             Unilever Gift
Ben & Jerry’s Foundation |
. |
Grant Recipients List for the 1st Quarter, 2007Anti-Displacement Project, Inc. $10,000Springfield, MA The ADP is a grassroots organization that works collectively to create safe and affordable neighborhoods, work opportunities with dignity and respect for a living wage, to control assets and build wealth, and to expand opportunities for children through quality public education. Funding was provided in support of the “Immigrant Rights are Worker Rights” campaign to end abuses of day laborers in the construction trades by corrupt laborer agencies. The goals of the campaign are to build a base of low-wage and immigrant workers who will fight for an end to worker abuse, create living wage jobs, demand employer and corporate accountability, create La Casa Obrera Worker Center, and win effective policy changes in labor laws that will raise the floor of employment for all workers in the region. Brighton Park Neighborhood Council $5,000 Chicago, IL BPNC on Chicago’s southwest side works to build community capacity and empower local residents including youth, girls, women, members of the LGBTQ community, people with disabilities and people with criminal records to advocate for their rights. Members develop organizing campaigns aimed at increasing equity for low-income communities of color, improving public policy and addressing root causes of poverty and inequality. Funding was provided in suppport of the Girls Group which enables girls to develop hands-on leadership skills and provides training and collaboration opportunities with other girls’ groups in Chicago. Issues they address include dating violence, street harassment, and discriminating images of women in the media and advertising, among others. Carolina Farm Stewardship Association $15,000 Pittsboro, NC CFSA’s mission is to support and expand local and organic agriculture in the Carolinas by inspiring, educating, and organizing farmers and consumers. Funding was provided in support of its efforts to develop farm incubators by organizing farm incubator committees in each of the four geographical/climatic regions of the Carolinas and develop a “How to Start an Organic Farm” publication to clearly outline resources available to new farmers. Citizens’ Environmental Coalition $12,000 Albany, NY CEC is a statewide network of organizations and individuals working to eliminate pollution in New York State and create safe, healthy communities, schools and workplaces through advocating and organizing for pollution prevention and remediation. Funding was provided in support of the Chemical Reform Campaign, which is striving to change chemical policy in New York State starting with the phase-out of persistent, bioaccumulative toxic chemicals. Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio $10,000 Columbus, OH Funding was provided for the Youth Empowerment Program, a statewide youth-led organization that empowers homeless and low-income youth, age 11-24 to create systemic and institutional changes that impact their lives. YEP is structured through local youth councils throughout the state of Ohio and each council is represented on a statewide youth council which directs the work of the organization. English For Action (EFA) $7,500 Providence, RI EFA creates participatory educational programs for Latino immigrant families and community members in Providence that link language learning, leadership development, and community-building. Using innovative and creative tools such as the arts, theater, and community action projects, EFA creates critical and transformative learning communities within and outside of the classroom. Funding was provided in support of the Action Committee, an extracurricular group of English learners who meet weekly to learn about, discuss, and take action on important community and immigrant issues. Gethsemane Film Project $5,000 Brooklyn, NY The Gethsemane Film Project will produce a documentary film that will be at the center of a multi-state, interfaith organizing initiative to advance policy reforms on poverty and criminal justice. The film will highlight the work of the Gethsemane Church, run by and for exprisoners, poor people and people of faith in solidarity with the poor, and its grassroots advocacy organization, JusticeWorks Community. The goals of the film and the organizing initiative are to provoke discussion and prompt action among faith communities and social justice groups to counter class bias in our criminal justice system and societal bias against poor people and people who have been in prison. Glen Canyon Institute $7,500 Salt Lake City, UT GCI is an education, advocacy and coalition-building organization dedicated to the restoration of a healthy, free-flowing Colorado River through Glen Canyon and Grand Canyon. The Campaign for Glen Canyon is working to take steps now to promote the recovery of physical and biological integrity of Glen Canyon and the Colorado River and to build support for the re-designation of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area as