Organizations selected receive $15,000 a year for each of three years to encourage organizational stability and ongoing impact.
Adelante Mujeres is an organization committed to the education and empowerment of low-income Latina immigrant women. Located in Forest Grove, Oregon, Adelante Mujeres offers courses that promote literacy, basic education and life skills, and aids women to develop leadership skills through opportunities for public speaking, civic involvement and community service. (2004-2006)
CAUSA is an Oregon organization based in the Latino community that works to defend and advance the rights of immigrant families. Programs build public awareness of the issues faced by these families, expand collaboration between organizations working with immigrant rights, and increase immigrant leadership and civic participation. (2004-2006)
The Comite Pro-Amnistia is a coalition of membership organizations that responds to the needs and rights of Washington’s immigrant populations. Current activities include leadership development, local and national lobbying for amnesty, and programs that will encourage further collaboration and outreach. (2004-2006)
The Equality State Policy Center strives to regain and maintain policy decision-making power for the citizens of Wyoming. The organization works to limit the power of industry over state government, democratizing state politics, and encouraging public participation through organizing and legislative advocacy. (2004-2006)
The Idaho Hispanic Caucus is an organization that advocates for the Latino community in Idaho with regard to a wide number of social justice issues. Activities include the Latino Vote project; a Latino health project; and active coalition building within the Latino community and with Native American tribal leaders. (2004-2006)
Montana Women Vote is a statewide coalition of organizations that encourage low-income women, many non-voters, to participate in the democratic process. The coalition educates and mobilizes their base population to participate as voters and to advocate for policies that will positively affect their lives. This general operating grant will support voter registration, a database, and community outreach. (2004-2006)
PJALS is a progressive organization in Spokane that focuses on community organizing and hands-on activism. Participants respond to a broad range of social justice issues through education and action programs that both teach and strive for peace, economic justice, and diversity. This general operating grant will help to establish a living wage in Spokane, to increase acceptance of diversity by changing prevailing attitudes among participants, and to build a grassroots progressive peace movement. (2004-2006)
PRIDE! is a statewide advocacy group for Montana’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender population. In response to a recent movement in Montana for the “re-criminalization of lesbian and gay sex,” PRIDE has initiated activities such as “Right to Love Booths” at large events, outreach to religious and conservative groups, and participation in Montana Safe Schools Coalition and in the National Gay Lesbian Task Force. This general operating grant will help to: 1) support Native American and GLBT partnerships, 2) foster a pro-GLBT faith community, 3) maintain a place at the political table, and 4) support a network of GLBT families. (2004-2006)
The Salem-Keizer Coalition is an organization that uses both bottom-up and top-down organizing to address discrimination against low-income communities and communities of color in Oregon’s criminal justice and education systems. The coalition’s main goal is to empower the community to have a voice in institutions that affect us, a goal that is reflected in the coalition’s successful Parents with Voices parental advocacy project. (2004-2006)
United Vision for Idaho is a coalition of organizations that work for a sustained statewide progressive movement. Its five core objectives are: 1) organizational development for under-represented constituencies, 2) research and policy analysis, 3) organizing and coalition building, 4) training and leadership development, and 5) “Media and Message,” a program to develop and use messages that unite rather than divide the constituencies in the coalition. (2004-2006)
Chaya's mission is to serve South Asian women in crisis, and to end domestic violence by mobilizing South Asians to address domestic violence in their communities. This grant supports grassroots community organizng and leadership development. (2002-2004)
EJAG is a community-based, membership-driven organization that addresses environmental justice issues in North and Northeast Portland. This grant is to support EJAG's work to address air pollution and its health-related effects by organizing residents to participate in research, education and policy formation. (2002-2004)
PRBRC uses community organizing and leadership development to raise a coherent and effective voice in decisions that affect their lives. It works to conserve Wyoming's unique land, minerals, water and clean air through the responsible use of these resources to sustain the livelihood of present and future generations and to preserve and enrich the state's agricultural heritage and rural lifestyle. (2002-2004)
VOZ is dedicated to organizing low-wage immigrant workers in the Portland metropolitan area, with a special focus on day laborers. Its members believe that immigrants form a valuable and productive workforce and have the right to dignified and humane working conditions. This grant is for organizing to secure and promote the rights of immigrant workers, particularly day laborers, through organizing, leadership development and community education. (2002-2004)
Social Justice Fund NW is making a special one-year grant of $15,000 to Western States Center for convening and organizing following the closure of the NW Coalition for Human Dignity. This replaces the $15,000 originally intended for the NWCHD's second-year grant payment. NWCHD was a key agent in defeating or stalling successive waves of white supremacists in our region-Aryan Nations, Christian pSocial Justice Fund NWiots, white power skinheads and militiamen. Through a series of phone calls, face-to-face meetings, and mailings, Western States Center will join with other partners to identify local activists and task forces once affiliated with NWCHD, and to reach agreement about next steps in the fight against right-wing forces in the Northwest.