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Grant Recipients List for the 1st Quarter, 2005BARK $10,000Portland, OR Bark is a community-based grassroots organization that works to preserve the forest, waters and wildlife of Mt. Hood National Forest through monitoring and challenging federal timber sales, and through engaging citizens in public land oversight. Big Sky Conservation Institute/High Plains Films $6,000 Missoula, MT High Plains Films is a nonprofit documentary film program that provides visual media to individuals and institutions committed to human rights, environmental conservation and economic sustainability. They collaborate with grassroots, nonprofit organizations and educational institutions to create, distribute and screen their films. Their latest film, “Libby, Montana”, depicts the struggle of a rural Montana town dealing with widespread asbestos contamination from a W.R. Grace Corporation mine. Funding was provided in support of the distribution of the film to environmental health advocacy organizations, members of Congress, and labor organizations involved in campaigns to protect asbestos workers. Cambridge Eviction Free Zone $12,500 Cambridge, MA The EFZ trains, organizes, and mobilizes disenfranchised Cambridge residents on issues of affordable housing, immigrant rights, and economic justice. Funding was provided in support of the Campaign for Housing Justice which is currently addressing the urgent situation created by the changes in the federal subsidized housing program, Section 8, and their impact on low-income tenants in Cambridge. Center for Environmental Equity (CEE) $4,000 Portland, OR CEE is an environmental advocacy group which works with local communities in Oregon burdened by contamination from abandoned mines on public lands. CEE helps local communities put pressure on federal agencies and mining companies to clean up abandoned and inactive mines (AIMs). Centro Humanitario Para Los Trabajadores $10,000 Denver, CO Founded by day laborers and community supporters, El Centro is a democratically run, immigrant day laborer workers’ center working to change policy to enhance temporary workers’ rights in Colorado. Funding was provided to help create the Workers’ Legal Empowerment Project, led by workers themselves working on the End Wage Theft Campaign which strives to prosecute predatory employers as criminals, reform the labor department to be more accountable, and to train other workers in the strategy of everyday legal protection. Citizens For Safe Farming (CFSF) $10,000 Charlotte, VT CFSF is a local, grassroots community group working to protect their community and the state of Vermont from the threats posed by Large Farm Operations (LFOs)/factory farms. General operating support was provided for their efforts as part of a statewide safe farming coalition to reform Vermont’s LFO permit system to include adequate citizen participation and scientific rigor, as well as their efforts to work with a large farm applicant to create a legally binding “safe farming master plan” for the Bingham Brook Valley. Coalicion de Derechos Humanos/Arizona Border Rights Project $7,500 Tuscon, AZ Decrechos Humanos works to bring about a border policy that encompasses three areas: a fair immigrant ‘legalization’ processing a U.S. trade policy that protects the rights of migrant workers both here and in sender countries, and to put an end to the militarization of the Borderlands. Funding was provided in support of the Youth Law Enforcement Monitoring Project which engages young people in documenting abuse of authority and violation of rights and developing tactics to promote respect and protection of civil rights. Coalition For Responsible Siting of LNG Facilities $15,000 Fall River, MA The Coalition is a grassroots, membership group of individuals and organizations working at two levels: 1) to oppose the placement of several proposed Liquid Natural Gas tanks and facilities in urban neighborhoods and 2) to encourage and ultimately require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to remotely site any such massive LNG facilities, as was the specific Congressional intent in 1979 federal legislation regarding such facilities. The potential danger of large LNG tanks is great. Coalition on Homelessness $5,000 San Francisco, CA COH organizes homeless and low-income people and frontline staff in social services agencies in the struggle to create permanent solutions to homelessness and poverty. Funding was provided in support of the Housing and Shelter Work Group which works on Housing Authority policy reform and to transform surplus city property into permanent affordable housing, as well as homeless shelter system monitoring and reform. Colonias Development Council $10,000 Las Cruces, NM CDC is a council of grassroots community organizations in or near colonias. Colonias are communities within 150 miles of the U.S. — Mexico border, which lack basic infrastructure, decent housing and/or improved roads. CDC works on issues identified by its community leaders as issues of urgent concern. General support funding was provided for civic participation activities, environmental justice and farmworker rights organizing and economic development activities. Desis Rising Up and Moving — DRUM $10,000 Jackson Heights, NY DRUM is a community-based social justice organization of low-income South Asian immigrants and families affected by detention and deportation in New York City. DRUM builds the leadership of immigrants, primarily youth and women, to work for institutional change for low-income immigrants, placing anti-detention and deportation organizing in migrant rights, global justice and human rights contexts. Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition $10,000 Seattle, WA DRCC was founded by local environmental, social justice, tribal and community organizations to secure a Superfund cleanup of South Seattle’s Duwamish River that reflects the needs and values of its surrounding community. It is the DRCCs task to ensure that it is the community—and not government or industry—that guides the cleanup. Idaho Rural Council $5,000 Bliss, ID IRC is a chapter-based membership organization working to preserve the well-being of Idaho’s family farms and rural communities. Funding was provided in support of their efforts to restrict and regulate the industrial dairy and hog confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) that are threatening the environment and quality of life of many of Idaho’s rural communities. Just Cause Oakland / Just Cause Education Fund $10,000 Oakland, CA Just Cause Oakland is a membership-based organization of Oakland tenants organizing for just, affordable and decent housing as a basic human right. Funding was provided in support of the Affordable Housing Campaign, led by low-income, African American tenants in West Oakland to win affordable housing units in their neighborhood and push for citywide zoning policies that ensure the creation of affordable housing in impoverished Oakland neighborhoods. Lakota Action Network $7,500 Porcupine, SD Lakota Action Network is building a youth-led movement within the Lakota Nation to protect sacred sites, ecosystems and build a sustainable economy. Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) $15,000 Chicago, IL LVEJO is a multi-issue organization which organizes residents of Little Village, the second largest Mexican American urban area in the U.S., around such issues as: economic and environmental justice, youth development, education, immigrant and worker rights, equal access to increased public transportation, ending racism in parks and recreation, promoting Hispanic culture through the arts, and sustainable neighborhood development through democratic community participation in planning and decision making. General support funding was provided. Louisiana Bucket Brigade $10,000 New Orleans, LA The LABB works with communities that neighbor petrochemical plants to improve their health by reducing toxic emissions. The LABB teaches community members to use air sampling buckets and other tools to monitor and expose industrial pollution as it happens. They organize and empower residents to fight pollution and protect their health through community education and training regarding emissions and health data, public record research that exposes dangerous plant operations, publicizing leaks, accidents and emissions via the web, and providing ongoing strategic advice and planning for community groups’ campaigns. Michigan Positive Action Coalition (MI-POZ) $10,000 Ferndale, MI MI-POZ works to increase grassroots leadership and participation by Persons Living With HIV/AIDS in legislative education activities. Funding was provided in support of a training seminar for PLWH/As on grassroots advocacy and legislative education. Missouri Rural Crisis Center (MRCC) $6,000 Columbia, MO MRCC is a progressive, statewide membership organization that organizes farmers and other rural people to preserve family farms, promote stewardship of the land and environmental integrity, and strive for economic and social justice. Funding was provided in support of the Sustainable Farms, Sustainable Communities project which seeks to challenge corporate concentration of the food supply and build sustainable family-farm based alternatives. New York City AIDS Housing Network $12,500 Brooklyn, NY NYC AIDS Housing Network is a membership organization led by low-income people living with HIV/AIDS, and including non-profit housing providers and AIDS service organizations in the membership. General support funding was provided for their efforts to provide education, support and skills to low-income people living with HIV/AIDS so that they can effectively advocate for more housing, including legislation guaranteeing the first right to housing. Newtown Florist Club $7,000 Gainesville, GA NFC was formed in 1950 when a group of African American women came together to provide financial and emotional support to families in time of bereavement. They evolved into social and environmental justice organizers when they realized that a disproportionate number of their neighbors were suffering and dying from cancer and lupus and other chronic diseases. Funding was provided in support of the Youth Community Bucket Brigade. Organized Parents Against Lead $7,500 Providence, RI OPAL is a parent-led group working to end childhood lead poisoning in Rhode Island. Most members of OPAL are parents whose children have been poisoned by lead. Funding was provided in support of the Parent Organizing Initiative which will expand their efforts to outreach to, educate, organize and empower parents of lead poisoned children to fight against unsafe, lead contaminated, low-income housing in Providence. Our Education $10,000 Arlington, VT Our Education is a new national student movement