Emergency Immigrant Cash Assistance Fund

Dear Enroot Community,

I’m writing today to make an urgent appeal for your help addressing the immediate financial needs of our students and families, many of whom experienced sudden catastrophic loss of wages in recent days. Many Enroot students contribute meaningfully to their household income through part-time jobs and Enroot internship stipends. Most of their parents and/or guardians do not have paid sick leave.

Need for Support 

We recognize that the scale of the financial impact on families requires resources and support that only federal, state, and city entities can truly provide. While these supports are on their way, it’s imperative for Enroot to play a role in the interim to address some of the immediate basic needs of our students and families. 

Emergency Immigrant Cash Assistance Fund 

Today Enroot is establishing an Emergency Immigrant Cash Assistance Fund to provide immediate short term financial assistance to Enroot students and their families. Enroot’s Board of Directors approved an extraordinary distribution of $50,000 from our strategic reserves for this purpose. This decision was made both so that students could access cash immediately, and also with the hope that it would encourage institutional funding partners and individuals like you to join forces with us in this effort. Here are the basics:

• Enroot’s contribution of $50,000 is sufficient to give each student $250. 

• Our goal is to raise an additional $90,000-$120,000, which would allow a total distribution of between $700-$850 to each of our 200 students.

• Enroot will begin distributing funds to students on Friday, March 20th.

Please consider making a donation in any amount to this fund. Enroot will be covering all administrative and transactional costs to ensure that 100% of your donations will be distributed as cash assistance to Enroot students. If possible please make your donation via Enroot’s Facebook campaign (here), since there will be no fees assessed. If you are unable to donate through Facebook, please donate through our main Enroot page by clicking the button below.

As many of you know, the impacts of this crisis are particularly acute for immigrant families. Immigrants are less likely to access support from food banks and other essential service providers for many reasons, including language barriers and fear related to deportation and becoming a public charge. Students in Enroot’s College Success cohort were forced to abruptly leave campus with limited recourse for housing and food subsidies, at the very same time they’ve lost essential part-time wages. This crisis has also increased the incidence of xenophobic and racist attacks, especially toward immigrants.

As we launch the Fund, our staff and over 200 volunteers continue to provide direct support to students through virtual mentoring and tutoring, and by helping students access available resources.

Thank you for your ongoing dedication to Enroot students and families. Your support is needed now more than ever. You can also help this effort by sharing this appeal broadly with your networks on social media and by forwarding this email. At the foot of this email are icons to Enroot’s Facebook, Linkedin and Instagram accounts.

With deep gratitude and best wishes for the health of your family, as we all rally together as a community.

Ben Clark

Executive Director

Impact of Coronavirus on Enroot and Immigrant Communities

Dear Enroot Community,

I’m writing to provide an update regarding the steps Enroot is taking in response to the spread of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). Enroot has made the very difficult decision to temporarily suspend all in-person programming and events.

• All in-person Enroot activities, including mentoring, tutoring, field trips, seminars, and internships, will be postponed until further notice.

• Enroot will move to virtual mentoring and tutoring, with the goal of continuing to address student needs as best we can.

• Enroot staff will be working remotely and are available to students and all stakeholders via phone, email, text, social media, and video conferencing.

• We are continuously re-evaluating the situation and look forward to re-commencing in-person programming as soon as possible.

Although the weeks and months ahead will involve significant disruptions to all of our lives, it's important to remember that public health crises like this disproportionately impact marginalized communities, especially immigrant families. Lost wages, limited access to health resources, and an increased vulnerability to xenophobic and racist attacks are examples of impacts that can be compounded by immigration status. 

While our ability to respond is diminished by limited in-person connections, we remain committed to doing everything we can to meet the evolving needs of our students and their families. As always, we are making decisions guided by our Core Values of Students First, Sense of Possibility, Authentic Relationships, and Constant Learning.

We can’t thank you enough for your support of our students, especially during this time. Enroot is proud of the way our community has rallied together to support one another in the past. We’re confident we will again rise to the occasion.

