Three-Year Capacity Building Grants
Native Action, Lame Deer, MT: Native Action is a 22-year-old, nationally renowned, grassroots Native American organization, based on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in southeastern Montana. It has long filled a critical niche in our region, fighting the environmental injustices of energy development on tribal lands, coordinating a statewide nonpartisan Indian voter empowerment project, and confronting anti-Indian racism in federal, state, and local government. Native Action is widely credited for stemming the damage of energy development to the environment and the people of the Northern Cheyenne, including coal bed methane development, coal strip mining, coal-fired power plants, etc. It has also been on the cutting edge of other social justice issues, with accomplishments that include: successfully challenging bank red-lining and establishing the first local bank on the Reservation; winning litigation requiring that all federal environmental impact statements on or near Indian reservations include a cultural impact analysis; working within tribal government to create precedent-setting tribal traditional burial laws, and tribal sexual assault and domestic violence laws; and providing the infrastructure to a youth-led initiative to get the first public high school on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation.
Oregon Action, Portland, OR: Oregon Action is a multiracial, membership-driven, community-based organization created by and for low-income people. It supports broad-based, grassroots participation in the democratic process, with a focus on building power among traditionally disenfranchised sectors of society. It is not a single-issue organization. Rather, it supports people and communities to organize on their own behalf, shifting the balance of power to win concrete policy changes. Oregon Action intentionally reaches out to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community members; the elderly; young people; and people who have been affected by the criminal justice system. A significant number of the organization’s leaders are former prisoners and/or have family members who have been incarcerated. Last year, OA won a landmark victory on campaign finance reform in Portland, passing the first local system in the country for public financing of elections.
Montana Women Vote, Missoula, MT: One of the organizations leading the change that is tipping the balance of power in Montana politics, Montana Women Vote is a coalition of ten state-level organizations that share a common goal of educating and mobilizing low-income women, many of whom have never voted, to participate in the democratic process. Montana Women Vote is requesting support for their effort to increase the long-term impact of the organization through leadership development, base building, and incorporating more effective systems for tracking and mobilizing their constituency on an ongoing basis, including between major election years.
The Salem/Keizer Coalition for Equality, Salem, OR: The Salem/Keizer Coalition for Equality is a multi-racial/ethnic community organization formed in 1999 to address unequal access and quality of education, and unequal administration of justice facing low-income and minority children and their families in Salem and Keizer. SKCE empowers students, parents, and the community by giving them a voice in the institutions that affect and represent them. SKCE is requesting support to help them deepen their financial management and fundraising skills, strengthen administrative systems, and develop new leaders from their core constituency.
Center for Intercultural Organizing, Portland, OR: The Center is a diverse, grassroots organization working to build a multi-racial, multi-cultural movement for immigrant and refugee rights through education, policy advocacy, community organizing and mobilization, and intergenerational leadership development. They are seeking funding to further their membership development, organizing, and base-building work in immigrant and refugee communities.
Rural Organizing Project ,Scappoose, OR: Rural Organizing Project exists to strengthen the skills, resources and vision of primary leadership in local human dignity groups with the goal of keeping such groups a vibrant source for a just democracy. They have been challenging white supremacists and nativists in rural Oregon for 15 years. They are requesting a grant to bring on a Technical Organizer and advisor with a dedicated focus of replicating successful database and communication “system sets” for long-term functionality.
Three-Year Support Grants
CAUSA, Salem, OR: CAUSA is Oregon’s statewide, Latino-led, grassroots immigrant rights coalition. CAUSA was founded in 1995 to defeat anti-immigrant ballot measures modeled after California Proposition 187. CAUSA defends and advances the rights and well being of immigrant workers and families while countering the growing right wing anti-immigrant agenda in Oregon and nationally through campaigns, policy advocacy, and community organizing. CAUSA is requesting support to continue their effort to win legalization, immigrant labor rights, and civil rights.
Equality State Policy Center, Casper, WY: The Equality State Policy Center is Wyoming’s progressive, statewide coalition of 30 organizations. ESPC conducts research, public education, and policy analysis and advocacy to encourage citizen participation in efforts to hold Wyoming state government accountable to all of the people it represents. ESPC is requesting general support to continue their work of promoting civic participation and policy leadership of under-represented and unrepresented low-income residents of Wyoming.
Idaho Hispanic Caucus Institute for Research and Education, Caldwell, ID: Idaho Hispanic Caucus was founded in 1991 to influence the 1992 Idaho reapportionment plan. Since then, the Caucus was become a leader in promoting the social welfare of the Latino community of Idaho through policy research, community education, voter registration, and grassroots lobbying and direct action. The Caucus is requesting support of their continuing civic participation and issue education and advocacy work.
Montana Human Rights Network, Helena, MT: The Montana Human Rights Network is a grassroots, membership-based organization that organizes local human rights groups; monitors and reports on the activities of right wing groups in Montana; develops and pursues public policy initiatives; and holds public officials accountable in the area of human, civil and political rights. MHRN is seeking general support of their effort to strengthen their grassroots organizing and coalition building work.
Partnership for Safety and Justice, Portland, OR: The Partnership for Safety and Justice was originally founded as the Western Prison Project in 1999. Safety and Justice unites people convicted of crime, survivors of crime and the families of both to advance approaches that redirect policies away from an over-reliance on incarceration to effective strategies that reduce violence and increase safety. Safety and Justice is requesting general support for their effort to organize their constituents in Oregon.
United Vision for Idaho, Boise, ID: UVI’s mission is to transform the political landscape of Idaho by promoting education and understanding of public policy, which allows every person to live with dignity and security in a healthy environment; by building relationships and open communication at the community level; by promoting public dialogue on the common values of the coalition; and by helping to empower participation in democracy. They are seeking support to fully implement the strategic plan for organizational and leadership development within the coalition and to strengthen the statewide individual membership base and increase civic engagement in the coalition.
Working for Equality and Economic Liberation, Helena, MT: WEEL is a state-based grassroots, economic and social justice organization comprised of people experiencing poverty and their supporters. Through advocacy, action, and education they work together to eradicate the myths, stereotypes, and stigmas that are harmful to low-income families. Their priority is to ensure that those most affected by poverty are civically engaged and part of the democratic process, from voting to policy creation and implementation. They are seeking general support to develop and sustain their new American Indian Chapter on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.
Wind River Alliance, Ethete, WY: The Wind River Alliance is a community-based, Native American-led, nonprofit organization based on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, which is home to the Northern Arapahoe and Eastern Shoshone tribes. WRA works to build a grassroots movement to address environmental racism on the reservation, through community education, collective action, and leadership development. It has active leadership from members of both tribes, with broad community trust and participation in its work. Recently, both tribes decided to hold off on allowing coal bed methane development on the reservation, after WRA held extensive community meetings and education forums on the impacts of such development on the community.
Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroseste (PCUN), Woodburn, OR: PCUN is a democratically organized, membership-based organization that has long been an anchor for immigrant rights organizing in our region. It is Oregon’s only union of farm, nursery and reforestation workers, and is also the state’s largest Latino organization. PCUN seeks to institutionalize better working and living conditions, to redress the power imbalance between growers and workers, and to establish respect, fairness and dignity as the bases for agricultural employment.