, non-renewable grants of up to $2,000. Read profiles of our previous Kickstarter Grant recipients
2. Fellowship Grants: One-year grants ranging from $5,000 to $50,000. Read profiles of our previous Fellowship Grant recipients.

Grantees are offered support and guidance from professional advisors, join a national network of undocumented freelancers and entrepreneurs, and get social media exposure for their projects.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

We support entrepreneurial and freelancing projects that address a variety of needs, target diverse populations, and employ different strategies. We are open to supporting projects that serve and advocate for undocumented people as well as ones with broader potential impact. Projects can be non-profit or for-profit initiatives—or hybrid projects that include both nonprofit and for-profit components. Most importantly, projects must create positive social change and must be designed and led by undocumented young people. To learn more about social entrepreneurship, click here.

Applicants must be born outside of the United States and cannot be U.S. Citizens or Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR). Applicants do not need to be eligible for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to qualify.

FUNDERS

Immigrants Rising’s entrepreneurship work has been made possible with the support of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency; the Chavez Family Foundation; Charity Stars (Alejandro Sanz Dreamer Campaign); Crankstart; Fragomen Del Rey Bernsen & Loewy LLP; FWD.us Education Fund; Google LLC; Grove Foundation; James Gutierrez; Elise, Robert, and Colleen Haas; Hawkins-Strauss Fund at Silicon Valley Community Foundation; Miguel B Hernandez; Latinos in Tech Giving Circle; Jorge Ramos; Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation; Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock; the Levi Strauss Foundation; Technology Industry Group; Unbound Philanthropy; Elisha Wiesel; and others.

APPLICATION UPDATE

We have temporarily closed applications for our Entrepreneurship Fund. If you’re looking for business loans, we encourage you to visit Venturize, a free online resource hub for small business owners like you who need help accessing tools and resources to grow their businesses. If you would like to get started with entrepreneurship, we encourage you to visit our e-learning hub at UndocuHustle.org. Lastly, if you would like to speak to an entrepreneurship specialist, please complete this form and one of our team members will get back to you as soon as possible.

Entrepreneurship Fund Frequently Asked Questions

We provide life-changing financial support that enables undocumented young people to overcome systemic barriers:

• SEED Grant
• Pre-Law Fund