ACLAMO stands for Accion Comunal Latinoamericana de Montgomery County, or the Latin American Community Action of Montgomery County. ACLAMO is also derived from the Spanish verb “aclamar,” which means “to proclaim, to shout forth.” We want our community to know that they, too, can achieve the American Dream of success. ACLAMO Family Centers provides educational programs, social services and health access to Latino and other low income residents by empowering them to succeed and become productive members of society.
New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia builds community across faith, ethnicity, and class in their worktoend injustices against immigrants regardless of immigration status, express radical welcome for all, and ensure that values of dignity, justice, and hospitality are lived out in practice and upheld in policy.
Through grassroots organizing led by affected immigrants, New Sanctuary Movement fights and wins immigrant justice campaigns with members across nationality, faith, class, and immigration status. Their community organizing in Philadelphia builds power in immigrant communities to alter the power imbalance, organizes direct action campaigns, builds the individual and collective capacity of the immigrant community and brings immigrant and ally communities together in solidarity to work for change.
The New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia has multiple campaigns that change from time to time, as well as the following permanent programs:
Accompaniment Program (a primary method through which allied congregations provide solidarity to our immigrant members facing deportation)
New Leadership School (an intensive five-month course that educates immigrant leaders to organize for change and immigration justice in Philadelphia)
Know Your Rights Trainings (inform immigrants of their legal and civil rights, provide the tools to defend those rights, and engage communities to address the roots causes of immigration injustice)
Immigration 101 Workshops (educate hundreds of people each year to distinguish between immigration facts and myth, and engage allies in our immigrant justice movement)
The fund’s primary mission is to alleviate the vicious cycle of chronic poverty in the nation of Sierra Leone through the generation of educational and economic opportunities for the native Sierra Leoneans. Our efforts are conducted with the intent to impact these communities in a significantly progressive and sustainable way. We believe that the areas we have identified, education and economics, will be the most essential areas to village and national development. Although there are many aspects where these two areas overlap, we focus on each separately and approach the problems with unique initiatives.
The Sierra Leone Children’s Fund’s strategies Sierra Leone are:
Short-term
Primary School Renovation
School Clinic Initiative
Teachers Training Program
School Team Sports
Long-term
Women’s Micro-finance Program
Village Businesses: Bakery, Community Center, Mechanic/tire Shop, and Restaurant
Lutheran Children and Family Service of Eastern Pennsylvania commits itself to serve vulnerable children and families in community through culturally competent ministries of care, nurturing, shelter, advocacy, and counseling, including but not limited to foster care, adoption, family preservation, education, resettlement, housing and job development. Students can get involved with our refugee resettlement program, BOOST after school program, and our West Philadelphia Senior Community Center.
The Lutheran Children and Family Service Refugee Resettlement Program is a local affiliate of the National Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which assists refugees and asylees through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of State. When a refugee family arrives to the area, Lutheran Children and Family Service is responsible for gathering available resources, finding housing and employment, and providing general cultural orientation. Our refugee resettlement services are designed to create a smooth transition to life in the local community and to promote economic self-sufficiency. Volunteers are needed to mentor refugee families, escort refugees to appointments, provide homework help for refugee youth, set up refugee homes, assist with ESL classes, tutor unaccompanied refugee minors, collect donations, and provide childcare at workshops.
BOOST (Best Out of School Time) is a program through Lutheran Children and Family Service that provides before and after school programs to over 900 youth at 11 schools in Southwest, West, North, and Northeast Philadelphia. Volunteers are needed to assist with homework and lead clubs and workshops for our students.
The West Philadelphia Senior Community Center (WPSCC) is a program through Lutheran Children and Family Service that offers dynamic and rewarding activities and events for older adults, ages 50 and above, who are residents of Philadelphia. WPSCC offers a computer lab with new computers and iPads for instruction and use, a fitness room with physical trainer and various exercise programs, as well as an array of daily classes and activities that enrich the mind, body and spirit. Volunteers are needed to teach classes in topics such as Spanish, quilting, woodworking, and scrapbooking.
If interested, please complete a volunteer applicationhere!
Global Education Motivators, GEM, is a non-governmental non-profit organization organization associated with the United Nations Department of Public Information. GEM’s main office is located at Chestnut Hill College. GEM works on introducing ideas of global awareness, human rights and responsibility at different school levels. GEM does so by on-site and distance-learning workshops and classroom programs with students, teachers and administrators. Their motto is to “bring the world into the classroom”.
GEM received the UN Peace Messenger Award in 1989 for its work on behalf of the UN and world peace. The organization created UNISER (United Nations Information Services), an on-line UN database that it managed for the UN before the advent of the Internet. GEM has helped various UN Missions and NGOs get a basic introduction to the Internet to learn how to access and efficiently use the various databases of the United Nations.
Internships are open to undergrad and graduate level students. The internship is an unpaid position. Internships are available for fall (September-November, spring (February-April), and summer (June-August).
United Nations Association of Greater Philadelphia (UNA-GP) is a chapter of the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA). For more than 6 decades UNA-USA has been at the forefront of the advocacy on behalf of the UN. UNA-GP works on educating and motivating Americans to support UN causes to improve education and understanding of the UN goals and initiatives. UNA-GP looks to promote a greater commitment to internationalism, multilateral agreements, respect for international law, and more positive participation in the U.N in the US. Part of their mission includes advocacy for the development of constructive U.S. leadership. UNA-GP hopes such efforts would help U.S. and other nations to shift hundreds of billions of dollars from spending on weapons to programs serving human needs.
Volunteer roles include:
“Ground work, participating in events, and community interaction. This may involve anything from advertising and promoting events to general operations of UNA-GP events and activities.”
“Advocacy: volunteers will help promote UN activities and make local, state and national politicians and bureaucrats more UN-friendly and more global in their outlook.”
“Joing the UNA-GP speaker’s bureau and hosting talks on specific topics. Volunteers will be trained and asked to speak within the Philadelphia area.”
“Community education for global citizenship. This will involve going into classrooms and talking to students to help them understand their impact in the world and the role of the UN.”
“Mentorship for school students. This involves assisting students who have schoolwork on a UN topic and need a sounding board.”
Recent projects include lobby campaigns for nuclear awareness, planning for the International Day of Justice in partnership with the mayors office, and involvement in micro-banking development programs. Volunteers have also worked on summer education programs with the Philadelphia School District on lesson plans concentrated on global issues. UNA-GP is currently working on an alternative Model UN that would focus on International NGOs such as Oxfam and Red Cross.
Puentes de Salud is a non-profit community health and wellness organization that partners with the Mexican immigrant population in south Philadelphia to promote well being by providing health care in addition to a variety of other programs. Currently, Puentes de Salud is working in partnership with the Graduate School of Education (GSE) at The University of Pennsylvania to develop an after school tutoring & mentoring program that focuses on the education of undocumented, immigrant children in the elementary grades 1-3. We are seeking motivated and committed volunteers to join us in this effort as tutors and mentors. Group tutoring sessions will pair tutors with two to three students to help them with their homework, educational development, and social support. This opportunity will require a commitment of 2 hours per week, with a minimum of one semester of service requested. Tutoring sessions will be held at the United Communities building at 8th and Snyder in South Philly. We are hoping to have teams of 2 tutors paired with 4 students, with a mandatory meeting one afternoon per week and drop-in hours on the other days.