Boston will pay immigrants $575 to learn community organizing — but there’s one group that can’t apply

BS BULLETIN:

Boston’s “Immigrants Lead Boston” program trains immigrant residents in civic engagement, community organizing and navigating local government.
Selected participants receive a $575 taxpayer-funded scholarship after completing the program.
Applicants are welcome “regardless of their immigration status” — but they must be immigrants, meaning U.S.-born Boston residents aren’t eligible.

Boston wants to train its next generation of community organizers.

There’s even $575 in it for you.

There is, however, one rather important qualification. You have to be an immigrant.

Mayor Michelle Wu’s Office for Immigrant Advancement is running the latest class of “Immigrants Lead Boston,” a city program designed to teach immigrant residents how to navigate government, organize their communities and advocate for issues important to them.

And Boston isn’t checking citizenship papers at the door.

The city’s own program materials explicitly encourage interested residents to apply regardless of immigration status. That means lawful permanent residents, refugees, asylum-seekers and other immigrants can participate — and the eligibility language does not exclude undocumented immigrants.

What it does exclude is native-born Bostonians.

Candidates must be Boston residents, at least 18 years old, speak English, Spanish or Haitian Creole — and be immigrants. Selected participants who complete the program receive a $575 scholarship.

Boston says the money compensates participants for the time and commitment required to “learn, lead, and advocate for their communities” and is intended to ensure equitable access to government.

The curriculum isn’t merely a City Hall orientation tour, either. The 10-week program teaches participants about civic engagement and community organizing, public narrative, immigration history, racism and equity, while connecting them with city officials and teaching them how to advocate for their communities.

Previous classes have received training in community organizing and participatory action research.

And the program has grown. In 2025, Boston added Community Action Project grants allowing participants to partner with local organizations on projects in immigrant communities, with organizations eligible to request as much as $10,000.

The program itself isn’t new. Immigrants Lead Boston began in 2020 under former Mayor Marty Walsh and has continued and expanded under Wu. But its eligibility rules are attracting fresh attention now, particularly because Wu has become one of the country’s most outspoken big-city opponents of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

So, to recap:

Live in Boston.

Want the city to help teach you community organizing and how to influence local government.

Born overseas — including if you’re here without legal status?

Come on in.

Born in Boston?

This particular application isn’t for you.

MY QUICK TAKE

I had to read this twice because the phrase Boston uses to explain the scholarship is almost too perfect.

The $575 helps ensure “equitable access to government for all residents.”

All residents.

Except, of course, the residents who aren’t allowed into the program.

Look, cities create programs for particular communities all the time. That’s hardly some sinister new invention.

But if taxpayers are funding a government program that teaches people how to organize, advocate and influence that same government, I think they’re entitled to notice when eligibility is based on whether somebody was born outside the United States — while legal immigration status isn’t required.

Boston calls that equity.

Apparently equity now comes with an eligibility screen.