In solidarity,

Ben Clark

Executive Director

Winter 2020 Newsletter

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Dear Enroot Community, As Enroot celebrates Black History Month we are reflecting on the powerful legacies of Black leaders in many of the countries our students hail from. Born into slavery, Toussaint L'ouverture led the Haitian Revolution, which paved the way for Haiti’s independence and efforts to abolish slavery not only in Haiti but also across all French colonies. His success encouraged abolitionists in the US, six decades before the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. In Ethiopia, Menelik II and later Haile Selassie successfully repelled colonization attempts by Italy, marking victories of enormous symbolic importance across the African continent and the world. In South Africa, Nelson Mandela’s heroic fight against apartheid became a model globally for combatting systemic racism and for how to begin the process of national healing. Enroot students who identify as Black hail from many more countries than those mentioned here, and carry with them the power of this rich cultural heritage. We know that they too will write new chapters of Black History with their own contributions as leaders in this country. Happy Black History Month to each of you and thank you for joining us in celebrating the contributions of Enroot students, past, present, and future! Ben Clark Executive Director Make a gift today Celebrating Black History Month Enroot is celebrating Black History Month by featuring Black leaders who have contributed incredible work and their voices to our society. Every day, a member of our team will spotlight a Black leader in our Cambridge Rindge & Latin School and Somerville High School sites and on social media. We are especially featuring young Black leaders, local Black leaders, and also Black immigrants making a difference in our communities so that our students can be exposed to the vast possibilities out there for them. Students, mentors, and tutors will have a space to learn more about Black History Month, do fun activities like trivia or a scavenger hunt, and reflect on their identity, and how they navigate their race and ethnicity in America. In addition, the Enroot staff team will be celebrating this month with discussions, movie nights, visiting black-owned restaurants, and more! Martin Luther King Day of Service In partnership with Many Helping Hands 365, we were thrilled to join the community and have incredible participation from students and volunteers at the 2020 MLK Day of Service on January 20th. 14 students and 10 volunteers came together to make fleece blankets, scarves, valentine's day cards, sort food, toiletries and books benefiting homeless individuals, at-risk children, homebound elders, and veterans. Updates from Cambridge Program  What's all this fun with balloons? Students enjoy a Wellness Seminar where for one exercise they were tasked with balancing and keeping afloat all of the priorities (balloons) in their lives. In life, there is always a lot going on! We teach students that it is important to balance, manage, and have fun throughout it all. During Lunch and Learn at CRLS, students learned about conductivity and circuits through hands-on experiments holding hands to conduct power and energy. Students were introduced to the concept of conductivity by exploring everyday items that electricity can travel through. It turns out acorns are not inherently conductive, however, bananas are. Thus, when plugged into a circuit that is attached to a laptop with a keyboard app, students pressing bananas were able to play the piano! Recently, students also had the wonderful opportunity of visiting Momenta Pharmaceuticals. Students got to experience a presentation with Q&A on who Momenta is and what they do allowing exposure to the different roles in a biotechnology company. Each student then chose two business units to learn more about. Students picked units like Cyber Security, Finance, Research, Environmental Health and Safety and more! These experiences provide students new learnings, exposure and a continued sense of possibility. What's Happening in Somerville? Leadership students had several seminars keeping them busy, including a trip to Brooklyn Boulders, STEM Career Panel, and a Financial Management Workshop. We brought together a panel of six professionals who, in addition to being representative of a diverse set of STEM careers, were also representative of our students. They represented companies like Biogen, Year Up, Auto Desk, Institute for Human Centered Design, MIT, and Sensata Technology. The six panelists immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, India, and Vietnam. One panelist is an Enroot alum and board member and another an Enroot mentor. After a brief panel, students were very excited to interview each guest in rotating groups of 4-6 and ask questions about the objects that the speakers brought in such as sophisticated temperature monitors and 3D print models. Student Voice: "One of the people that were on the panel talked about failure and how it doesn’t matter if you fail once or more times in your life as long as you overcome and try your best the next time. I think that was one of the factors that made students realize their true potential, and gave them a different perspective of life." Michelle Meiser from the Cambridge Trust Company led a Financial Management Workshop in Somerville High School. During the workshop, students learned about the importance of budgeting and the distinction between ‘needs vs. wants’. Students were able to identify the things we absolutely need to live, and the things we want but can live without. The students learned the importance of making smart decisions when it comes to money, and that sometimes you don't have to have brand new electronics and apparel. Post Secondary Updates Jules Bannister, Assistant Director of Freshman Admissions at UMASS Amherst, provided a session on an application case study. During this session, mentors and students pretended to be Admissions Officers while reviewing (faux) student applications and decided whether to accept, reject, or waitlist the applicant. Students also participated in writing workshops, focused on scholarships, and financial aid packages by continuing to work with their uAspire representatives. We are also thrilled to see students completing two-year vocational programs in areas such as Cosmetology and Auto Mechanics leading them to graduate with a license.  