About TIRRC

Who We Are

Since our founding in 2003, the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) has grown from an informal network of community leaders into one of the most diverse and effective coalitions of its kind, a model for immigrant rights organizations in the Southeast and throughout the United States.

We are nationally recognized for our multiethnic, multigenerational coalition building, effective legislative advocacy, and award-winning communications initiatives. We organize both individual immigrants and refugees, as well as organizations and multifaith congregations that serve immigrant and refugee communities.

Interested in joining our team? Check out our jobs, fellowships, and internships!

Build, Amplify, and Organize

TIRRC is a statewide, immigrant and refugee-led collaboration. Our mission is to build power, amplify our voices, and organize communities to advocate for our rights. 

Our vision is a stronger, more inclusive Tennessee where people of all nationalities, immigration statuses, and racial identities can belong and thrive.

Core Principles

at The center of what we do

  • We pursue our vision boldly with intention and courage, meeting the challenges of today with brave, expansive ideas that shape the world of tomorrow. Building on the legacy of a generations-long struggle, we are committed to creating lasting power in our communities and movement.

  • We value ourselves, each other, and the collective, and we seek to honor and celebrate each other's unique contributions, abilities, and needs, both within the work and outside of it. We work to create a culture of care that respects the boundaries of the individual and the community while recognizing our individual and collective needs.

  • We are a coalition of all cultures, races, generations, ethnicities, and genders and we recognize that our collective liberation begins from a foundation of hope and sustainability. Collective liberation requires the dismantling of white supremacy, Anti-Blackness, and capitalism in order to create a Tennessee where all communities have the freedom to stay, the freedom to move, and the freedom to thrive.

  • We believe being in community means showing up, having each other's backs, and being accountable to our commitments to our teams, members, partners, and everyone we engage. By bringing diverse voices to the table, building consensus, providing constructive feedback, and prioritizing personal and professional growth, we create an environment where we achieve more collectively and people can participate as their full authentic selves.

Our History & Impact

We've been organizing immigrants and refugees to advocate for our rights since 2003.

Timeline
2001

A coalition of people and organizations came together and successfully won a campaign for driver’s licenses for all. Tennessee was one of the first states in the country that allowed undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses (It was later overturned). After the campaign, members of immigrant and refugee service providing organizations recognized the need for an organization focused on ongoing advocacy for our communities.

2003

The Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Coalition was officially founded!

2009

TIRRC helped defeat an English-only referendum in Nashville in our first real electoral policy campaign. After a policy to make government services only available in English passed the Nashville Metro Council, our members successfully lobbied the mayor to veto the legislation. We then advocated for the council to oppose the policy and defeated a public referendum, establishing as a shared value that Nashville is a welcoming and inclusive city.

2011

TIRRC and partners joined together to defend one of the first direct legislative assaults on Tennessee's Muslim and refugee communities. In the face of legislation equating Sharia with terrorism, together we organized hundreds of Muslim Tennesseans to visit lawmakers throughout the legislative session, with many lawmakers meeting a Muslim for the first time. Not only were the bills defeated, but many Muslim leaders involved went on to establish new organizations, strengthening the landscape of those fighting for a more inclusive Tennessee.

2018

TIRRC responded to the largest workplace immigration raid in over a decade outside of Morristown, Tennessee. After providing initial rapid response and case management services, we continued to support, organize and advocate for and with the community, culminating in a historic victory for workers in a lawsuit against the federal government for violating their constitutional rights.

Also in 2018, TIRRC helped launch an affiliated 501(c)4 organization, TIRRC Votes. You can read about their work here.

2021

TIRRC opened the doors to our brand new headquarters, a community hub and 2,970 square-foot event center in the heart of Nashville’s immigrant and refugee community. Opening our headquarters was a testament to the power of our movement and a symbol of immigrant and refugee communities’ deep roots in Tennessee. Our headquarters features a soccer field, community garden, playground, and public art for all in the community to enjoy.

2023

TIRRC celebrated 20 powerful years of the immigrant rights movement in Tennessee!

A small group of TIRRC members sitting in a circle holding neon signs and discussing

We believe every person possesses agency and power and that real and lasting change must be led by those directly affected by injustice. For this reason community organizing and leadership development are the core strategies we use to realize our vision of a stronger, more inclusive Tennessee where people of all nationalities, immigration statuses, and racial identities can belong and thrive.

Our diverse immigrant communities come together throughout the state to examine root causes, find common interests, and organize for better conditions. By meeting people where they are, we engage directly impacted communities on a leadership continuum, giving them the space to develop their skills and influence policy decision making. We believe that public policy is a vehicle to improve the lives of immigrants and refugees, to transform communities, and to build power for collective liberation, and by organizing and leading policy advocacy campaigns, immigrants and refugees engage in and impact issues that are directly relevant to their everyday lives.

By actively involving immigrant and refugee communities in the civic process and advocating for policies that reflect their needs (or against policies that harm our communities), we help seed a belief in government as an institution that should respect, value, support, and represent the diverse voices and experiences of our communities. 

Read how we put our theory of change into action through Our Work.

How We Make Change

Eloisa Salazar Event Center

Host your next event at TIRRC’s Eloisa Salazar Event Center! 

TIRRC’s Event Center offers several rental packages to host your private events or meetings in a unique and modern venue, located 15 minutes away from downtown in the heart of Nashville’s immigrant and refugee communities. Check out TIRRC's space for your upcoming private event!

Financials

GivingMatters.com is an online resource created by The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. TIRRC's financial data and information regarding our 501(c)(3) status can be found on our GivingMatters profile.