Social Justice Fund Northwest awarded $825,800 throughout 2005.
Organizations which receive these grants are awarded $25,000 the first two years and $15,000 in the third year, with all funds devoted to the internal strengthening of the organization. We made two of these grants in 2005, to the Chinook Tribe in Chinook, Washington and to Sisters in Action for Power in Portland, Oregon. Read the full descriptions of our 2005 Three-Year Capacity Building Grants.
Organizations selected receive $15,000 a year for each of three years. We made three of these grants in 2005, the Center Pole Foundation in Garryowen, Montana, the Idaho Community Action Network in Boise, Idaho, and Voz Hispana Causa Chavista in Woodburn, Oregon. Read the full description of our 2005 Three-Year Support Grants.
Grants of $10,000 each to build the capacity of social justice organizations to use arts and cultural expression to achieve social change goals through partnerships with artists, and of $7,500 to support projects that use the arts or cultural expression to promote progressive ideas, and/or to empower oppressed communities. Read the full description of the 2005 Cultural Grants.
Basic grants are $7,500 one-year grants awarded for general support or project-specific needs. This is the best entry point for general operating funds for new or emerging groups. Social Justice Fund NW awarded a total of $187,500 in Basic Grants in 2005 to 25 organizations. Read the full description of our 2005 Basic Grants.
In 2005 we also awarded Rapid Response Grants and Technical Assistance Grants, although those grantees are not listed on our website.
Organizations which receive these grants are awarded $25,000 the first two years and $15,000 in the third year, with all funds devoted to the internal strengthening of the organization.
The Chinook Tribe-Chinook Nation is dedicated to regaining federal recognition (lost during the Bush Administration) and to rebuilding a thriving Chinook community. Since 1950, this tribe has been working to support its dedicated and spirited Tribal Council. The Tribal Council is responsible for federal recognition, community development, and outreach efforts. Some of their efforts include food bank distributions, intertribal relations, and economic planning with local governments and business. A Capacity Building Grant would support fundraising staff and a comprehensive development plan for the struggle to regain federal recognition.
Sisters in Action for Power develops the leadership and organizing skills of low income young women and girls of color to promote racial, gender, and economic justice. Their model combines leadership development; action campaigns that change policies and transform community consciousness around issues; and Modeling the Vision to identify and implement tools and practices that reflect the organization’s vision for change. The organization has invested deeply in developing low-income young women and girls of color from the Northeast Portland community not only as activists, but also as organizational leaders. A Capacity Building Grant would strengthen and advance Sisters in Action for Power's grassroots leadership development, and support current leadership transitions.
Organizations selected receive $15,000 a year for each of three years.
Based on the Crow Reservation, the Center Pole Foundation’s mission is to preserve and raise awareness of traditional Crow Indian ways, to promote equal opportunity and a just society for Native people by providing access to information and resources, and to conduct community projects essential to an empowered future for Native youth and their communities. Founded in 1999, Center Pole’s successes range from an arts entrepreneurship program for Native youth to a straw bale home ownership project. A Three-Year Support Grant would support Center Pole's social justice work in homelessness and affordable housing, and would support Crows for Justice, a group that meets to share information and organize on justice issues.
Idaho Community Action Network (ICAN) works to create a shared vision that empowers low-income Idahoans and mobilizes its diverse membership to action. ICAN’s mission is to build unity among those facing poverty, racism, and injustice and to take on the fight for food security, health care access, and immigrant justice. This Three-Year Support Grant would provide general support to advance immigrant justice campaigns and to build a sustainable immigrant rights movement in Idaho. ICAN's priorities are to consolidate their growing immigrant base, to develop emerging leaders, to connect immigrant injustice to its racist underpinnings, to expand the regional alliance, and to formalize organizing campaigns.
Voz Hispana Causa Chavista was founded in 1997 with the support of PCUN, Oregon’s farmworkers’ union, to promote recognition and respect for the achievements and values of Cesar Chavez and other Latino heroes, and to motivate Latino participation and leadership in the decisions that affect the community. They work toward deep social change through long-term strategies to undo institutional racism in Woodburn schools, and to build electoral power for immigrant communities. A Three-Year Support Grant would provide general support for Voz Hispana's organizing work.
