AIR Partnerships for Progress
Growing Community Resilience
Through our Partnerships for Progress initiative, AIR collaborates with community-based nonprofits to make it possible for everyone to contribute to building a better, more equitable world—starting in their own neighborhoods.
The people closest to community challenges have the resources, platforms, and allies they need to build solutions and create durable social change.
Picture this—a familiar face welcomes a student on the West side of Chicago into a mobile mental health bus outside his school, and for the first time today, he lets his guard down. A young mother in rural Kenya learns the power of preserving indigenous seeds, so she can share her harvest and wisdom with family and friends. Neighbors furnish the apartment of a newly arrived Afghan family seeking safety in the U.S., so they can focus on enrolling their children in school.
These are all examples of the positive, grassroots change AIR is supporting through our new Partnerships for Progress initiative—harnessing the power of communities to strengthen themselves from within.
Our Partners
AIR staff, community members, and our charitable partners are discovering what is possible when we share our strengths. Beyond financial support, AIR is committed to co-creating community progress through staff volunteerism and advocacy, elevating local stories and voices, and sharing our evidence and expertise—all while learning from our partners and the people they serve.
Youth Mental Health
BUILD, Inc.
BUILD creates opportunities for youth to access mental health care and cultivate peace and prosperity in their Chicago communities.
Climate Change Resilience
Development in Gardening (DIG)
DIG fosters climate change resilience and nutritional equity among marginalized families in rural Kenya through gardening.
Secure Futures for Refugees
Ayuda
Ayuda provides legal, social, and language services to help low-income immigrants in DC, Virginia, and Maryland access justice and transform their lives.
Voices and Stories
"Whatever the degree of disability, we can always adapt."
DIG’s Farmer Field School focuses on people largely overlooked by typical agricultural development models, including people living with disabilities. Says one first-generation farmer, “Whatever the degree of disability, we can always adapt.” On average, graduates of DIG’s field school slash their weekly food bill by 90 percent, while also tripling their weekly income.
Through its partnership with DIG, AIR’s support will reach some of the most marginalized women in rural Kenya, providing training and resources to start gardens that will feed their families and transform their communities.
Sarah Koch, CEO and Founder, DIG
Our services are almost entirely based on referrals and word-of-mouth—community members lifting neighbors up and leaving no one behind.
Paula Fitzgerald, Executive Director, Ayuda
"What Ayuda gave me was something I had never known before—a feeling of security and stability for me and my daughters."
These are the words of Dorinda, a mother from Guatemala who endured unthinkable trials in the pursuit of safety in the U.S. Dorinda continues, “Now I have the ability to provide for myself and my family and help others in my community find stability.”
"We're breaking generational stigmas of what mental health is about."
BUILD therapist David Rodriguez reflects on the power of a safe space—and meeting young people where they are—in unlocking their ability to heal and lift others up alongside them.
Every day I see the power and potential of young people fighting to build futures in their neighborhoods. Evidence is vital for nonprofits like ours, working to save lives and reduce violence in the long term.
Adam Alonso, CEO, BUILD