Ford Foundation Awards AJC Grant for Immigration Advocacy

NEW YORK, June 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Jewish Committee
(AJC) has received a major grant of $500,000 from The Ford Foundation for a
new initiative to create momentum for comprehensive immigration reform.

"We are thrilled The Ford Foundation recognizes AJC's vital and timely work to
advance, in partnership with community leaders, immigration reform," said Ann
Schaffer, director of AJC's Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Center for American
Pluralism.

Building on decades of experience working with diverse ethnic partners, AJC
will convene a series of roundtable discussions with a broad spectrum of
community stakeholders in the immigration debate to seek common ground. AJC
will also offer advocacy skills-building workshops to Latino leaders and
organizations in four localities -- Arizona, Chicago, Houston and New Jersey
-- furthering AJC's pioneering collaborative efforts with this community.

"Our goal is to encourage a civil and informed national discourse about
immigration that will lead to policies reflecting America's fundamental
commitment to democratic values and human rights, and also respond effectively
to our nation's national and economic security needs," said Schaffer, who
spearheads AJC's intergroup relations efforts and will direct the yearlong
project. AJC has long advocated for comprehensive immigration reform.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee

Kenneth Bandler, Director of Communications, +1-212-891-6771,
bandlerk@ajc.org, or Ben Cohen, Associate Director of Communications,
+1-212-891-1385, cohenb@ajc.org, both of AJC