No Legal Status Required: Boston Is Paying Immigrants $575 to Learn Political Organizing, and US-Born Residents Can’t Apply

Boston is paying immigrants $575 apiece to complete a 10-week course in political organizing, with no legal-status check on applicants and native-born US Bostonians barred from the program entirely, according to the city’s own website.

Immigrants Lead Boston, run by the Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Advancement, is now in its 7th cohort under Mayor Michelle Wu.

The program launched under former Mayor Marty Walsh in fall 2020 and has been continued and expanded by the Wu administration.

The boston.gov program page states applicants may apply “regardless of their immigration status.”

That opens the door to green-card holders, DACA recipients, refugees, asylum-seekers, and undocumented residents.

The same page states plainly that “Candidates must be Boston residents, immigrants.”
That means native-born US Bostonians are not eligible to apply.

The current fall 2026 course runs September 21 through December 5, with participants selected from applications that were due August 17.

Each accepted immigrant receives a $575 scholarship “at the end of the program” for completing the course, per the city.

The city describes the program’s goal as helping “emerging leaders committed to advocating for their immigrant community in Boston.”

The curriculum, per boston.gov, includes “civic engagement and community organizing,” “public narrative,” and “immigration history and topics impacting immigrants, racism, and equity.”

Classes are conducted in English, Spanish, or Haitian Creole.

The program’s co-runner is the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, or MIRA.

MIRA is a 140-plus-member coalition whose separate policy agenda includes lobbying to limit Massachusetts police cooperation with ICE and funding deportation-defense legal aid for undocumented residents facing removal.

{snip}