The Indianapolis Immigrant Legal Services Fund

The Funding Opportunity: 

The mission of the Indianapolis Immigrant Legal Services Fund is to provide equitable access to legal support and representation to immigrant Hoosiers in Marion County.

• Grantmaking will prioritize organizations providing prevention and/or intervention immigration services. Prevention services can include but are not limited to, filing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) applications, applications to naturalize as a U.S. Citizen (N400), applications for employment authorization (i765), etc. Intervention services can include but are not limited to providing removal defense before an immigration court, providing legal defense during bond hearings, providing assistance in seeking asylum or withholding of removal, etc. 
• Grants award range from $50,000 to $100,000

• Providing assistance with USCIS applications.  For example supporting with DACA, N400, and i765 applications. 
• Providing removal defense before an immigration court 
• Providing assistance in seeking asylum or withholding of removal (affirmative or defensive) 
• Providing legal defense during bond hearing 

Reporting

All grant recipients will be required to submit reports to The Indianapolis Foundation which will be made available to the City for review. Grant reports will be provided with award notification.

Geographic Area:

• Marion County

Eligibility: 

To be eligible to apply for the grant funding, applicant organizations must meet the following criteria: 

• Applications must be led by a nonprofit with 501(c)(3) public charity status and have an EIN number. 

• A 501(c)(3) public charity may serve as a fiscal sponsor for another applicant to administer the grant. 

• Any organization may be part of more than one proposal but may only serve as the lead applicant for one proposal. 

• Priority will be given to organizations that demonstrate a strong record of providing high-quality legal representation to immigrant Hoosiers navigating USCIS processes, detained immigrants, and/or immigrants facing removal. 

• Organizations must have licensed attorneys on staff with immigration law experience of at least two years or more. 

• Organizations must demonstrate that all professionals (attorneys, social workers, etc.) involved in providing services have the appropriate professional licenses and are in good standing professionally. 

• If serving detained individuals, the organization should demonstrate the ability to consult with and represent clients in area detention facilities. 

• Commit to community engagement and to building power in communities impacted by immigration enforcement 

• For organizations looking to add an immigration department they must have a track record of serving Immigrant community members for the last 5 years.

Applicants must submit all application materials using our Grants Portal (powered by SmartSimple).

If this is your first time submitting an application through this system, you will need to create a user profile for your organization.

For guidance on setting up your account and navigating your applicant profile, please refer to our Grants Portal 101 resource for guidance or reach out to GrantSupport@cicf.org.