1st College Success Winter Dinner! We welcomed back first and second-year college success students to reconnect, laugh, reflect, and share tips on how to succeed in college. It was a blast celebrating students at our first College Success Winter Dinner. The holidays are full of nostalgia, family, and laughter. Many of our students build deep and meaningful connections with other immigrants, with mentors, and with the dedicated Enroot team. This spirit of community is especially palpable during gatherings like this where both our Cambridge and Somerville sites come together to eat, dance and create new traditions as we celebrate the hard work of the first half of the year. “Enroot is like family” and “Enroot is like a second home” are just a few of the ways students have reflected on the connections they’ve made. Introducing... Please give a warm welcome to our new Development Manager, Lima James. Read more about her here.  SAVE THE DATE! Join us to Celebrate Immigrant Leaders   Join us on April 6th, 2020 to celebrate the contributions of first and second-generation immigrant leaders in the greater Boston community! We will have a panel of speakers that represent different countries of origin, races, ethnicities, and professional backgrounds, and begin a dialogue around what it means to be an immigrant. The event will take place at Google Cambridge from 6:00-8:30 pm, with the program featuring a performance by U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo. Find the event details here. Mahlet Aklu January 29, 2020 Letters To Our Community It's National Mentoring Month! Mahlet Aklu January 29, 2020 Letters To Our Community A mentor is a caring adult who serves as a role model, adviser, friend, and guide to our students, helping their mentee to dream big, set goals, and pursue them. Enroot recruited over 200 volunteers to serve as mentors, tutors, and internship supervisors this year. Volunteers meet with students once a week over the course of the year, working on everything from college applications to practicing English. As we close a month long celebration of National Mentoring Month we spoke with two of our mentoring pairs about their relationships. #mentoring #mentoringmatters #MentoringMonth Mahlet Aklu December 16, 2019 Letters To Our Community Give the Gift of Belonging Mahlet Aklu December 16, 2019 Letters To Our Community *|MC_PREVIEW_TEXT|* "Enroot is a place where all immigrant students are welcomed and can feel like it's their second home." -Nafis, Enroot College Success Freshman, 2019  Dear Enroot Community,   We find ourselves at a profound and poignant moment in our nation's history. There are many reasons to feel alarmed today, but one that especially concerns us at Enroot is the resurgence of the White Nationalist movement. In the last few years, this hateful ideology has shocked us as it courses throughout the country, from the dark fringes of the internet to White House policy, making life harder and more dangerous for our immigrant communities. Right here in Cambridge and Somerville, immigrant students navigate the very racism and discrimination that often leaves us outraged as we read about them in headlines. But anger alone does not create change. During this painful chapter, each of us must look inward, channel our indignation, and decide what role we’ll play in the pursuit of liberty and justice for all.  At Enroot, we take action by supporting hundreds of immigrant students through tutoring, mentoring, leadership development, post-secondary access workshops, professional internships, and college success coaching. Our program has proven effective at dramatically improving the success outcomes for English learners: recent data shows Enroot students go on to graduate college at more than twice the rate of their peers.  But we cannot carry out this work alone. At this challenging time, immigrant students are counting on you to help. This year’s campaign, with a goal of raising $100,000 from dedicated community members like you, will not only allow Enroot to reach more students but will also enable us to better respond to their evolving needs. "In my first year at CRLS, I was a lost new kid in a new country and school... I would just roam around the hallways and go from school to home without feeling any kind of acceptance or a feeling of belonging. Enroot provided me with the community feeling that I needed.”   -Ali, Enroot College Success Freshman Enroot students hail from more than 36 countries across the globe. They left behind beloved family members, familiar traditions, cultures, and a sense of belonging — a challenge many of us cannot fully appreciate. What’s more, they face threats, discrimination, and verbal abuse around the community, even within school hallways. Supporting them is our sole purpose. Enroot is the only agency in Massachusetts that offers a multifaceted program focused exclusively on the needs of immigrant students.  While we celebrate our accomplishments with more than 400 alumni, we know the work has just begun. It is only through the generosity of individuals like you that we are able to sustain and grow our robust program.  This important work is only possible with your generous support.    Please make a gift today! Thank you for welcoming our newest community members and joining the movement to advance equity in education for immigrant students.  With appreciation, Ben Clark Executive Director, Enroot Newer Posts Older Posts Back to Top 99 Bishop Allen Drive, Unit 129, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States6178765214info@enrooteducation.org contact us info@enrooteducation.org (617) 876-5214 99 Bishop Allen Drive, Unit 129 | Cambridge, MA 02139 newsletter © enroot education 2018

