Visionary Pathways’ mission

Visionary Pathways’ mission

Instructions: All the questions are highlighted. The blue section is quotes, please change the words.

Mission statement:

Visionary Pathways’ mission is to empower the immigrant and refugee community members to discover a career path that is in close harmony with who they are and whom they hope to become through education, employment, and culture integration.

Our organization is committed to providing a helping hand and a stepping that the refugees and immigrants can depend on for them to have smooth transition and settlement.

History & Major Developments*:

To provide some context to the current work that you do, please briefly give an overview of your organization’s history and any major milestones/accomplishments/developments that you think are key to understanding the work.

The onset of the Corona outbreak has seen many families worldwide face great hardship due to retrenchment and uncertainties that have characterized this period. This impact has been largely felt among the minority low-income groups, and immigrants never like before, as documented by a research conducted by Science Direct. We have witnessed this within our community as we have seen disproportion in retrenchment and health provision impacting more on the immigrants and minority low-income groups. Witnessing such unfortunates within our community has been painful and disheartening because we have the mandate to change this narrative and bring a new dawn to the immigrants and minority groups.

These challenges faced by our friends, relatives, and the larger community led to the birth of Visionary Pathways’ with the urge to bridge these gaps in the future. Our organization was established during the coronavirus outbreak. Our team has been working around the clock to respond to community needs. We have successfully helped 50 immigrants without proficiency in English because English is not their first language to apply for unemployment. In addition, we have raised funds among our friends to pay for food and rent assistance to residents who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and have no source of income. For instance, our team received a call from an undocumented woman,  infected with COVID-19 along with her children and husband.

The victim contacted several organizations for help in vain.  Our organization came in with timely response before the victim could have fallen into depression due to the prevailing challenges as documented by her. Visionary Pathways used individuals’ donations to drop off food to her within 2 hours. Currently, we are assisting her with rent and utility bills. We have been filling the gaps where we can. Some of the services that we render to victims include wraparound services, emergency assistance to residents, and support to local organizations. We successfully created COVID-19 Resource Guides for five local non-profit organizations. In partnership with Living Well Kent, a black-led non-profit organization, we have been dropping off essential items to residents.

We have been sharing information about the testing facilities, health care rights, and safety. We have connected over a hundred South King County residents to free drive-through testing sites. We are making sure that the Covid 19 materials are translated and culturally tailored to the communities we serve. We have been hosting weekly calls and phone-banks to make sure community members have the latest COVID-19 information. Most of the people we are serving are black immigrants and refugees who are uninsured, and because of fear of bills, they are not seeking the needed medical care.

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Issue Area Question*

Please describe how your work is building a world where immigrants, LGBTQIA folks, people who are Black, Indigenous, and other people of color have safe housing, political power, economic investment.

Visionary Pathways approach and theory for change is using and promoting a “Targeted Universalism” (TU), which is an approach that is inclusive, informative, and meets all people where they are and going into communities with the greatest needs. We intend to achieve this through:

Championing favorable policies

Visionary Pathways is focused on advocating for policies like universal healthcare, college for All, and immigration reform that includes a clear pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Our goal is to advocate for Equitable Economic Development policies and measures to protect healthy communities and economies and sustain impacted communities, including immigrant-owned businesses. We plan to conduct workshops that educate the community about anti-displacement efforts, wealth-building strategies, and small business development.

Championing Secured Housing

Visionary Pathways know that one of the leading causes of people becoming unhoused is unemployment and structural racism. In King County, a black person is five times more likely to become unhoused than their white counterparts.

Our key ways of doing away with structural racism include:

Educating the victims/beneficiaries on their housing rights

We will provide our resources and tools that can help them understand their housing rights. We will utilize our website and online media platform as a key avenue to educate the community. We will also offer advisory services to the incase of land house disputes or unfair treatment. Our content will be translated into a language the users can understand.

Create Pathways to Maintaining Safe, Stable Housing

Our goal is to partners with organizations that can help the minority groups work out a housing plan that is financially favorable to them. We aim to create a range of housing options to meet the unique housing and safety needs of survivors, and related resources to help achieve safe, permanent housing.

Eradicate Barriers to housing

We will advocate for the following Safe Emergency Housing, Safe Transitional Housing, Safe Rapid Re-Housing, Safe Permanent Supportive Housing, Safe Housing Vouchers, Flexible Funding/Cash assistance. At Visionary Pathways, we believe that we cannot achieve this singlehandedly. Therefore, we aim to work within existing relationships with local elected officials and non-profit leaders to make sure that discussion regarding public housing considers the perspective of the black immigrant community. No barrier to accessible housing is the only ray of hope that our communities can depend on in overcoming this crisis and not slip into a permanent cycle of poverty.

