$1,500 – Immigrant Hope: Wyoming/Idaho
The Community Foundation of Teton Valley was honored to award a $1,500 grant to Immigrant Hope – Wyoming and Idaho to improve immigration services to Teton Valley through a strategic planning effort. The Foundation strongly supports Immigrant Hope’s effort to prepare to transition from an organization driven by an inspirational founder to become a sustainable organization prepared for change.
Immigrant Hope provides immigration legal services to immigrants in Teton Valley, Idaho, and Jackson, WY; the majority of whom are Latino. It is estimated that 16.7% of the population of Teton County, Idaho is Latino as of 2020. Immigrant Hope has been serving Teton Valley and Jackson since the fall of 2016. Demand for their services has grown every year as they become better known. About twenty percent of Immigrant Hope’s clients live in Teton Valley. Immigrant Hope provides immigration legal services for low-income clients for free or for a low price.
Strategic planning will allow Immigrant Hope to serve these individuals better and reach more people. Immigrant Hope is going through a transition that makes this a perfect time for strategic planning. The founder and legal director is planning to retire in the next few years. All staff are currently part-time. There is a relatively new board that is eager and enthusiast to support the organization, but many do not have much board experience. Strategic planning will allow the board and staff to determine a path to a sustainable future for the organization.
As the majority of Immigrant Hope’s services support Wyoming clients, this partial grant reflects a pro-rata share of those Idaho clients receiving services as it relates to the organization’s strategic planning initiative. Immigrant Hope will contract with Kari Anderson of Incite! Consulting to undertake a strategic planning process in the spring and summer of 2022. During the late spring 2022 strategic planning session, Immigrant Hope and Kari Anderson will meet as a team to discuss Immigrant Hope’s culture (board and organization), conduct a SWOT analysis, determine organizational strategic priorities, and create an action plan with objectives and actions to achieve organizational goals. The strategic plan created at the spring 2022 planning session will include performance measures – a tangible means to record data to show Immigrant Hope’s strategy successes and opportunities for changes.
The Community Foundation commends Immigrant Hope’s strategic planning efforts in preparation for the organization’s leadership change and sustainable transition in providing legal services to the immigrant community.