a National Park to ensure its permanent protection under the National Park Service. Grassroots Collaborative $7,500 Chicago, IL The Grassroots Collaborative unites people from different constituencies to make systemic change on issues that cut across these constituencies, like living wages and state funding levels for services. The Collaborative develops and coordinates common issue campaigns that are undertaken intentionally to build new relationships between groups of progressive and disenfranchised people including a broad array of faith, academic, labor, and community allies. Green House Network $10,000 Lake Oswego, OR The Green House Network is working to stop global warming by promoting a clean energy future for America. Toward this goal, GHN creates opportunities for person-to-person dialogue about climate solutions and fosters education and action networks. Funding was provided in support of Focus the Nation, a major educational initiative that is coordinating teams of faculty and students at over a thousand colleges, universities and high schools in the U.S., to collaboratively engage in a nationwide, interdisciplinary discussion centered around the theme of “Global Warming Solutions for America”. The project will culminate January 31, 2008 in the form a one-day, national symposia held simultaneously on campuses across the country. The goal is to make this a catalyzing event. Hawaii SEED $15,000 Kealakekua, HI Hawaii SEED is a coalition of grassroots groups on each of the five major Hawaiian islands taking action to promote food sovereignty and security in the state. The current focus of the member groups is to protect Hawaii’s people and environment from the hazards of genetically engineered agriculture. Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah (HEAL Utah) $10,000 Salt Lake City, UT HEAL Utah works to engage citizens in the effort to protect public health from nuclear and toxic waste. Funding was provided to support a new campaign to encourage Utah to develop an energy policy promoting clean, renewable energy sources as alternatives to nuclear power. Housatonic River Initiative $12,500 Lenoxdale, MA HRI is a grassroots, membership organization working for the most effective and comprehensive clean-up and removal of PCBs from the Housatonic River (which may be the most PCB contaminated river in the U.S.), flood plain, associated waterways and contaminated sites by insisting on public involvement in the clean-up plans. House the Homeless, Inc. $7,500 Austin, TX The mission of House the Homeless is to provide education and advocacy surrounding issues of homelessness and homelessness prevention, focused on the economic causes and solutions to ending homelessness. Funding was provided in support of the Universal Living Wage campaign, which promotes a simple, single national formula to ensure that anyone working 40 hours a week will be able to afford basic rental housing wherever that work is done throughout the United States. The formula is based on the cost of housing using geographic considerations similar to the US military. Latino Union of Chicago $10,000 Chicago, IL Founded in 2000 by women day laborers, the Latino Union of Chicago collaborates with low-income immigrant workers to develop the tools necessary to collectively improve social and economic conditions. The organization develops grassroots leadership from within the immigrant worker community, creates feasible alternatives that address the injustices immigrant workers face in Chicagoland, and works to build the broader grassroots movement for immigrant workers’ rights. The Latino Union of Chicago is the Midwest representative of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and uses it’s strategic position in Illinois to promote pro-immigrant worker policy locally, state-wide, and nationally. Making Our Milk Safe — MOMS $12,500 Alameda, CA MOMS is a grassroots organization working to mobilize mothers across the country to speak out against the presence of toxic chemicals in our environment, our bodies, and our breast milk. MOMS uses legislative and corporate campaign strategies to eliminate environmental threats to children’s health and development with a particular focus on those that cause cancer, birth defects, and developmental or reproductive harm. Media in the Public Interest $12,500 Boulder, CO Media in the Public Interest’s mission is to enhance the public debate and promote civic journalism. They do this by supporting, educating, and training the non-profit sector to interact more effectively with mainstream media; facilitating the development of new media projects that report on critical issues and serve the public interest; and assist journalists to interact more effectively with the public interest sector. Funding was provided in support of their work in New Hampshire to build a public interest news outlet in collaboration with non-profit organizations. National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture $10,000 Pine Bush, NY NCSA is a diverse nationwide partnership of individuals and organizations