Economic Empowerment

We are currently providing career coaching, job-placement assistance, internship programs. We know that young people and people of color are among the most vulnerable whenever our economy takes a downturn. To get ahead of these issues, we want to teach our community about financial capability and literacy.

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Black Liberation & Indigenous Sovereignty*

3. How does your organization understand your role in the movement for Black Liberation and Indigenous Sovereignty?

We are a black immigrant-led organization. Therefore, our role is to embody the change we seek and act as a helper that can help our generation have a better transition than our predecessors. Visionary Pathways represents an opportunity to directly invest in marginalized communities to mitigate the exacerbated inequalities brought on by COVID 19 and inequalities trends that have been routed t from the ancient history to date. As an organization that solemnly recognizes that we occupy Coast Salish lands, we promise to develop ongoing relationships with the Seattle Indian Health Board to collaboratively meet the needs of local Native communities as well.

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Community Leadership*

4. Who are the communities most impacted by the injustice you’re working to change?

According to the data from the human rights groups, blacks and immigrants have been impacted by inequality than any other group. This can be evidenced by the targeted unhealthy legal framework that infringes on their rights. Our organization is Black and immigrant-led. One of our current organization’s mission is to provide “Know Your Rights” resource program for Black immigrants- who are documented and undocumented- in the South King County area. Black communities in South King County are increasingly surveilled and targeted by law enforcement. In King County, the second most arrested population is Somali boys. We want to provide mentorship programs and equip our community with the resources and education they need to protect themselves.

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1. What is the structure of your leadership bodies?

We plan to have a board consisting of main officers like President, Secretary, Treasurer, etc. with advisors from the many different communities that make up King County so that we not only want to have the skills necessary in guiding our activities but also a perspective that ensures our resources go to the right places. This will be a volunteer board tasked with assisting Executive Director. These advisors and board members come from the local public and private sector communities, emphasizing developing an intergenerational board. Our board of advisors will meet monthly to review the progress.

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1. How are impacted communities reflected in leadership and other parts of your organization?

Our top leadership is government by advisors, and board members are Black immigrants, African American, Latino, LBGTQIA, and Pacific Islander and work in both the public and private sectors. We believe that it can largely take the minority groups to understand minority challenges. Visionary Pathways values the different perspectives and styles of our teams, which help us find different means of problem-solving and solutions finding.

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Systemic Change*

5. What are the systemic/structural issues you’re working to change?

Key structural issues that we aim at addressing include:

Unemployment:

According to the 209-research report by STATISTA research company on the unemployment rate, Blacks and immigrants experience twice the unemployment rate compared to the white counterparts at the same education level. Our goal is to ensure that we aid the documented and undocumented immigrants and blacks that can aid them in qualifying for employment opportunities.

Lack of policies that favors the blacks and immigrants

Unfavorable policies have been documented to be a major issue that has led to the infringement on the rights of the blacks the immigrants. Despite being legal residents, strict immigration policies have led to a lack of legal documentation despite living in the country for decades. Besides, the immigrants suffer from other structural issues such as language barriers and intimidation by the dominant group. For instance, Seattle has now been ranked by the US Census Report as one of the top 4 among major cities that have experienced growth for five consecutive years. With growth and economic boom has come rising rents and gentrification.

Construction cranes that currently appear in Seattle neighborhoods and downtown Seattle will soon arrive in the SeaTac and Tukwila areas. There is a need for policies that address the historic disinvestment and current displacement of communities of color, immigrants, and refugees. Despite the upcoming construction, the majority of SeaTac and Tukwila residents will not benefit from the new construction. The City of SeaTac is selling off a parcel that will result in the imminent displacement of over 40 International immigrant-owned businesses.

Equitable Economic Development is a way forward. Growth and economic development are not inherently bad, but it has to be inclusive economic growth. We ask policymakers to adopt measures to protect healthy communities and economies, and sustain impacted communities, including immigrant-owned businesses. Failure to take steps to ensure truly equitable growth will only continue to create greater inequality and economic instability. Therefore, this is why we are aiming at working within existing relationships with local elected officials and non-profit leaders to make sure that discussions regarding rights and empowerment of the blacks and immigrants are given a priority.

Housing Stability

Today, black people make up only 6% of the population in Washington but are overrepresented in those who are un-sheltered and experiencing housing affordability issues. In King County, a black person is five times more likely to become unhoused than their white counterparts. Structural racism, policies that privilege white positions inherently contribute to the instability of black families. Housing is one of the basic needs as per the universal human right. This is why we aim to champion housing policies and strategies that can ensure that blacks and immigrants have rights to housing and housing opportunities like other natives.

1. How do you know you are making a change?

We are a data-driven organization. Our key outcomes are the key metrics that will track to determine our progress against the set milestone.  The key outcomes that we will track include:

• Number of housing beneficiaries
• Number of youths placed at different job opportunities
• Policy changes implemented

1. What will your community look like when you achieve what you’re fighting for?

The community we envision will be characterized by increased opportunities equal opportunities for immigrants, blacks, among other minority groups.