Grants of $10,000 each to build the capacity of social justice organizations to use arts and cultural expression to achieve social change goals through partnerships with artists:
The API Women and Family Safety Center works to prevent domestic violence in the API community through organizing, education, and culturally relevant services. The Queer Network Project will partner with two local artists, Dean Jackson and Darius Morrison, to develop leadership in the queer people of color community that can challenge the many forms of violence that queer people of color experience, begin to envision a healthy community, and develop effective strategies for community accountability. The project will use anti-oppression trainings, popular education, theater performances, and community dialogue to surface and address issues of homophobia, racism, and violence for queer people of color, their allies, and the broader community. The project organizers hope to reach those who do not typically engage in political issues, not just activists, and to provide opportunities for ongoing work with the project organizers.
Unete is a volunteer-led movement of farmworkers and immigrants in rural Southern Oregon educating their community and advocating for worker rights, humane immigration policy, and full participation in the decision-making processes affecting their lives. This grant would support a project called Comunidad y Cultura, a project that would involve immigrant women in creating traditional handcrafts that would then be sold to generate income. In addition, the women would conduct workshops for immigrant youth to learn about traditional arts and culture in their home countries. This intergenerational dialogue will help build leadership and self-esteem among local Latino youth, who face discrimination and isolation in the school system, where only roughly 13% of students with limited English skills graduate. Unete will work in partnership with muralist Lorenzo Guel and El Paso-based musical group, CEIBA (named after the sacred tree of the Mayan people), and with La Mujer Obrera, an organization led by Mexican immigrant women in El Paso that develops cooperative businesses as economic alternatives to exploitative low-wage work along the US-Mexico border. These artists and groups will work with Unete to help develop the Comunidad y Cultura project. Unete is the only Latino-led non-profit in the Rogue Valley.
Voz Hispana Causa Chavista was founded in 1997 with the support of PCUN, Oregon’s farmworkers’ union, to promote recognition and respect for the achievements and values of Cesar Chavez and other Latino heroes, and to motivate Latino participation and leadership in the decisions that affect the community. They work toward deep social change through long-term strategies to undo institutional racism in Woodburn schools, and to build electoral power for immigrant communities. This grant would support Teatro Juvenil, a youth leadership development project that will educate Latino youth on the history of the farmworker movement using theater. Voz Hispana will partner with Rosa Floyd, a local elementary school teacher, and Teatro Milagro, a Portland-based theater group. The project will involve a five-week training course on theater performance, travel to Teatro Milagro to observe performances, development and rehearsal of performances that are expected to reach 6,000 people through the Cesar Chavez Day at Woodburn High School, various conferences and conventions, and local community gatherings.
Grants of $7,500 each to support projects that use the arts or cultural expression to promote progressive ideas, and/or to empower oppressed communities:
Community Alliance of Lane County is a 39-year-old human rights organization founded in 1966. CALC works to create a society that is free of bigotry and that upholds human rights and human dignity for all. CALC organizes and educates the community to promote public policies based on social and economic justice. This grant will support several arts and cultural projects that are integral to CALC’s core programs: a traveling theater piece promoting diversity and inclusion; two traveling photo exhibits (one on immigration and one on LGBT issues); an annual Dr. Martin Luther King Day celebration and student art/essay/poetry contest; and an annual Cesar Chavez event. Of these, the newest and most ambitious project is the theater piece on diversity and inclusion. CALC developed the script through interviews with local leaders and residents, and is using some of these individuals as actual performers. The piece is 30 minutes long, and CALC plans to use it in schools, churches, etc. as part of its ongoing program, Springfield Alliance for Equality and Respect (SAfER), to build support for diversity in the Springfield community.