cultivating grassroots efforts to engage in policy development processes that result in food and agricultural systems and rural communities that are healthy, environmentally-sound, profitable, humane, and just. Funding was provided to enable NCSA to hire a grassroots organizer to help build the vocal support required to pass new ideas into law via the Farm Bill. National Coalition for the Homeless $10,000 Washington, DC NCH is a national advocacy network comprised of local and statewide homeless/housing coalitions, service providers, social justice organizations, and currently and formerly homeless persons, all striving toward the single goal of ending homelessness. They focus their advocacy work on four policy areas: affordable housing, comprehensive health care, livable incomes, and preservation of civil rights. Funding was provided in support of their ongoing “You Don’t Need a Home to Vote” voting rights campaign and bring it the next level by publishing a Best Practices manual and promoting examples of model campaigns across the country. Picture the Homeless $15,000 New York, NY Picture the Homeless is founded on the principle that that people who are homeless must become an organized, informed and effective voice to end homelessness. Founded by two homeless men, PtH uses grassroots organizing, leadership development, public education, coalition-building and public policy work to build the capacity of people who are homeless to make systemic change. Powder River Basin Resource Council $10,000 Sheridan, WY PRBRC is a grassroots, family agriculture and conservation organization of individual and affiliate groups dedicated to the stewardship of Wyoming’s natural resources. Funding was provided in support of their work to improve groundwater conservation methods and policy in the coalbed methane extraction industry. Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee $10,000 Sacramento, CA SHOC is a grassroots, activist organization made up of homeless and formerly homeless individuals. SHOC is a vehicle that gives homeless people a voice in the community on issues that affect them, including civil rights issues, community inclusiveness, housing and city planning. Through the Homeward Street Journal, contacts with the media, government agencies, homeless advocates and participation in various events, SHOC members insure that the homeless are represented and heard. Salvation Farms $10,000 Wolcott, VT Salvation Farms is a food recovery and gleaning project that redirects farm surplus to Vermonters in need. Funding was provided to develop an education, training and outreach program at the organization’s new project headquarters. Sand Mountain Concerned Citizens $5,000 Ider, AL SMCC, an all-volunteer organization, strives to educate the public to the dangers of corporate factory hog farms, and to improve state and federal regulations governing swine Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). Continued general support funding was provided. Solutions to Issues of Concern to Knoxvillians (SICK) $10,000 Knoxville, TN Solutions is a multi-racial, multi-issue and member-run organization focussing on youth leadership development, housing, healthcare, and welfare rights/income support at the local and state levels. General support funding was provided. Transgender Law Center $7,500 San Francisco, CA TLC is the first and only staffed transgender legal organization in California. They utilize direct legal services, education, community organizing, and policy and media advocacy to overcome discrimination and help the state become one where every person’s gender identity is respected and supported. Funding was provided in support of the Safe Bathroom Access Campaign, a community-based response to the rampant discrimination that transgender and gender non-conforming people experience too often when using public restrooms. TVbyGIRLS $10,000 Minneapolis, MN TVbyGIRLS is a media making and mentoring project that uses the tools of media to work with girls, ages 12 to 19 to develop leadeship, critical thinking, collaborative working skills and intercultural understanding. Girls participate in media literacy and media making workshops, long-term mentoring programs with adult women, and the creation of film and video work. Currently, two film projects are underway: Undercover (in which Muslim, Jewish and nonsectarian girls explore stereotypes of Islam from the perspective of teenage girls in each community); and Greatest Girls (a collaboration with elder women ages 80 to 95, with girls to look at intercultural and intergenerational views of growing up then and now). Vermont Association of Professional Care Providers $5,000 Montpelier, VT VAPCP is the state’s only association of direct-care workers. Funding was provided to expand their capacity to organize to ensure quality jobs for direct-care and support workers and in doing so, ensuring quality care for Vermont’s elders, individuals with chronic illness, and individuals with disabilities. Vermont Natural Resources Council $7,500 Montpelier, VT VNRC is a statewide