PARTNERS LIGHTING THE PATH (Summer 2017). Collaborative efforts provide many benefits to participating members, including opportunities to raise awareness and to encourage unified community effort. Although not a current grantee, The Clowes Fund staff is glad for the opportunity to work with the Coalition for Our Immigrant Neighbors (COIN) toward common interests. COIN is a newly developed coalition of service providers with a broad idea of working together to facilitate and coordinate community efforts to provide legal, psychological and other services for immigrants in Central Indiana. Current COIN members that are also Fund grantees are Exodus Refugee Immigration, Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic, La Plaza and Immigrant Welcome Center.

Thus far, COIN members have worked to provide Family Safety Plan Clinics, estate planning in partnership with Exodus, and seminars on Temporary Protected Status in response to current needs. In July, COIN hosted a refugee resettlement simulation “Walk a Mile in a Refugee’s Shoes,” which provided an estimated 500 attendees with a better understanding of the refugee experience and an opportunity to get involved.

The Fund is supporting COIN’s efforts to benefit grantee organizations and the immigrant and refugee community in Indianapolis, not with a grant but by helping convene the monthly meetings to promote COIN’s vision of a Central Indiana professional community responsive to the unique needs of our immigrant population.

In the image, Fund Program Assistant Estherre Wohlenhaus (far right) participates in a COIN partners meeting.

Clowes Fund Field(s) of Interest: Immigrant Services

Grantees