Canal Alliance

Canal Alliance offers a wide range of services to support the immigrant community in Marin. In my short time knowing this amazing organization, I came to realize how interconnected all their programs are. From offering immigration services, to investing in youth education. All with the aim of increasing social mobility for their clients and families. The staff are also incredibly passionate and care deeply for the community they serve and each other. Canal Alliance has proven that they are trusted leader in the Canal neighborhood and beyond.

I have been a member of the Canal Alliance team for just over a year and I am so proud of the individual, holistic, and direct support each member provides to the community. This is an amazing group of individuals who treat everyone who walks through the door like family, and we want our family to achieve their dreams for education, livable wages, food security, and a safe place to call home without fear of being deported. Canal Alliance supports the whole person, from beginning to end. Thank you for the work that you do.

I really like that Canal Alliance still offers covid resources, especially since a lot of organizations stopped once the mask mandate was lifted.

I have been a volunteer with Canal Alliance for over 4 years now. I have a deep personal connection to this organization's mission.

Canal alliance has helped my whole family. From helping my brother and I academically and financially through school to providing food for my family and legal help for my parents- we wouldn’t be where we are if it wasn’t for this great org. Thank you for your consistent support and for providing a safe space.

Canal Alliance does so much for the community; we are lucky to have such a dedicated and passionate group in San Rafael. As a representative with a neighboring business, it has been a delight to connect with Canal on several programs and opportunities to serve our community at large. Thank you Canal for the partnership and all that you do!

I volunteered with the after school program in 2014 for a year. I assisted middle school students with homework assignments. The program was very well organized and there was good preparation and training for the tutors. I also heard of many success stories. It was obvious that the program was critical to the community as well as being beneficial for the students.

As a volunteer who helped immigrants in the Canal’s ESL program, I saw how quickly and joyfully my students learned English language skills, embraced a new culture, and had fun doing so, even after long days of working and raising families. I consider it one of the best things I ever did with my time!

Wow! I'm so glad an organization like this exists to help immigrants find resources and get adjusted to life in the Bay Area.

This organization is amazing! They do so much work to help the Latinx community In the Canal District of San Rafael in so many ways! They can help with immigration issues, education, COVID-19 and so much more!

A heartful team of professionals serving an immigrant community!

Great resource for the community. They help with many aspects our community faces, from rental assistance to ESL classes and so much more.

As a relatively new resident in the Canal District (4 1/2 years), I've been heartened by what I've observed of the Canal Alliance's activities in the community. Their presence is everywhere and they've served as both a liaison between the Latinx residents and other ethnic groups and as a ready source for information, assistance and guidance for all who live in this community. I am impressed by the stable, family-oriented nature of this neighborhood and credit Canal Alliance for its role in keeping it that way.

Canal provides much needed support for our immigrant community, especially in helping the next generation successfully graduate high school and prepare for college.

Canal alliance has been instrumental at working with its neighborhoods, getting out accurate information and delivering convenient vaccination and testing units out into the neighborhood. Because Canal Alliance is so trusted, they were instrumental in moving the needle with Latinos trusting vaccines and understanding the importance of testing. They also were instrumental in getting technology fixes out to those in need. I could go on and on but Canal Alliance delivers on it's mission statement of supporting immigrants and their families and helping break the cycle of poverty.

Canal Alliance sets the standard for social equity activism, community education, and resource support which reaches beyond the Hispanic immigrant community it serves. As on of the most segretated ethnic communities in the Bay Area, Canal residents continue to be impacted by systemic shortcomings to include law, education, housing, nutrition, and jobs. Our community is often undervalued, underrated, and taken advantage. Canal Alliance not only takes a systemic approach to advocating around these issues for the Canal community, it extends intelligent publicity of these issues through storytelling and proactive acknowledgement to mainstream audiences (non-Hispanic). Canal Alliance is a blessing.

Canal Alliance makes a profound difference in our community. We are proud annual donors and volunteers.

We chose to give to the Canal Alliance because of their superb outreach programs. They are the thread that holds the beautiful quilt together.

Canal Alliance is a stand-out nonprofit dedicated to improving the immigrant experience in Marin County by providing essential services to help immigrants find work, healthcare, housing, education and training, and social services. They have a remarkable track record of achieving results, such as their Canal WiFi team which brought much needed wifi to the Canal neighborhood so children could learn remotely and families could work and stay connected remotely. It is just one of their great accomplishments!

Thank you for providing assistance in our community. Love your organization and the food distribution.