environmental organization working to protect Vermont’s natural resources through research, education and advocacy. Continued 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. Wild Utah Project $10,000 Salt Lake City, UT Wild Utah works to provide scientific support to activists working to protect wilderness and public lands in Utah, and to design and establish a connected system of wildlands networks. Funding was provided in support of the Quiet Forests Campaign which incorporates a multi-pronged strategy of science, law and activism to address the growing threat of Off Road Vehicles (ORVs) to the Wasatch Cache National Forest. Worcester Homeless Action Committee $10,000 Worcester, MA WHAC is a very new organization working to build their grassroots base and find leadership within the homeless community. Funding was provided to support initial outreach and organizing efforts in order to enable low-income, ex-offender, addict, and homeless people to draft a new strategy to combat NIMBY groups in Worcester Small GrantsDayton Pledge of Resistance $1,000Dayton, OH The Voices of Resistance Project will broadly distribute hard copy and online versions of a book — From Warriors to Resisters: U.S. Veterans on Terrorism — in order to support the grassroots movements to close the School of the Americas and to curtail military recruitment by challenging recruitment rhetoric. ECOS: Environmental Clearinghouse, Inc. $1,000 Niskayuna, NY ECOS is a member organization working to bring together communities in the region to cooperate on addressing issues that affect their local environment. Funding was provided in support of Sustainable Development II: Balancing Growth, Preservation and Environment, a conference to develop recommendations from the local citizenry on ways to address anticipated growth in the Capital Region of New York. Illick’s Mill Partnership for Environmental Education $1,000 Bethlehem, PA The Illick’s Mill Partnership is an innovative consortium transforming the Mill into a community environmental center and in so doing establishing a home for environmental action to preserve and protect the Monocacy Creek watershed and its abundant wildlife, provide a local model of environmental sustainability and technology, and a national model of youth-led community change. Funding was provided in support of the Illick’s Mill Project, a class offered to high school students who work together in the classroom and at the Mill toward the restoration goals. K.W. Lee Center For Leadership $1,000 Los Angeles, CA The K.W. Lee Center trains future Korean American leaders in the art of community activism. Funding was provided in support of the Korean American Youth Leaders in Training (KAYLT) program, an 8-week program which offers leadership training and hands-on community action projects to low-income, immigrant high school and college students through workshops with community leaders, elected officials, educators, and media personalities. Northside Elementary School $250 Plantation, FL Funding was provided to support a high school student’s volunteer after school environmental program for Haitian immigrant children at the elementary school. The program emphasizes respect for the environmental and action steps these young children can take in their homes to help conserve energy, water, support local agriculture, etc. Northwest Institute For Social Change $1,000 Portland, OR The Northwest Institute hosts a summer academic program for 20 media study undergraduates to teach them about the role that the media can play in social movements. Funding was provided in support of a collaborative project to work with teenagers in North Portland to produce radio and film documentaries about racial profiling, gentrification and other issues facing that neighborhood. Project SeaWolf Coastal Protection $900 Marysville, WA Project SeaWolf is an all-volunteer marine ecosystem advocacy group, focusing on public education campaigns and promotion of conservation efforts to protect orca whale and marine wildlife habitat on the West Coast. Funding was provided in support of a community-wide tree planting day to enhance streamside buffer on a recovering salmon-bearing watershed. River Child Care Services $600 Guerneville, CA Parent Voices combines leadership development, advocacy and community organizing to increase funding, improve quality and provide better access to child care in the state of Californa. Rural Community Action Ministry; RCAM $995 Leeds, ME A community gardening and service learning project which will bring seniors and kids together in the garden, writing and art projects. South Brevard Area Inter-faith Sponsoring Committee $1,000 Melbourne, FL Working with police and public officials, community leaders are working to reduce crime, clean up blighted neighborhoods, and improve neighborhood parks and recreation facilities. Wakefield Middle School $750 Raleigh, NC A small grant was provided to enable the school to purchase anti-bullying materials such as videos and activity books and to help peer mediators better publicize their program. |