Give Liberty a Hand is MIRA’s 28th annual fundraiser where we recognize our community champions for support & advocate for immigrants in our Commonwealth.

Join us on Thursday, June 13th at the Seaport Hotel for an evening of celebration as we recognize MIRA’s community of champion supporters, business leaders, policy makers, advocates, allies, and honorees to celebrate our collective achievements and advance MIRA’s vision of a Commonwealth – and a nation – where all immigrants & refugees can thrive and fully participate in their communities’ social, economic, and civic life.

Get Tickets Here!

Meet Our 2024 Community Champion Award Honorees

With this special award, we celebrate and recognize those who have made a significant impact in advancing the inclusion of immigrants and refugees into our civic, social, and community life.

Kim Driscoll Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor

Kim Driscoll is the 73rd person to serve as the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, beginning her term in January 2023.

Kim came to this position from an extensive and successful career in local government. She was elected the City of Salem’s first woman Mayor in 2006, and is credited with improving and revitalizing the City by transforming Salem’s fiscal management, education, infrastructure, climate change advancements, transportation, and social and cultural resources. Under Kim’s leadership, Salem has become an intentionally inclusive community. Kim is the daughter of an immigrant from Trinidad, and has consistently stood up for immigrant rights and advancement.

Before becoming the Mayor of Salem, Driscoll served as the City of Chelsea’s Chief Legal Counsel and Deputy City Manager, helping that City recover from the crisis of receivership. Kim graduated from Salem State University and earned her law degree from the Massachusetts School of Law.

Exemplified by her extensive and successful career in local government, Kim is focused on working with Governor Healey to create a forward-looking Commonwealth that works for, empowers, and includes all who call Massachusetts home, as well as those who aspire to do so.

JD Chesloff of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable

As President & CEO, JD is responsible for developing and implementing the Massachusetts Business Roundtable’s agenda on public policy matters, and works collaboratively with opinion leaders, policy makers and other stakeholders in pursuit of its mission to make Massachusetts the most desirable place to live, work and do business and ensure access to a robust, diverse and talented workforce that enhances the Commonwealth’s competitiveness in a global economy. We applaud JD and the Roundtable for a commitment to ensuring that businesses have access to a diverse and talented workforce, and to welcoming immigrants as a business imperative.

SIM – Stories Inspiring Movements (formerly Student Immigrant Movement)

Stories Inspiring Movement is creating inclusive spaces for immigrant youth and young adults to foster storytelling as a way to overcome immigration status limitations, foster authentic connections, and amplify voices to create social and political change.  Through events, youth leadership development, mobilizing, mentorship, organizing, and advocacy, SIM brings immigrant youth together to dismantle systemic barriers and ensure that immigrants have a strong voice in sharing their futures. SIM began as a MIRA project in 2005 that grew to become an independent agency, and we are thrilled to see their progress! SIM has been a significant partner in the recent Tuition Equity Act victory, opening opportunities for hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts young people, now and for the future.

Emcee for the event, Oscar Margain (BostonNBC, NECN, Telemundo )

Oscar began his journalism career at the Texas-Mexico border as a bilingual TV reporter and anchor, covering major stories of national and international interest. Most recently, Oscar spent two years in China as a multimedia editor, reporting on a variety of cultural and social issues and hosting multiple social media livestreams across the country.

His work has earned him multiple awards including four regional Emmys, two Texas Associated Press awards, two Houston Press Club awards, and a regional Edward R. Murrow award. Margain has also been recognized by the New England Emmy chapter for his reporting in 2022 and 2023.

Featured Performers

Oompa

OOMPA is a nationally-acclaimed, Boston-born (ROXBURY to be specific), hip hop artist. She was named one of Boston Magazine’s 150 Most Influential Bostonians / and her engaging, interactive performing style has earned her 3 Boston Music Awards and an unprecedented 14 nominations. WBUR’s the Artery describes the lyric-focused rapper as having a “natural tenderness with language” and calls her verses “funny…incisive and memorable.”

