In New York, volunteers engage in a quiet form of advocacy for immigrants facing deportation

The New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia (NSM) adjusted its promotora model of organizing, which relies on neighbor-to-neighbor interaction to assess community needs, due to Covid-19. The immigrant justice nonprofit now runs zoom meetings and phone banks to talk with hard hit immigrant communities. NSM, fundraising with a coalition of 40 other groups, also provides financial support to immigrant families who cannot access federal aid. They gave money to 150 families, with 100 more on the waitlist. They hired a few laid off community members and try to give promotores some money, but funding is limited.

CAMINA ATX, a grassroots initiative founded by immigrants, hosts “Know Your Rights” forums that draw hundreds of people. Their approach to prioritizing cultural competency, accessibility and community ownership has emerged as an effective community-based response that provides critical information, resources and support networks for immigrants, mixed-status families, concerned citizens and anyone seeking to better understand constitutional protections in the current enforcement climate.

Albergue Assabil (the Shelter of the Path), by the Latina Muslim Foundation, is the first women-led Muslim shelter along the U.S.-Mexico border. It has been in operation since June 2022, providing a safe space for women migrants, supplying them with food, clothing, shelter and sanctuary regardless of their religious, social or cultural background. In the past two years, the shelter has helped about 3,000 migrant women.

SOS Búsqueda y Rescate (or SOS Search and Rescue) is a woman-led border and migrant search-and-rescue group that braves the elements — like extreme desert temperatures — to locate migrants who get lost or left behind along their journey from Mexico to the U.S. Since 2020, the volunteer group has found 60 survivors and the remains of 65 others, allowing them to offer closure for families searching for their loved ones.

New York City’s Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Affairs relied on help from 34 community groups to distribute a $20 million relief fund from the Open Society Foundation. The groups verified who needed the funds, and no personal information was required of the more than 24,000 people receiving aid. Membership in the organizations was not required, but limited resources made members more likely to receive aid. The limited transparency and private nature of the OSF fund served as a work around for a Trump-era executive order making it harder for immigrants receiving public assistance to get visas or green cards.

An Indonesian government program called Masyarakat Peduli Api, or “Fire Care Community,” aims to improve community responses to wildfires and restore peatlands — valuable ecosystems that store carbon. Through community engagement and education, this volunteer fire brigade patrols the peatlands and addresses small fires before they spread. The program remains underfunded, but residents recognize the importance of their work.

Connecting refugees and locals speeds integration. A social enterprise called Singa, for example, has a matchmaking app that pairs people with similar hobbies and interests. The model has proven so successful that branches of Singa are opening in six other European countries and the effort is expanding to address housing and employment needs as well.

In the state of New Mexico, policy makers, activists, religious leaders, and the community are all working hand in hand to make the state a safe harbor for undocumented immigrants. The state is refusing to cooperate with ICE and aside from California is one of the most friendly to immigrants. A community organizer says, “We wanted to push back against this narrative that ICE just gets to come in our communities and kidnap people from their homes.”

Volunteers, hotlines, community supporting families, these are the basic principles of rapid response networks. A rapid response network is a community led, volunteer response to immigration crackdowns that is being replicated in cities around the country. When people are getting detained, the rapid response networks are activated, volunteers receive a text that a neary neighbor is getting deported and they rush to the house. They take notes, and record with their cellphones. “I feel hopeful that there’s something I can do rather than sitting worried and angry, and I feel like I can be part of something that

For years, campaigns to clean Nepal's polluted Bagmati River resulted in failure. Now with police and government backing, the organization Safai Abhiyaan is in its third year, attracting hundreds of volunteers who are willing to brave the polluted waters to collect trash. The program's unique approach to organizing community volunteers has been a success, but the problem will not subside until greater perceptions about litter and water pollution are tackled.