The Duwamish Tribe exists to promote the cultural, social, political and economic survival of Seattle’s First People. The tribe works to revitalize and preserve Duwamish culture, and to share the history and culture of the Duwamish Tribe with all people. This project is a partnership with the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) to conduct seven monthly dinner theatre performances by local Native American actor and storyteller, Gene Tagaban (who appeared in Sherman Alexie’s The Business of Fancydancing). The performance would dramatize the history of the Duwamish Tribe, and of Chief Seattle. A concurrent exhibit and art gallery at MOHAI featuring authentic Duwamish tribal art will reinforce the theme and purpose of the theatre performances. This project will address the longstanding lack of awareness of the Duwamish people among Seattle residents– who they are, the history of their relationship with the first white settlers who landed at Alki Point, and the signing of the Point Elliott Treaty by Chief Seattle in 1855 on behalf of the Duwamish, Suquamish and Allied Tribes. The dinner theatre will feature ceramic dinnerware using authentic Duwamish patterns and designs, created by a member of the Tlingit Killer Whale clan. This project will generate revenue, build visibility, and increase support for the Duwamish Tribe, whose main goals are to complete the Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center, and to regain recognition by the US federal government, rescinded under the Bush Administration.
TASVEER is a grassroots, community-based, all volunteer-led organization founded by two local South Asian women, committed to bringing independent progressive films from South Asia and the South Asian Diaspora to the Pacific Northwest. Its goal is to increase awareness of all South Asian countries and cultures – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. This grant would support the 3rd Independent South Asian Film Festival, a five-day film event featuring narrative films, documentaries, workshops, and forums to educate audiences about the social, political, personal, and international issues facing South Asia and its people. The festival uses film as a vehicle to promote ideas of equity related to race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, language, and other divisions – and partners with local community-based organizations to help frame dialogue and encourage activism among audience members. The long-term goal is to build a progressive South Asian community in Seattle by bringing people together, and by fostering dialogue and action around issues like gender justice, environmental justice, and religious tolerance.
The Western Prison Project is a grassroots community-based organization that works to build a progressive multiracial movement for criminal justice reform in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada. Its primary base of support includes current and former prisoners and their family members, as well as crime survivors. This grant will support a Forum Theater Project for Violence Intervention to identify community-based solutions to end violence, without relying on the police or on the current criminal justice system. The Prison Project will go directly into communities affected by violence and by racism in the criminal justice system, and ask them to help develop a script based on their real-life experiences, in collaboration with Act for Action, a Portland-based theater group. The play will then be performed in these same communities as a tool to develop alternative community-based solutions to end violence. Audience members will be asked to interrupt the performance, replace one of the actors, and try to change the outcome of the situation. The project will partner with several organizations to reach various constituencies – LGBT communities, young women of color, African American communities, etc. This project is a way to move beyond defensive responses to the current criminal justice system, which is “disappearing” entire communities of poor people and people of color, and toward new visions for dealing with the very real issues of crime and violence outside of that system.
$7,500 one-year grants awarded for general support or project-specific needs. This is the best entry point for general operating funds for new or emerging groups. In 2005 Social Justice Fund NW awarded $187,500 in Basic Grants to a total of 25 organizations.
The Asian and Pacific Islander Family Safety Center was created by women in the movement to end violence against women in order to "prevent violence against women through community organizing and education; provide safe, culturally relevant services for women, youth and children; and create housing resources for families who face domestic and sexual violence, and victimization from human trafficking in Asian and Pacific Islander communities."
Brother to Brother supports and advocates for African American gay and bisexual men and their community in Portland, with a focus on raising awareness of issues facing people of color and sexual minorities, building community among gay and bi African American men, and gaining full inclusion in the general community. The organization is raising the visibility of African American gay and bi men by participating in demonstrations and marches; organizing educational events and campaigns; addressing the disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS in the African American community through prevention education and treatment advocacy; and confronting racism in the HIV industry.
Community Alliance of Lane County is a 39 year old human rights organization founded 1966 as Clergy and Laity Concerned About the War. CALC is dedicated to working for a society that is free of bigotry and upholds human rights and human dignity for all. CALC seeks to educate and organize the community to promote public policies based on social and economic justice. The grant will support their anti-bigotry work, especially efforts to counter white supremacist hate activity; advocate for diversity training for students in the University of Oregon School of Education; and organize LGBTQ youth in area high schools and the community at-large.
