The Culture Connect Legacy Fund, established by the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, carries forward the mission of the Atlanta-based social enterprise Culture Connect. This fund aims to foster cultural fluency between immigrants and the broader community by ensuring access to vital services, cultivating inclusive communities, and promoting economic empowerment for immigrants and refugees. It seeks to support both smaller, promising nonprofits and larger, more established organizations that align with these core areas.
The fund's strategic priorities are deeply rooted in addressing the challenges faced by immigrant and refugee populations. It focuses on three core areas: language access (professional interpretation and translation), cultural competency (mentorship and understanding diverse cultures), and economic empowerment (entrepreneurship and economic mobility). The theory of change posits that by investing in these areas, the fund can significantly improve the quality of life, integration, and self-sufficiency of immigrant and refugee communities.
Target beneficiaries include US-based immigrant and refugee populations who have been meaningfully and consistently served by applying organizations for at least the past 12 months. The fund aims to achieve measurable impact through various projects such as training professional interpreters, providing translated materials for critical services, offering culturally appropriate English classes, assisting with access to public benefits, implementing job training and placement programs, and supporting immigrant and refugee entrepreneurs through microloan programs and small business grants.
Expected outcomes include improved language access to vital services, increased cultural understanding and inclusion within communities, enhanced economic mobility and entrepreneurial success for immigrants and refugees, and better health outcomes. Organizations are prioritized if they are based in Georgia (though they can serve nationally), have diverse staff and board representation, and demonstrate a strong commitment to language access and cultural competency. Grant awards, ranging from $10,000 to $100,000, can be used for seed funding, project support, or general operating support, with a maximum award of $150,000 or 100% of the last fiscal year's annual budget, whichever is less.
