African Communities Together (ACT) is an organization of African immigrants fighting for civil rights, opportunity, and a better life for African families here in the U.S. and worldwide. ACT empowers African immigrants to integrate socially and advance economically by equipping them with the tools they need to navigate the often-challenging systems in this country. ACT also works to support civic engagement among African communities by educating them on how the U.S. government works, organizing them around issues that matter, and helping to develop civically minded African leaders.
Alongside other immigrant communities, the nearly 2 million African immigrants in the U.S. faced relentless attacks in the first year of the current administration. They’ve experienced targeting through ICE raids, unlawful stripping of their immigration status, and increased scrutiny and policing, regardless of status.
“Our communities are scared of living their everyday lives,” said Amaha Kassa, founder and executive director of African Communities Together. “They’ve told us that they have stopped taking public transportation, working, and attending services. While we used to organize more public events and rallies, this past year, we’ve scaled back on those sorts of tactics and invested in more digital actions and storytelling initiatives to protect our members.”
At the same time, Kassa says members are fired up and are looking to ACT for information, resources, and solutions to help them fight back. In response to this need, ACT has ramped up its community defense work over the last year. They launched a Know Your Rights video in 11 African languages and led in-person and virtual Know Your Rights trainings for DMV and NYC members and for the African Immigrant Leadership Forum (AILEF), a national network of over 200 African leaders and institutions founded by ACT. ACT has also relaunched its Community Guardians program, a citywide cohort of African immigrant community leaders trained to respond to aggressive immigration enforcement actions, hate crimes, and other threats to immigrants in DMV and NYC areas. The Community Guardians undertake a comprehensive training program that covers topics such as bystander intervention tactics and recording immigration enforcement, taking this knowledge to their own communities and neighborhoods.
ACT has also taken a lead role in the fight against discriminatory policies impacting African immigrants. ACT currently serves as a named plaintiff in seven federal lawsuits. This includes lawsuits seeking to protect Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for African immigrants, specifically challenging the federal government’s termination of TPS for South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia. To date, these lawsuits have resulted in the courts extending protection for South Sudanese, Ethiopian, and Somali TPS holders, allowing them to continue to work and live in the U.S. while a final decision is reached. ACT has leaned into its years of deep trust building with members to support identifying and enlisting potential plaintiffs for the lawsuits, as well as educating impacted communities on how lawsuits will affect them through virtual community meetings.
To safeguard its ability to operate effectively in this political climate, ACT initiated an organization-wide resilience effort in 2025 which included revamping and strengthening its digital, physical, and organizational security infrastructure. In addition to funds awarded through Proteus Fund’s Grantee Safety and Security Fund (GSSF) and referral to the Rapid Response Security Initiative (RASI), ACT has been able to leverage RTF’s capacity-building support to connect with security efforts and access tools for assessing and implementing organizational compliance best practices.
With RTF’s support, ACT has been able to do the following:
Future plans for ACT’s ongoing resilience efforts include developing a safety manual for organizers and frontline staff; establishing protocols for times of crisis; and upgrading digital tools to safeguard sensitive information on staff and clients.