CARA is a multi-racial, multi-gender, intergenerational organization led by women of color that is organizing communities marginalized from the mainstream criminal justice-based response to sexual and domestic violence to address these issues. CARA is currently involved in organizing currently and formerly incarcerated women and girls who are survivors of violence to form the core base for organizing strategies against the prison industry.
CCEJ is a multi-ethnic, multi-issue group of people and organizations working to organize and mobilize low-income people and people of color to fight for and achieve environmental, economic and social justice. CCEJ is involved in a wide array of projects including Environmental Justice Youth Advocates, the Northwest Environmental and Economic Justice Alliance, the Toxic Beauty Project, and the South Seattle Toxics Project. CCEJ is currently involved organizing opposition to the Seattle Housing Authority's Yesler Terrace "redevelopment" plan, which would displace low-income families.
The Human Dignity Coalition is a hub organization of the progressive community in Central Oregon, the fastest growing part of the state. The group was originally founded to combat an anti-gay statewide ballot measure and has since then continued to "promote and safeguard human rights, honor diversity, and achieve social justice for all" in this largely rural part of Oregon. The Coalition recently won a campaign to get the Bend City Council to enact an Equal Rights Ordinance, and is involved in efforts to address disability access, combat hate crimes, and organize Gay-Straight Alliances on area high school campuses. The Coalition was the sponsor of Bend's first GLBT Pride Celebration in 2005.
The Center is a regional organization that creates opportunities for rural working people, particularly contingent workers in natural resource-based industries, to unite across languages and cultures to achieve economic, environmental and social justice. They are achieving this goal through a process of peer education and networking that begins with workers stories of their lives, builds a structural analysis from among the common threads of these stories, and moves toward transformative action.
Justice Works! is a developing statewide organization that was inspired by the Black Prisoners Caucus at the Washington State Reformatory. Justice Works! is creating a community where incarcerated and previously incarcerated African Americans could work with family members and allies to address injustice in the criminal justice system. The organization publishes a newsletter and works with African Americans re-entering society after prison through a combination of re-entry support groups and services and public education and issue campaigns.
KHRN is an all-volunteer, Kitsap County-wide organization that strives to provide communities, public leadership, schools, and law enforcement agencies with education and information that promotes inclusion, respect and diversity in society. KHRN has won wide recognition for its work to eliminate the causes of hate and bias, including hate groups, while supporting those who have been victimized and building strong, empowered community-based coalitions prepared to vigorously defend human and civil rights.
La Radio is a community-based, progressive low-power FM station serving the Spanish speaking communities of Laramie, Wyoming with the goal of heightening community awareness of cultural diversity and creating a voice for the Latino community. The grant will be used to increase the engineering and technical capacities of the radio station; create a training program to develop a base of volunteers from the community; and identify issues of concern to community members.
Latinos Unidos Siempre is a Latino youth-led grassroots organization that works in Salem and the surrounding Mid-Willamette Valley communities to advance the educational, cultural, social and political development of Latino youth by organizing and advocating for social justice. The grant will support their continuing work of developing Latino youth leadership; advocating for educational access and equity; and creating a just and fair criminal justice system that does not target and scapegoat Latino youth.
The Lummi CEDAR Project was created by tribal leaders in order to address problems affecting the Lummi community such as domestic violence, substance abuse, high unemployment, drug trafficking, poor health and widespread disengagement from tribal policy and decision-making. The Project is achieving its goals through developing youth leadership, community organizing, and building bridges between youth and elders across which knowledge leading to "respect and recognition of the role of traditional values in supporting healthy choices" is transferred.
Oregon Action is a statewide, multi-racial membership organization with a broad economic and social justice agenda. The grant will help them to follow-up on the organizing they did during the last election cycle which resulted in their building a database of 64,000 registered voters in Oregon (over 44,000 new registrations). OA will be strategically developing this base of voters, identifying their political interests and positions and engaging and educating them on issues. They will also launch a permanent field canvass to educate their base, increase membership revenues, and prepare the most motivated to take action on important issues.
People's Institute Northwest is a multi-racial, people of color led organization dedicated to engaging all communities in the struggle to create an anti-racist society with equal opportunity for everyone.