I’m part of Canal Alliance’s University Prep (UP!) program and it has honestly helped me become a more successful student! They have provided me with tutoring and opportunities that I wouldn’t have been able to find on my own. I consider everyone in the UP! program to be like family.

I have seen first hand the commitment to the immigrant community, from immediate needs to transformative help. This non-profit exists to better the lives of our Latinx community, which in turn improves their quality of life in this county.

I have volunteered with Canal Alliance by sewing masks for community members during the Covid-19 pandemic. I am in awe of the dedication everyone at Canal Alliance has to supporting the Latinx community. Wonderful organization.

The Canal Alliance doesn’t shy away from hard work. During the beginnings of the pandemic, the way they spread information and pooled together resources for families who were hit hardest was incredible. The staff is passionate and those who go to the Canal Alliance for English classes, immigration information, and after school work benefit greatly from the well-rounded support. I continued to volunteer for the Canal Alliance even after I left Marin, which is a testament to the wonderful community they’ve created.

I came here from Guatemala when I was 8. Canal alliance help me get involved in programs and introduced me to computer classes, photography and summer camps. I’ve come a long way and very greatful which is why i donate to the nonprofit and my job always matches us ������

I am an instructor in the Career Technology Education department at College of Marin. I teach an adult construction class in partnership with the Canal Alliance and the Marin Builders Association. Canal Alliances' Career and Education department coordinates the solicitation, selection, validation and enrollment of students into this program. Additionally, they provide career building enhancements such as soft employee skills and personal resumes. These students are then exposed as employee prospects to the large membership of the Marin Builders Association, with great success. They continually track the progress of these students during and after this class in order to ascertain the effectiveness of this program. Canal Alliance is a superior non-profit organization fully worthy of everyone's support.

Years ago I toured the facilities with my dear friend Carol Hovis, who was spiritual director there. I was so impressed, and grateful, that this community had support in education and advocacy. I have heard articulate, eloquent, inspiring speakers in the context of Marin Interfaith Council meetings. I have donated a few times, but never enough. This is an excellent organization with professional and effective leaders.

I've been a volunteer ESL aide at Canal Alliance for years. The students are wonderful and hard working and Canal Alliance does a fantastic job of helping the students learn English and so much more!!

Honest, relevant, embedded, and community-minded--exceptional care for the diverse peoples of the Canal. Linking their needs to the rest of San Rafael and Marin County. Phenomenal leadership + empowerment of volunteers and staff. Top tier non-profit.

The Canal Alliance staff and mission represents a truly compassionate organization. They offer critical support to the Canal community, especially the Latinx members. I loved working with them when I created the Faces of the Canal public art banner project years ago and have followed what they have done ever since. Keep up the great work and please stay healthy and safe. You all are such great people.

I have been volunteering with Canal for the past 8 months or so in their ESL program. The staff is extremely helpful and provides teachers and classroom aides with a wealth of information and support to help them organize and teach classes. Furthermore, the community that they serve is full of hard-working, enthusiastic immigrants striving to improve their situation here in the US. Both the staff at Canal Alliance and the community in the Canal make this organization a joy to volunteer for.

I have been a volunteer at Canal Alliance for two years, both in the ESL and the Youth Scholarship Programs. I've enjoyed every minute of it, and find the eager responses of the programs' participants to be extremely rewarding. These people, both adult and youth, want to learn and are so appreciative of our time It's fun to watch them progress. Every city with a large immigrant population should have a Canal Alliance.

I have been volunteering with the Youth Education Program at Canal Alliance for the past four years. This is the most wonderful program to help 6th., 7th. and 8th. graders improve their learning skills in all areas, and also help them develop the study strategies and skills they will need for high school. All the staff who work in the program are so dedicated to their students and they provide a caring and supportive environment where students can thrive and gain confidence and pride in their achievements.

I've always liked investing my time in any organization being proactive in its community. I found Canal Alliance and began volunteering since October 2011. I volunteer only a couple hours a week and even then everyone makes me feel that whatever I do however small it is it makes a difference. It really is a great project to be a part of.

I worked with the Canal Alliance for a period of time as a volunteer helping immigrants learn the skills needed to find work, as well as providing the everyday kind of help in filling out important forms for schools, jobs, passports, etc. There is a enormous need in the community for these services, and the wonderful staff, from the receptionist to the skilled professionals, at the Canal Alliance and the Opportunity Center, totally impressed me with their heartfelt, generous and dedicated commitment to serving the Spanish speaking community.