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Grant Recipients List for the 3rd Quarter, 20059to5 Atlanta Working Women $10,000Atlanta, GA Atlanta 9to5 is a multiracial, grassroots organization that strengthens low-wage women’s ability to work for economic justice. It is one of 15 local chapters of 9to5, National Association of Working Women. Combining advocacy, public education, grassroots organizing, policy campaigns and leadership development they work to gain relief from the most punitive components of welfare reform and to improve employment policies, while building for long-term goals, especially creation and retention of family-supporting and family-flexible jobs. Albany Park Neighborhood Council $12,000 Chicago, IL APNC’s mission is to create a safer community, improve the quality of education, provide a voice for youth, preserve affordable housing, increase access to affordable health care. Project Y is a youth-led initiative that blends community organizing, individual skill development and the creation of a safe social space for young people ages 13-19. Funding was provided to Project Y to continue its efforts to increase access to higher education for immigrant students, reduce after-school violence, and tackle new issues such as improving the quality of classroom instruction at public high schools in the neighborhood. Black Mesa Trust $10,000 Flagstaff, AZ Black Mesa Trust is a grassroots organization formed by Hopi people in Arizona to protect their lands and waters from degradation and depletion by Peabody Coal Company’s mining operations and water withdrawals. Peabody currently pumps 1.3 billion gallons annually of pristine drinking water from Navajo Aquifer beneath Black Mesa. The water is used to slurry coal from the reservation to the Mohave Generating Station 273 miles away. The Hopi and Dine peoples of Black Mesa are seeing destructive impacts to the aquifer in the form of sinkholes, cracks and fissures, sand in wells, and once perennial washes running dry. Citizens’ Environmental Coalition $7,000 Albany, NY CEC is New York’s leading environmental health organization working to solve and prevent pollution problems by serving as the nexus for grassroots advocacy, state-level policy discussions and national collaborations. CEC is spearheading an integrated, multi-faceted campaign, the NYS Alliance for a Toxic Free Future, to phase out the production, use, release, and disposal of persistent toxic chemicals in New York State. Cornucopia Institute $10,000 Cornucopia, WI The Cornucopia Institute is a new organization dedicated to the fight for economic justice for the family-scale farming community. The Cornucopia Institute acts as a government and corporate watchdog. Through research, advocacy, and economic development, their goal is to empower farmers both politically and through marketplace initiatives. Funding was provided in support of farmer and consumer-led efforts to protect organic dairy family farmers by enhancing the integrity of the organic certification system and blocking the looming factory-farm take over of organic dairying. Families United for Racial & Economic Equality (FUREE) $10,000 Brooklyn, NY FUREE is a Brooklyn-based, multi-racial organization made up of almost exclusively women of color. General support funding was provided to help them continue building a strong workers’ association of family day care providers who receive public monies to win better wages, benefits and working conditions; improving voter turnout and civic participation in low-income communities; and strengthening organizational capacity as an independent organization. Farm Worker Pesticide Project $13,000 Seattle, WA Together with farm workers and their families, FWPP works to reduce and eliminate their exposures to pesticides. FWPP provides resources and information to farm workers and their advocates about pesticides, unites diverse groups and individuals behind joint strategy to address the farm worker pesticide problem, and participate in that strategy as an advocate, organizer, educator and researcher. Food Works at Two Rivers Center for Sustainability$3,250 Montpelier, VT Food Works teaches the basics of organic food growing, conducts courses and workshops in practical nutrition education, and supports family farms by developing markets for local produce in area schools, community institutions and Senior Meals sites. Funding was provided in support of the development and implementation of Food and Nutrition Councils in Central Vermont middle and high schools, as part of the their collaborative effort with schools, community members and local farmers to cultivate a network of food system education curricula and activities. Future Harvest - A Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture $10,000 Stevensville, MD Future Harvest - CASA is an educational organization which works to promote sustainable farming practices, improve the regional economy by supporting local food and agricultural systems, and provide a forum for information exchange, policy development and idea promotion. Continued funding was provided in support of the Amazing Grazing Initiative, public awareness campaign to promote the health, environmental, agricultural, and economic benefits of grass-based production of meat, poultry and dairy products. Grassroots Collaborative $7,500 Chicago, IL The Grassroots Collaborative unites people from vastly different constituencies, from senior citizens to Latino immigrants to Chicago's homeless in efforts to make systemic change on issues that cut across these constituencies, like living wages and state funding levels for services. The Collaborative functions as a key support for its 12 member organizations by developing and coordinating common issue campaigns, providing technical assistance to strengthen member organizations, and linking member allies, such as labor, community, policy and religious organizations to develop powerful advocacy efforts that change public policies that affect low-income and working class Illinoisans. Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative $10,000 Baltimore, MD MCHI, also known as Health Care for All is a broad-based, statewide initiative to promote health care reform in Maryland. MCHI frames the problem of the uninsured as an economic, as well as an ethical, problem for all of society, not just those without health insurance. Funding was provided in support of the “Faces of Maryland’s Uninsured” project, which will integrate the medically uninsured into the health reform movement and empower them to work for social change. The project will produce a DVD and book that will be used to dispel the myths about the uninsured and to educate Maryland’s state leaders and the public about the immense difficulties uninsured families and individuals face. Padres Unidos $15,000 Denver, CO Padres Unidos is a multi-issue, multi-generational organization that is led by people of color who work for educational equity, equality for youth and immigrant rights. Padres Unidos challenges the root cause of discrimination, racism and inequity by exposing the economic, social and institutional basis for injustice as well as developing effective strategies and tactics to achieve institutional change. People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER) $10,000 San Francisco, CA POWER is a grassroots organization led by no and low-wage workers. A multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-issue organization, POWER organizes to force the city of San Francisco to address the severe poverty that persists despite the city’s renowned wealth, and to develop comprehensive plans to safeguard and nurture the low-income communities and workforce that form an essential part of the city's economy and identity. Vermont Interfaith Action $10,000 Burlington, VT VIA is a new, grassroots initiative by faith communities to promote economic and social justice in the state. Using a congregation-based organizing model, VIA organizes working families in Vermont around a multi-issue agenda that includes universal health care, affordable housing, and youth empowerment. Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG) $7,500 Montpelier, VT VPIRG works to promote the health and well-being of Vermont's people and environment by informing and mobilizing citizens across the state. Second year funding was provided in support of their educational and grassroots advocacy efforts to inform Vermonters about the threat of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to our economy, health, and environment, and to mobilize citizen activists to push for policies that will prevent widespread GMO contamination. VOZ: Workers’ Rights Education Project $7,500 Portland, OR VOZ is a worker-led membership organization that works to empower immigrant workers, particularly day laborers, to gain control over their working conditions and to exercise their collective power to address the discrimination they face. Based on the principles of popular education, VOZ organizing methods develop leadership, mobilize workers and educates the community about the issues day laborers face every day. Western Colorado Congress $10,000 Montrose, CO WCC is a grassroots, democratic organization made up of community groups and individuals dedicated to challenging injustice by organizing people to increase their power over decisions that affect their lives. WCC is organizing gasfield residents to change the institutions and policies that are negatively affecting their health, communities, environment and quality of life. Western Slope Environmental Resource Council $10,000 Paonia, CO WSERC is a member group of Western Colorado Congress which seeks to enhance the quality of life in Delta County by engaging and empowering citizens to protect wild lands, work with coal mines to ensure public safety and minimize environmental harm, restrain harmful coal bed-methane and natural gas drilling, and work to create a sustainable local economy. Continued general support funding was provided. Worcester Homeless Action Committee $1,000 Worcester, MA WHAC is a membership-based organization of homeless people and institutional allies who work for anti-discriminatory policies for homeless and marginally housed people of Worcester County. Funding was provided in support of a multi-tiered campaign challenging the unjust structures of homelessness, including a targeted public education effort to harness public sentiment for specific anti-poverty goals. Y-ACT, Youth Activities Come Together $1,000 Westbrook, ME Y-ACT is a new, political outreach program created by youth, for youth designed to empower concerned young people, between the ages of 13-17, who want to be able to have an impact on decision makers even though they are too young to vote. Y-ACT will provide mentorship of young organizers and elected officials, work in high school classes and clubs about ways to become active citizens, and provide “tool kits” to leave with each group they present to. |