Collective Power*

6. What does collective power mean to your organization? How do you build collective power in your community, membership, or base?

Our organization’s core foundation involves bringing up diverse teams to reach our goal of bridging structural issues faceting the minority and immigrants’ groups in our community and county in general. We are harnessing skills and knowledge within a diverse team to achieve the vision of the company. This is the first depiction of collective power. In addition, we are applying a multiagency working approach. As mentioned above, we will work with law enforcement agencies, community leaders, political and non-governmental organization leaders to achieve the change. This is key evidence that shows how our organization is built on collective power—I.e. bringing people from diverse backgrounds together to achieve our mission.

Movement Building*

7. What does a strong movement look like, and what role do you play in the movement?

Quoting a Pan Africa leader Nelson Mandera who defined a strong movement as a movement of people with the same mission and vision and who have been part of the trouble that they would want to change, our organization entails the key definition of what strong movement entails.  According to the intrinsic reason for the existence of Visionary Pathways, our organization is a movement that has a vision of ensuring equal opportunities to the minority. We are defined by a goal that has infected or affected each member of our organization.

This defines the strength of the movement because we will not online be fighting inequalities from an onlooker perspective but fighting it from a perspective of a community or individuals who have been the victims of the same structural issues and would want to prevent one more person from experiencing such issues. Our main role in the movement will include advocacy and seeing that the organization’s vision is achieved through the defined strategies.

Partnerships & Collaborations*

8. Please tell us about one or two coalitions, collaborations, or networks you participate in as an approach to social change. Please include your role and the purpose of the collaborations.

We are currently partnering with Living Well Kent.

1. If your collaborations cross-issue or constituency lines, how will this help build a broad, unified, and effective progressive movement?

Living Well Kent is an organization that champions healthier communities through advocating for food security, education, advocacy, community engagement, and education for all as a way of ensuring equal opportunities to the minority groups. We are partnering with Living Well Kant because we share the same vision of having a healthy community to everyone with accessible resources irrespective of race, income level, or gender. Our partnership strengthens our vision of equal opportunities because we work to achieve a better opportunity for all.

Goals & Strategies*

9. This grant will provide funding for two years. While we know it can be difficult to predict your work beyond a year, please give us an idea of what the work might look like in the next two years and how the second year will build on the first year.
10. What are your overall goals, objectives, and strategies for the next two years?

Our overall goal for the next to years will include advocacy on the rights of black immigrants spearheaded by a program called “know your rights.” This is because our research shows that black immigrants have been majorly affected by the structural issues expounded above. From our own experience, Visionary Pathways staff regularly deals with crises in the black immigrant communities due to ICE removals.

Last year, a Seattle resident contacted us about her cousin, deported from the Northwest Detention Center to Mogadishu. This individual was removed without a phone call to his family, and he spent hours on a plane in shackles and without food. He came to the United States as a 10-year-old child, thus is not fluent in Somali and no longer has any familial connections in Somalia. Visionary Pathways would like to launch a “Know Your Rights” and resource program for undocumented black populations in the South King County area.

On top of increasing surveillance of black immigrant communities, these groups are currently battling the unique challenge of a precarious immigration status combined with the severe health risks of Covid-19. In addition to an educational component to inform immigrants of rights and resources, Visionary Pathways will run a care package and gift card program to support basic food and hygiene needs during the coronavirus’s restrictive conditions. All program materials will be prepared in the five most common languages used in the undocumented black immigrant communities of greater Seattle: Wolof, Oromo, Amharic, Swahili, and Somali. Visionary Pathways partner with the West African Community Council, Somali Community Services of Seattle, Living Well Kent, and Oromo Community Service of Seattle. We will also partner with Ethic Media to help get our message to a broader audience.

Specifically, we will prepare and disseminate the following educational materials:

• Toolkit and resource guide, providing more precise information on where to receive medical, legal, or other help, where to get basic living supplies, and how to interact with ICE specifically and anti-immigrant sentiment generally geared toward undocumented black families, students, and workers. This will include a family preparedness plan in 5 languages to help family groups in particular address the potential disruptions interaction with ICE might bring.
• Know Your Rights videos in 5 languages (Swahili, Oromo, Amharic, Wolof, and Somali).

1. How will you assess whether you have met your goals and objectives?

Our key measure of outcomes includes impact analysis and testimonials from beneficiaries. We will conduct impact analyses by surveying the beneficiaries to determine the effectiveness of the assistance they have received. In addition, we will have live interviews with beneficiaries to determine their perspective and impact received. We also give room for the granters to interview them as required.

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BUDGET PLAN:

Diversity Chart

Please use the below link to download the diversity chart document. Fill out the chart with information on the identities represented throughout your organization and constituency.