IFAM: Individuals

Individuals

Join Jesuit and other Catholic individuals and institutions in educating, praying, and advocating for humane migration policies throughout March 2017.

How IFAM Works

Ignatian Family Advocacy Month (IFAM) encourages Jesuit and other Catholic institutions to join together throughout the month of February in educating, praying, and advocating for humane migration policy.

While we have a variety of learn-pray-advocate options below, our priorities include:

hosting a Calling Congress party to gather your community to call their Congresspersons to support more humane migration policies
praying for migrants
educating your community on immigration policy through in-person events and online sharing of IFAM memes (see right sidebar)
scheduling in-district meetings with your Congresspersons’ staff to advocate for reform

Sign Up and Report-Back: Please help us more effectively engage with you during IFAM by letting us know how you plan to participate, and sending a report-back form for any advocacy meetings completed.

JUMP TO EDUCATE | JUMP TO PRAY | JUMP TO ADVOCATE

Advocate

1. Host a Calling Congress Party

Gather your community and your cell phones. We’ll provide the scripts. Calling Congress parties offer a quick, easy way to take action (calling only take 5-10 minutes), and serves as a great add-on to an education/prayer event, or a good opportunity to spend time with your community.

Step 1: Pick a time, date, and location. If possible, schedule the party during M-F, 9a.m-5p.m.; otherwise, your attendees will be leaving answering machine messages. The party location should be quiet enough to allow folks to make their calls. Bonus: provide snacks!

Step 2: Print your call-in scripts and help participants find their Congresspersons’ office numbers. We have provided 3 script options below for you to choose from. Each participant should call both Senators and their Congressperson, and we recommend folks use the U.S. Capitol Switchboard number (202) 224-3121 to be connected to their D.C. offices. Participants will need to know the names of their Congresspersons to use Switchboard. Have volunteers on hand to help participants look up who they are.

Step 3: Call! Call! Call! Remember, each participant should make 3 calls. After your successful event, send an email to [email protected] to let us know how it went!

2. Schedule In-District Visits With Your Members of Congress

Establishing and continuing relationships with your Senators and Representatives is crucial to advocating for justice. As both representatives and members of your communities, every Senator and Representative has an office–often multiple offices–in their home states. Visits to these offices are an impactful way to speak, neighbor to neighbor, with representatives and let them know why and how migration policy impacts your community.

How To Schedule Your IFAM Meeting
IFAM Legislative Advocacy Meeting Task Sheet
More Immigration Resources

Educate

Elevate the conversation and help others learn about the issue by hosting educational events in your campus, parish, or community.

Learn More About Migration/Immigration Policy
Visit ISN’s immigration reform resources page to learn more about the history of the United States’ immigration policy, find statistics, and more.
Host a Speaker Related to Migration in Your Community or Parish
Topic ideas include immigration advocacy, personal testimony, and Pope Francis’s teaching on migration. If you need speaker ideas, please contact [email protected].
Host an Immigration Community Dialogue
Gather your local community for an activity focused on small group table sharing and dialogue. Learn more about the immigration dialogues that were co-sponsored by the Jesuit Social Research Institute.
Host a Movie and Discussion Related to Migration/Immigration
There are hundreds of short and long-form documentaries and movies related to immigration that you can show to family and friends to promote discussion on immigration reform. Here are some of our favorites:

The Visitor (104 min, detention) – amazon$, googleplay$

La Voz del Pueblo (18 min, root causes)

Abused: The Postville Raid (96 min, internal enforcement) – vimeo$

El Norte (141 min, migration experience)-hulu prime, amazon$

Who is Dayani Cristal? (85 min, border issues) – amazon$, googleplay$, netflix

American DREAMers (88 min, the DREAMer movement)

Which Way Home (90 min, migration experience) – Netflix, hulu, amazon$, googleplay$

Dying to Live (33 min, migration experience) – short clips available on website

Pray

Join the Ignatian family in praying for families threatened by deportation and for wisdom for leaders in Congress, and invite your family and community to join you!

Prayer Resources:

A Prayer for Immigrant Justice | USCCB Justice for Immigrants
Collected Prayers for Immigrants | Interfaith Worker Justice
Prayers for the Immigrant and Immigration Reform | Archdiocese of Chicago

IFAM Organizing Call

Learn more about current migration policy and ways to organize around the Pope’s visit to Mexico/Ignatian Family Advocacy Month. Join ISN and the Jesuit Conference on during the week of February 27-March 3 for a policy briefing/organizing call.