Grantee spotlight

Witness how the power of one has been multiplied through our 2026–2027 grants.

Path to Hope

Path to Hope is a nonprofit immigration law office in Annapolis that provides legal advice and representation to immigrants in Anne Arundel County and throughout Maryland. Path to Hope has a case approval rate of over 98% and charges legal fees that are 20 to 30% of those charged by private immigration attorneys in the area. Its mission is to make the highest-quality immigration legal services available to low-income families, especially women and children.

Immigrant women and children are disproportionately unable to access immigration legal services, even from low-cost providers, compared with immigrant men due to cost. Our 2026–2027 grant helps address this injustice by providing $25,000 to reduce legal fees for immigrant women and children by 80%. This makes it more affordable for them to access immigration statuses that are critical to quality of life in the county, including those that provide access to employment, banking, driver's licenses, and higher education. Every immigrant mother who gains lawful status may also be able to pass that status to her minor children, creating a generational impact that helps break cycles of unemployment and poverty.

A member of the Path to Hope team recently attended the U.S. citizenship ceremony for one of the organization's immigrant mothers, Widlyne. A single mother from Haiti, Widlyne waited more than 15 years to gain her green card through her U.S. citizen brother. She currently works 12-hour shifts, five days a week, to support her three children, ages 17, 7, and 5.

Widlyne first consulted with Path to Hope in March 2024 for assistance in gaining U.S. citizenship. Path to Hope worked alongside her over the next two years to file her citizenship application, ultimately securing approval after multiple challenges and delays. Widlyne and her Path to Hope advocate exchanged a huge hug and happy sighs of relief when she signed her U.S. citizenship certificate on August 6.

Using AAWGT funding, Path to Hope is now filing for Certificates of U.S. Citizenship for Widlyne's children, who derived their U.S. citizenship from hers. As a result, her 17-year-old son can now access financial aid for college and look forward to a promising future.

Widlyne's success is one of many Path to Hope has experienced in the past year, with many more hoped for in the future. Path to Hope is immensely grateful for the opportunity to do this work and knows it would not be possible without the support of AAWGT and other like-minded organizations and individuals who value and support immigrants in the United States.

Path to Hope now has two attorneys, two Accredited Legal Representatives, and two paralegals who work tirelessly to advocate for their clients. AAWGT's support means the world to Path to Hope and the immigrant families it serves.

Touchstones

Since 1984, more than six million participants of all ages and backgrounds have taught themselves and each other essential communication, thinking, and leadership skills in Touchstones® Discussion Project (Touchstones) educational programs. Among those people are thousands of Maryland's most marginalized individuals: those who are or have been incarcerated at Maryland Correctional Institution for Women and other Maryland prisons.

Our 2026–2027 grant to Touchstones is providing continued and expanded access to transformational discussion-based programs for incarcerated individuals at Maryland Correctional Institution for Women and other Maryland prisons.

At the same time, the funds support program expansion into additional detention facilities in Anne Arundel County. Touchstones' goal is to foster incarcerated women's life and workforce skills so that their time while incarcerated is a period of personal growth aimed at successful and sustained reentry to society.

Touchstones programs invite every participant to learn and refine skills of self-moderation, listening to understand, constructive self-expression, cooperation, accountability, reflective thinking, and shared leadership. What does this skill development mean for Touchstones participants at Maryland Correctional Institution for Women? The most common feedback Touchstones hears from participants is that this is the first time they've felt their thinking matters to others. Most participants also share that they are becoming more confident in sharing their ideas with others in their discussions. And they report that how they think about or approach issues is changing in Touchstones. As they practice considering multiple perspectives and working with others, they realize the benefits that come from cooperation and teamwork. This spring, one younger program participant shared that she wanted most of all to listen better to all participants. She recognized this would help her maintain focus and remain on task. She also realized she needs encouragement from others to achieve that goal. Other participants said they wanted to interrupt others less, and a few said they wanted to encourage quieter people more. Each of these aspirations reflects a growing sense of agency, accountability, and individual capability.