Ford Foundation, Borealis Philanthropy, Center for Cultural Power, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures Launch "Reclaiming the Border Narrative"
NEW YORK (March 18, 2021) - Today, the Ford Foundation announced it will partner with Borealis Philanthropy, the Center for Cultural Power, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures to launch Reclaiming the Border Narrative.
Reclaiming the Border Narrative is an effort to penetrate and shape the national attention on migration and the United States-Mexico border by supporting authentic storytelling by affected communities on the cultures and socio-political dynamics that comprise the region. Funding will enable immigrant rights advocates, artists, writers and organizations to work over the next three years to organize and preserve stories reflecting the dignity and truth of border communities, connecting and empowering them to center their own narrative on their terms and in their voices.
The US-Mexico border is a region that includes US citizens, indigenous communities, immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers living and working in California, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas, as well as migrants from Central and South America and around the world who make their way to the border every day in search of safety and a better life for themselves and their families.
Prevailing narratives across administrations have demonized border communities and stoked fear of immigrants, fueling xenophobic policies including a multi-billion dollar border wall and family separation. Through it all, the authentic life stories, voices, and narratives of impacted border communities have been flattened, and the complexities of their cultures, contributions, and experiences have been erased.
The Ford Foundation will provide more than $4.5 million in grants to the partners, who will regrant to:
- Immigrants' rights organizations working in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas;
- Artists, filmmakers, writers, and journalists who live or work along the border and who lift up the region’s stories and issues; and
- Provide training and technical assistance to those grantees to improve and expand their capacity to use documentation, storytelling, and other forms of creative expression to advance their organizing and advocacy agendas beyond the life of their grants.
Ford will provide additional support to the Southwest Folklife Alliance to document the learning from this initiative. The collective efforts will be compiled into an accessible digital archive to collect, house, and preserve the stories from the border and include contributions of other communities, advocates, and creatives after the project ends...