Who We Are
Our vision is of an Orange County where immigrant and refugee communities secure justice, solidarity, and a place of belonging in the socio-economic, cultural, political and civic life.
Ensuring a Vibrant Orange County Community
Generations of immigrants have shaped Orange County from our earliest beginnings to our present standing as an international hub of entrepreneurship and innovation. In fact, approximately 913,000 immigrants live in Orange County, making up nearly one-third of our county’s population.
Founded in 2015, the OC Opportunity Initiative is a collaborative dedicated to ensuring that Orange County embraces the promise and potential of our immigrant communities to create a stronger future for our region. Do date, the initiative has granted $2.0 million to 35 nonprofit partners to provide outreach, education, and legal services.
OC Opportunity Initiative partners are working to build a coordinated infrastructure for immigrant-serving organizations that both enhances their direct service capacity and provides a platform for collective action on shared goals. This involves investing in strategic drivers of change: narrative change, systems change, infrastructure development, and cross-cultural and multi-racial work.


The ability for immigrants to successfully integrate into the economic and civic life of our community is essential to the prosperity of our county. By removing the greatest obstacles that immigrants face, we’re putting everyone closer to achieving the American Dream.
Funder Collaborative
Cormura Foundation
Announcing the 2021 OC Opportunity Initiative Awards!
2021 OC Opportunity Initiative grant awards have been confirmed! For summary details on each of the six scopes of work and lead organization grantees, please review below. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to [email protected]. We look forward to seeing the work of these organizations and their wider coalitions develop through this year.
Planning for Systems Change Advocacy and Narrative Change
This scope of work is intended to lay the foundation for future systems change collaboration among OCOI partners by completing an analysis of power and systems related to immigration, developing an assessment of the local, state, and national landscape in relation to key policy goals, and creating a new regional narrative to shift values and shape public opinion regarding immigration.
Lead Organizations:
- Harbor Institute for Immigrant and Economic Justice
- Orange County Congregation Community Organization
Systems Change Advocacy with a Focus on Infrastructure Development for Removal Defense
This scope of work is intended to scale up the existing collaborative work on removal defense and to establish a model that can be used to expand and/or establish other collaborative networks for immigration legal services within the region. It is also intended to support the integration of policy/systems change advocacy into the collaborative’s programmatic work.
Lead Organizations:
- OC Rapid Response Network
- Public Law Center
- OC Justice Fund
Systems Change Advocacy with a Focus on Cross Cultural & Multiracial Work
This scope of work is intended to scale up the existing collaborative work to end collusion between local elected officials and hate/anti-immigrant groups through the integration of advocacy and community engagement activities across communities that have historically been divided by race and/or culture. It is also intended to create a model for cross cultural and multiracial advocacy work within the regional immigration ecosystem.
Lead Organizations:
- VietRISE
- National Day Laborer Organizing Network
Infrastructure Development with a Focus on Base Building, Leadership Development, and Integrated Voter Engagement
This scope of work is intended to develop and implement a unified approach for leadership development and base building within the regional immigration ecosystem, starting with coordinated leadership development and base building to build the capacity of community members to engage in advocacy and systems change work. It is also intended to lay the foundation for integration of base building and leadership development with legal services and outreach/education work and ultimately for integrated voter engagement.
Lead Organizations:
- Orange County Civic Engagement Table
- Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development
Systems Change Advocacy and Infrastructure Development in South Orange County
This scope of work is intended to address South OC’s current gaps in immigration infrastructure and systems change advocacy. It is also intended to build upon the ongoing narrative development work taking place and to build capacity for more robust collaborative immigration work in South OC.
Lead Organizations:
- Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights
- Access California Services
- Asian Americans Advancing Justice – LA
- Building Skills Partnership
- Catholic Charities of Orange County
- Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC)
- Charitable Ventures of Orange County
- Chispa Education Fund, sponsored by Tides Foundation
- Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE)
- Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)
- Coalition of Orange County Community Clinics
- Community Health Initiative of Orange County (CHI OC)
- Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC)
- Community Legal Aid SoCal
- Council on American-Islamic Relations – Los Angeles (CAIR-LA)
- Freedom for Immigrants (CIVIC)
- Friends of Orange County Detainees
- Home for Refugees
- Korean Community Services
- Korean Resource Center
- Latino Health Access
- Legal Aid Society of Orange County
- LGBT Center OC
- OC Human Relations
- Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance (OCAPICA)
- Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development (OCCORD)
- Orange County Congregation Community Organization (OCCCO)
- Orange County Immigrant Youth United (OCIYU
- Orange County Rapid Response Network (OCRRN)
- Project Access
- Public Law Center
- Resilience OC
- Resistencia Autonomia Igualdad Liderazgo (RAIZ)
- Solidarity
- The Cambodian Family
- World Reli535ef