Ghassan Sawalhi

Ghassan Sawalhi is a Palestinian Hip Hop artist, Music producer, Audio engineer, Composer, Arranger, and Multi-instrumentalist. Ghassan graduated with honors from the esteemed Berklee College of Music in the field of Music production and engineering in 2017. He has been working ever since with the Arabic community in Newton and the greater Boston area through workshops, private lessons on the Oud and Percussion, as well as helping the CAC (Center for Arabic Culture) found their Arabic Youth Orchestra and is currently the Artistic Director there. Ghassan is also a 2019 and 2021 Ted speaker, multiple time scholarship receiver and a very active member in the Arabic Alternative Music Scene.

Olayemi Ogundola and Carlos Herrand Pou of the Community Music Center of Boston 

Olayemi Ogundola is a saxophonist, composer and educator. Born in Oyo state, Olayemi was raised in Oyo town, an inland state in south-western Nigeria. Born into a musically prone family, he was exposed to various styles of music from a very early age beginning with the church choir and introduced to classical singing by his father who is an organist in Methodist Church. The traditional music across West Africa and jazz has been a major influence and process to finding his own voice after being exposed to learning African musical instruments such as Dundun, Agbe, Bata, Sakara, Gudugudu, Omele and Bembe. Olayemi has often been described as a narrator and conceptualist, having a deep understanding of rhythm and harmony. For over 12 years he has taught students of all ages and levels of advancement in institutions.
Carlos Herrand Pou (he/him) is a drummer, composer & educator based in Boston, MA. He started playing the drums at age 15, where he then joined the National Conservatory of Music. At a young age, he started to gain recognition in the local jazz scene and started playing with renowned local jazz musicians. After participating in the 2015 edition of Berklee on the Road in his hometown, he was given a scholarship to join the prestigious Berklee College of Music as a full-time student, where he graduated with the highest honor majoring in Performance. At present, he is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Jazz and Contemporary Music at the prestigious Longy School of Music of Bard College as a Presidential & Equity Scholar. As an educator, Carlos has teaches at various private music schools in the Greater Boston Area.
CMCB is an arts education nonprofit founded in 1910, with a mission to transform lives by providing equitable access to excellent music education and arts experiences. In a typical year, over 3,000 students participate in our programs every week. We are proud to act as the largest external provider of arts education to the Boston Public Schools, supporting rigorous, relevant, and culturally-inclusive musical instruction for one of the most diverse school districts in the nation.

Merrill Family Charitable Foundation

Mohamad and Kecia Ali


Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP

Bob Rivers

Aixa Beauchamp & Thomas Melendez

Anonymous

Senate President Karen E. Spilka

Speaker of the House Ronald Mariano

State Representative Ruth B. Balser

State Representative Christine P. Barber

State Senator William N. Brownsberger

State Representative Antonio F. D. Cabral

State Senator Jo Comeríora

State Representative Mike Connolly

State Senator Brendan P. Crighton

State Representative Manny Cruz

State Representative Marjorie C. Decker

State Senator Sal N. DiDomenico

State Representative Mindy Domb

State Senator Lydia Edwards

State Senator James B. Eldridge

State Senator Cindy F. Friedman

State Senator Adam Gomez

State Representative Carlos González

State Representative Natalie Higgins

State Representative Vanna Howard

State Representative Jack Patrick Lewis

State Senator Jason M. Lewis

State Representative Adrian Madaro

State Senator Liz Miranda

State Representative Samantha Montaño

State Representative Frank A. Moran

State Representative Tram T. Nguyen

State Representative Steven Owens

State Senator Pavel M. Payano

State Representative Alice Hanlon Peisch

State Representative Estela Reyes

State Representative Lindsay Sabadosa

State Representative Danillo A. Sena

State Representative Andres X. Vargas

MIRA’s mission “to convene, serve, and organize together with our members, community leaders, and allies for the advancement of all immigrants across the Commonwealth and beyond,” means that collaboration with partners like you is more important than ever. With your sponsorship this year, we endeavor to secure $350,000 in order to build MIRA’s impactful statewide programs that serve the needs of our immigrant communities.

If you’re interested in being a sponsor for this year’s annual fundraiser, please read our Sponsorship Packet.