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!
Working in emerging democracies and post-conflict regions around the world, Women’s Campaign International advances opportunities for women to actively participate in public advocacy and political processes. Women’s Campaign International was founded in 1998 by Pennsylvania Congresswoman Marjorie Margolies. WCI’s programs help women find their voices by giving them tangible skills in areas such as leadership, public speaking, media relations, grassroots organizing, campaign strategies, voter outreach and mobilization, polling, policy analysis and fundraising. WCI has worked with political leaders, activists, advocacy groups and non-profit partner organizations to ensure that women have a legitimate opportunity to participate in the development of public policy, and that women’s issues are placed on local, national and regional agendas.
Some of the areas they focus on are:
Civic Education, Advocacy, and Grassroots Organizing
Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Livelihoods: WCI typically works with women who are starting micro, small and medium ventures in an effort to increase their financial sustainability.
Peace Building and Conflict Mitigation: WCI works with organizations and professionals in areas of protracted conflict to help transform policies, infrastructure, and environments that are conducive to violence, and help people build sustainable communities.
Political Participation, Campaigns and Leadership: WCI provides training for women who wish to run for office and for party leaders. WCI trains candidates to conduct well-organized campaigns and create strategic campaign plans. It also works with party leaders in party block vote electoral systems to ensure that women are high enough on the party list to get elected to office.
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).
The World Trade Center of Greater Philadelphia (WTCGP) provides services that look to enhance international trade growth and motivate Greater Philadelphia region to economic prosperity. WTCGP helps its members identify global opportunities and connections as well as educational and business services that bring success in international trade. They offer their interns the opportunity to network with local business and government leaders.
Some of the duties include:
preliminary market research and collection of background information for market research reports, for new initiatives or existing programs
compilation of trade data statistics
maintenance of the WTCGP internal membership database
company surveys on matters of interest to the WTCGP
assistance at educational events and networking sessions
mailings to members and potential members for special events
assistance with entry into PA State database
administrative duties
*Applicants should have demonstrated interest in international business.
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.
African Family Health Organization is a non-profit organization that works with members of the African and Caribbean immigrant and refugee communities in the greater Philadelphia in order to improve their access to healthcare and social services. AFAHO provides direct services to nearly 1,000 members and reaching another 2,500 through community outreach. One of the issues AFAHO focuses on is the development and implementation of programs aimed at mitigating structural and cultural barriers to HIV/AIDS care for African immigrant women in Philadelphia.
Volunteers may choose to either work directly with members of AFHO’s target community or in their office supporting the staff by providing clerical, professional or other services.
Some of the health programs and services they offer are:
Health education workshops
Medical escort services
Translation & Interpretation
Development of bi-lingual health education materials
Access to screening services including HIV Counseling & Testing; Pap Smears; GYN exams; mammograms etc
HIV/AIDS prevention, education, counseling, testing and linkage to medical care
Breast Cancer awareness, education and support
Access to Medical Care for the under-insured
a maternal and child health services for pregnant women and new mothers.
The human services provided include:
English as a Second Language (ESL) classes
Adult literacy programs
Life skills training
Computer Literacy
Cultural adjustment workshops to assist in adapting to the culture of the U.S.
Founded in 1955, FPRI is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization devoted to bringing the insights of scholarship to bear on the development of policies that advance U.S. national interests. The organization aims to add perspective to events by fitting them into the larger historical and cultural context of international politics.
Programs/Services Provided:
Through numerous publications including Orbis, a quarterly journal, FPRI scholars offer insight into world affairs from perspectives of national security, globalization, East-West relations, and more. The organization also participates in educational initiatives, such as offering resources for high school teachers who wish to bring an awareness of global politics into their classrooms.