Helping Reunited Families Access Legal Representation to Apply for Asylum
KIND, together with a consortium of partner organizations including the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, Together and Free, Al Otro Lado, Justice in Motion, and the National Immigration Project, has raised nearly $2 million for children and families separated under the U.S. government’s Zero Tolerance Policy. The joint fundraising effort began in response to the Ms. L v ICE family separation lawsuit settlement agreement, signed in December 2023, which provided the children and families affected by Zero Tolerance a path for asylum in the United States with family members, but on a tight deadline and without providing the necessary legal assistance to help them access these benefits.
The Young Center and Together and Free recognized the unique challenge and opportunity and brought KIND and the other organizations together. To help families overcome this barrier and access free legal assistance before the deadline in September 2026, the groups united to raise money to provide legal representation to eligible children and families. While KIND and the other organizations had been working on family reunification independently, the deadline provided a new sense of urgency to help as many children and families as possible.
“Our goal in working collectively has been to help the maximum number of kids and families. We can help more children if we pool our resources, said KIND’s Chief Development Officer Hannah Chotiner-Gardner.”
“KIND has eligible clients who were waiting for this settlement, but we also wanted to reach children and families who have not had legal services and are entitled to it, people who may not even know that this settlement exists. Providing pro bono legal services for family reunification changes people’s lives.”
Joint fundraising will continue with the goal of raising $3 million to support each organization’s work to help these families through January 2025.
A Unique Joint Fundraising Campaign
Due to its collaborative nature, this is a unique fundraising campaign, as highlighted by a recent article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy. “It is rare in our industry for organizations to work together on something like this. Traditionally in fundraising, each organization is out for itself. There is a finite amount of money and many organizations working on similar issues—organizations are in competition for the same funding,” Hannah explained.
This creative collaborative approach has already proven its success. “We did this very quickly—it’s impressive to raise this much money this fast—and it is really a testament to our group effort. None of us independently would have raised as much money on our own. This campaign is really about serving the greater good. We are collaborating in the service of these children and families,” Hannah added. The money the consortium has been able to raise will have life changing impact on hundreds of children.