for better schools, founded and led by students. Through the implementation of five related projects, Our Education seeks to influence local, state, and national education policies and resource allocation: 1)The Student Voice Project which fosters high school student representation in local school board discussions; 2) Our Education chapters at college campuses; 3) a national student petition campaign for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing all children the right to a high quality education; 4) an Our Education national student conference which will produce a Students’ Bill of Rights; and 5) Our Education, a student-written and produced magazine. Picture the Homeless $10,000 New York, NY Picture the Homeless was founded by two homeless men in 1999, in response to the Giuliani administration’s policy of criminalizing homeless people, which was broadly supported by the media. Their work has developed into an organization directed and run by homeless people. Using grassroots organizing, leadership development, public education, coalition and public policy work, Picture the Homeless builds the capacity of people who are homeless to make systemic change. General Operating support was provided. Power U Center for Social Change $7,500 Miami, FL Power U is a grassroots organizing and leadership development organization for inner city residents in Miami. With the Operation Urban Recovery (O.U.R.) Campaign, Power U has brought together several neighborhood-based organizing campaigns into one city-wide effort to work for social and environmental justice. O.U.R is addressing four main issues: Gentrification Justice, Public Schools, Environmental Justice, and Leadership Development. Sand Mountain Concerned Citizens $5,000 Idler, AL SMCC, an all volunteer non-profit, works to educate the public of the dangers of corporate factory hog farms, and to improve regulations governing Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). United Workers Association (UWA) $15,000 Baltimore, MD The UWA is a worker-run organization of low wage workers who are organizing for better wages and working conditions among the day laborer community. Organizing strategies include a corporate accountability campaign against highly visible corporations that utilize day laborers, a worker-owned business initiative called United Workers Cooperative, and weekly political education sessions and leadership development work. General support funding was provided in order to build capacity and ensure stability of the worker leaders. Vermont Natural Resources Council $10,000 Montpelier, VT VNRC is a statewide environmental organization working to protect Vermont’s natural resources through research, education and advocacy. Funding was provided in support of their Up Against the Wal, Round II campaign, which is helping to organize citizens to fight out-of-scale, poorly located, Big Box Wal-Mart developments. Western Lands Project $10,000 Seattle, WA WLXP is the only organization dedicated to bringing scrutiny and reform to the federal land exchange programs and facilitate public access to information about, and participation in, the land trade process. WLXP conducts research, outreach, and advocacy toward federal land exchange policy reform in order that the public interest be served and environmental protections be upheld in transactions between federal agencies and private parties—often resource extraction industries. American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont $1,000 Montpelier, VT The “Bill of Rights Boot Camp” is an educational project designed to provide high school students with awareness of civil liberties issues as they pertain to students’ lives with application to broader civil liberties concerns. Beyond Visions Foundation $1,000 St. Thomas, VI The Sea Turtle Protection Campaign in the U.S. Virgin Islands will bring attention and support for the plight of endangered sea turtles with the long-term goal of reducing the illegal harvesting of sea turtles and sea turtle’s products. Committee In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador $1,000 San Francisco, CA CISPES conducts presentations and workshops in high school and college classrooms to raise awareness of the impact free trade has had on the local and global Latino community. Helping Oakland’s People to Eat (HOPE) Enterprises $1,000 Berkeley, CA HOPE is a social justice enterprise seeking to employ and empower youth, and provide East Oakland residents with access to healthy food. Kentucky Waterways Alliance, Inc. $1,000 Munfordville, KY The Building Sustainable Watershed Councils program supports grassroots groups that work to solve water pollution problems in their local waterways. Lynchburg Grows $1,000 Lynchburg, VA The Roots & Shoots Intergenerational Gardening Program is a community gardening program involving inner-city elementary school children and older community volunteers. It offers hands-on learning to bring to life the natural sciences and interweave them with math, art, English and history. Urban Word NYC c/o Teachers & Writers $1,000 New York, NY Art supplies for the Art & Social Justice youth organizing workshop. Women In Film & Video, Inc. $1,000 Washington, DC The Image Makers Program enables a diverse group of high school students to learn video production from volunteer, professional filmmakers, while creating PSAs for deserving non-profit, grassroots organizations. |