It's National Mentoring Month!

A mentor is a caring adult who serves as a role model, adviser, friend, and guide to our students, helping their mentee to dream big, set goals, and pursue them. Enroot recruited over 200 volunteers to serve as mentors, tutors, and internship supervisors this year. Volunteers meet with students once a week over the course of the year, working on everything from college applications to practicing English. As we close a month long celebration of National Mentoring Month we spoke with two of our mentoring pairs about their relationships. #mentoring #mentoringmatters #MentoringMonth

Give the Gift of Belonging

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"Enroot is a place where all immigrant students are welcomed and can feel like it's their second home." -Nafis, Enroot College Success Freshman, 2019  Dear Enroot Community,   We find ourselves at a profound and poignant moment in our nation's history. There are many reasons to feel alarmed today, but one that especially concerns us at Enroot is the resurgence of the White Nationalist movement. In the last few years, this hateful ideology has shocked us as it courses throughout the country, from the dark fringes of the internet to White House policy, making life harder and more dangerous for our immigrant communities. Right here in Cambridge and Somerville, immigrant students navigate the very racism and discrimination that often leaves us outraged as we read about them in headlines. But anger alone does not create change. During this painful chapter, each of us must look inward, channel our indignation, and decide what role we’ll play in the pursuit of liberty and justice for all.  At Enroot, we take action by supporting hundreds of immigrant students through tutoring, mentoring, leadership development, post-secondary access workshops, professional internships, and college success coaching. Our program has proven effective at dramatically improving the success outcomes for English learners: recent data shows Enroot students go on to graduate college at more than twice the rate of their peers.  But we cannot carry out this work alone. At this challenging time, immigrant students are counting on you to help. This year’s campaign, with a goal of raising $100,000 from dedicated community members like you, will not only allow Enroot to reach more students but will also enable us to better respond to their evolving needs. "In my first year at CRLS, I was a lost new kid in a new country and school... I would just roam around the hallways and go from school to home without feeling any kind of acceptance or a feeling of belonging. Enroot provided me with the community feeling that I needed.”   -Ali, Enroot College Success Freshman Enroot students hail from more than 36 countries across the globe. They left behind beloved family members, familiar traditions, cultures, and a sense of belonging — a challenge many of us cannot fully appreciate. What’s more, they face threats, discrimination, and verbal abuse around the community, even within school hallways. Supporting them is our sole purpose. Enroot is the only agency in Massachusetts that offers a multifaceted program focused exclusively on the needs of immigrant students.  While we celebrate our accomplishments with more than 400 alumni, we know the work has just begun. It is only through the generosity of individuals like you that we are able to sustain and grow our robust program.  This important work is only possible with your generous support.    Please make a gift today! Thank you for welcoming our newest community members and joining the movement to advance equity in education for immigrant students.  With appreciation, Ben Clark Executive Director, Enroot Newer Posts Older Posts Back to Top 99 Bishop Allen Drive, Unit 129, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States6178765214info@enrooteducation.org contact us info@enrooteducation.org (617) 876-5214 99 Bishop Allen Drive, Unit 129 | Cambridge, MA 02139 newsletter © enroot education 2018