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OUR FIRM | pHILANTHROPIC FUND The Aronson & Associates Immigration Law Firm Fund™ My mother, Violet Aronson, of blessed memory, created for me in my childhood a rich, heavily textured world encompassing both a broad sweep of strange lands and friendly people as well as a deep, personal connection to the experiences of her own parents who came to the United States as refugees from Eastern Europe. Without question, my own career choice as an immigration attorney stems in large measure from my mother’s depiction of a limitless and wondrous world in which people share common goals and aspirations, but nevertheless look to the United States as a suitable destination for realizing their individual dreams. As an immigration attorney, I feel privileged to work in a field in which I can touch deeply the lives of my clients, contribute to the melting pot tradition of this country, explore the lives and cultures of my clients, contribute to the national welfare, and encourage a tradition of welcoming, sustaining, and honoring the stranger. But in addition to this broad geographic sweep, I was equally intrigued by her stories of my own grandparents’ immigration to the United States, and in particular, their efforts to somehow synthesize familiar, old world ethnic and religious traditions with the exigencies of their new lives in America. And daily, I see the same set of challenges faced by my clients – that is, navigating and exploring the demarcation lines between retaining traditional language, culture, and attitudes while acclimating to their new lives in the United States. By and large, my clientele is exceedingly talented and success oriented, and while their migration to this country unquestionably requires certain accommodations to the “American Way,” it should not result in a total disassociation from previous cultural traditions and ethnic identification. Ultimately, this calibration between the retention of ethnic identity and an embrace of acculturated norms is a highly personalized journey, and one that continues to inspire and intrigue me. In an effort to share a portion of our success and as a reflection of our own commitment to a vibrant migration process, this firm has established a special purpose, philanthropic fund aimed precisely at facilitating the resettlement and acculturation process of immigrants and refugees. We believe strongly that a successful resettlement/acculturation effort carries major benefits to individual immigrants and refugees, their families, and their communities, as well as to the general community and our nation. The law firm was the first professional business to establish an endowment fund of this nature. Allocations are made to a broad and diverse spectrum of ethnic communities for projects specifically aimed at enhancing the resettlement experiences of new immigrants and refugees. Some of the grants made by this Fund have included:
The Fund will consider appropriate applications submitted during the spring and fall. Recipient organizations need to be nonprofit entities, holding designation under § 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. For specific deadlines, please visit www.jewishminnesota.org. Written grant applications should be in the form of a letter and should provide a description of the project or program for which allocations are requested and how it fits the mission of the grant-seeking agency, as well as advances the central focus of the Fund in facilitating the resettlement and acculturation process of new immigrants and refugees. A proposed budget should be included. Grants are made to qualifying nonprofit organizations, not to individuals. For further information: The Jewish Community Foundation is the planned giving and endowment department of the Minneapolis Jewish Foundation. |
Aronson & Associates, P.A. |