People's Institute Northwest engages in coalition building and community organizing, and provides workshops and technical assistance aimed at addressing the multiple problems associated with racial injustice among individuals and at the institutional level.
SWCSC is the only organization devoted primarily to advocacy for the Somali community in King County. SWCSC's core constituency is women and their families, youth under 25, and elders ages 55-85, the vast majority of whom are low-income recent immigrants living in public housing. A large number of people served by the organization are disabled and struggling with war trauma. The grant will fund their work in the areas of domestic violence, school equity, police accountability, and parent support.
SYPP is a youth-led, adult-supported organization that empowers youth to express themselves and take action on the issues that affect their lives by developing young, progressive leaders, and organizing campaigns to address injustices. SYPP's past successes include winning agreement of the Seattle School District to use Howard Zinn's progressive social history A People's History of the United States in history classes; creating anti-homophobia training for teachers, students and SYPP members; advocating for all Seattle school staff to attend a full day workshop on racism in education. They are currently involved in organizing their 9th annual young women's conference and a summer youth organizing institute.
Stonewall Youth is a 14 year old organization led by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people who work together to lead community organizing efforts and provide support services. Stonewall Youth is seeking funding to develop a Cyber Center that will function as a permanent, safe meeting space for queer youth to meet, and to hire a Co-Director.
The Interfaith Alliance is a statewide organization made up of progressive clergy and people of faith who have united to challenge those who distort and manipulate religion to advance extreme political agendas. They promote the positive role of religion as a healing and constructive force in public life through such programs as Interfaith Forums; Interfaith Religious Leaders Network; Interfaith Youth Alliance; and Finding Common Ground: Undoing Oppression.
Thin Air Community Radio is a non-commercial low power radio station founded in 1989 to serve the people of Spokane. Thin Air Community Radio airs progressive perspectives reflecting values of peace, social, cultural and environmental justice, human rights, democracy, multiculturalism, freedom of expression, and social change on important local, national, and global issues. The grant will help them to diversify their fundraising strategies, build their membership, and expand their ethnic and community affairs programming.
Unete is a volunteer-led movement of farm workers and immigrants in rural Southern Oregon educating their community and advocating for worker rights, humane immigration policy, and full participation in the decision-making processes affecting their lives. The grant will fund their organizing program that includes networking with other pro-immigrant and worker rights organizations at the state and national level; increasing their membership; leadership and direct action organizing training; and other activities. Unete is the only Latino-led non-profit in the Rogue Valley.
VOICES is a low-income, grassroots advocacy group created by former welfare recipients and social workers to facilitate the involvement of low-income people as leaders in the community dialogue on poverty and development of policies to achieve economic injustice. The grant will support their ongoing efforts to organize low-income people and serve as a platform for their leadership in policy debates.
VOZ is a worker-led organization whose membership is dedicated to organizing, leadership development and community education among low-wage immigrant workers and their allies (with a special focus on day laborers). The grant will provide general support of their program to build community leadership, defend worker's rights, diversify their support base in the community, deepen their analysis of the issues facing day laborers, and encourage worker participation and leadership on the national level.
WOCA is the only organization of its kind in Idaho. They work to develop a firm institutional foundation for social change activism by and for women of color in Idaho. WOCA is achieving this goal by identifying, networking, and training women of color, with a particular focus on dealing with internalized racist, sexists and class oppression as obstacles to attaining power. WOCA also produces a quarterly newsletter and an annual conference.
WEEL is a grassroots, economic and social justice organization made up of people living in poverty and their allies. Through advocacy, action, and education WEEL's members are working to eradicate the myths, stereotypes and stigmas that are harmful to low-income families. Our 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. The grant will fund a campaign to increase access to healthcare for low income people while also helping them grow their membership and increase member engagement and leadership development opportunities.
Wyoming Equality is the only statewide, grassroots organization serving the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender communities of Wyoming. The mission of WE is to "enhance the lives of GLBT people in the Equality State through information, education, networking, support, and activities..."
The grant will be used to work with individual activists to convene local meetings; and conduct training of local activists in leadership, strategic planning, fundraising, networking and lobbying, while providing support to local GLBT groups in two of Wyoming's 23 counties.