What You Can Do if You Want to Help Minnesota Communities Right Now

It’s been nearly two months since Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) descended on the streets of Minnesota’s cities. Across the state, normal life has been disrupted. Businesses are shut down, schools have been forced to close or transition to virtual learning, and access to groceries, transportation, and basic needs has become difficult for some communities within the state.

The state and local officials have called for calm and unity. Advocates are demanding accountability for the recent deaths of American citizens at the hands of ICE agents, transparency, and protection of constitutional rights. And in neighborhoods across Minnesota, people are stepping up to take care of each other. At times like this, it’s easy to feel hopeless. However, there are ways to help communities in Minnesota right now: You can donate to organizations providing resources and support. 

As the situation continues to evolve, we’re providing resources on how to help local Minnesotans. Here are a few places you can donate to help communities and neighborhoods dealing with unrest in Minnesota.

Stand with Minnesota is a resource hub with the goal of supporting local Minnesotans, sharing information, and directing people to ways they can help immigrant families and impacted communities in Minnesota. The organization’s website includes a directory of opportunities to give, stay informed, read testimonies from local residents, and find actions to support people. Several of the fundraisers on Stand with Minnesota have been shared by organizers working directly on the ground with impacted families and neighborhoods. Its directory is constantly being updated with additional nonprofits and grassroots organizations looking for support and donations.

Established in 1919, the International Institute of Minnesota offers New Americans quality services that support their journey to stability and success. The organization is accepting donations to its Basic Needs Fund, which is helping those experiencing an emergency with groceries, rent, medical bills, or other basic needs. This fund will also be used to help individuals who need to hire a private immigration attorney if their family member is detained. 

Community Aid Network (CANMN) is a grassroots volunteer-led organization located in the Bancroft neighborhood of Minneapolis. It is working to organize volunteers and redistribute resources. CANMN is currently accepting supplies and donations. The organization urgently needs supplies including laundry pods, cooking oil, baby wipes, new socks, new gloves for children and adults, and new blankets. Reach out to CANMN directly to drop off supplies or support their work by making a donation online.

Nonprofit organization Sol of the Cities has started a Rapid Relief Fund to distribute emergency groceries, rent assistance, and safe-access resources. Phase 1 of this effort raised $10,000. Phase 2, which is ongoing, is focused on extending this support to meet continued and emerging needs. Sol of the Cities provides assistance directly through referrals from schools, community partners, and trusted community leaders. Support is short-term, need-based, and designed to help families stabilize during periods of disruption. You can donate to Sol of the Cities’ Rapid Response Fund here.

The Women’s Foundation of Minnesota has launched the Immigrant Rapid Response Fund (IRRF), which is a coalition of philanthropic leaders rooted in communities most impacted by immigration-related harm. IRRF ensures that resources move quickly, responsibly, and with community accountability to trusted organizations responding to immigration-related emergencies across Minnesota. IRRF is currently accepting donations and is prioritizing help for organizations that are culturally responsive, linguistically accessible, and deeply rooted in the communities they serve. It directs funds to organizations that support urgent basic needs, urgent legal services, and mobilizing and organizing.

MIRAC is an all-volunteer, grassroots, multiracial, and multinational immigrant rights mass-movement organization. It fights for legalization for all, an end to immigration raids and deportations, an end to all anti-immigrant laws, and full equality in all areas of life. The organization is conducting a grocery card fundraiser, helping provide food and essential supplies to families who are unable to safely leave their homes, parents who have lost access to work, and children missing school.

Unidos Minnesota is a grassroots group working for social, racial, and economic justice in the state. It provides planning resources, “know your rights” guidance, and other support services for immigrant families and working communities. Affiliated with Unidos, the Monarca Rapid Response Network is maintaining a hotline to help document and track federal activity, connecting volunteers and observers with real-time information. The organization is currently accepting donations on its website.

Minnesota Monthly has curated a mega-list, which includes grassroots organizations and nonprofits that are supporting local neighborhoods in Minnesota dealing with unrest via food and supplies distribution or legal aid. It is also being updated regularly with information on additional organizations and businesses supporting local communities.

If you want to make your voice heard by your Congress members in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, you can call their offices and let them know how you’d like them to vote on certain issues. You can find your House rep and your U.S. senators by going to the Congress.gov website and entering your address. You should use whichever address you have on your voter registration to make sure you’re contacting your direct reps.

If you’re not sure what to say, you can look at sites like 5calls.org that have different issues listed out, like upcoming budget bills, and scripts you can use to help you share your concerns.  

Coming together with your friends, fellow students, and neighbors is a free way to support a cause you believe in. Your “right to assemble and express your views through protest” is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). If you’ve never attended a protest before, you might not know where to start. The ACLU lays out protesters’ rights on its website. If you decide you want to take peaceful action, keep reading for more information about how to get involved on campus.

The rules for protesting on campus are different for public and private universities. According to the ACLU of Texas, private universities are not automatically bound to the First Amendment, which means students at a private college or university “do not have the exact same rights to freedom of speech as students in public institutions.” If you attend a private university, you can look at your school’s policy rules or code of conduct for an outline of your rights to free speech on campus.

Students at public universities are protected by the First Amendment right to “express their opinions, even if others disagree with the views expressed or the form of expression,” according to the ACLU of Texas, which also notes that “public institutions are allowed to set reasonable, viewpoint-neutral rules related to the time, place, and manner of student speech.”

Whether you’re at a public or private school, your best bet for attending a protest is to look for rallies or events organized by legitimate organizations, like nonprofits and action groups. These might be on or near campus, depending on how large they are, but these types of events are likely to be planned by professionals and therefore follow any permit rules or other protest guidelines. 

When you’re looking to attend a protest on or near your campus, you can check social media pages for groups like Indivisible, MoveOn, and other organizations you might follow. Large groups like this with organizers all over the country will promote actions on their socials and share clear instructions for where and how to join.

This post originally appeared on Apartment Therapy. See it there: 8 Ways to Help Minnesota Communities Right Now