Opportunity Fund grants are intended for special projects or emergencies that are not part of an organization’s ongoing work. These activities are frequently in response to rapidly emerging issues and might include: demonstrations and rallies, coalition activities, conferences/forums, and outreach materials. These grants are offered monthly. Learn about this fund’s eligibility criteria.
2022 Grantees
Abortion Liberation Fund of PA responded to the overturning of Roe. V Wade and the anti-abortion movement by mobilizing abortion doulas and movement partners, providing political education, and placing bus stop and billboard ads with information on the continued legality of abortion in Pennsylvania.
Centro de Apoyo Comunitario hosted a civic engagement event to register voters and educate their community on voter’s rights, and on other related topics such as mail-in ballots.
The Empowerment Center USA organized students to demand the school board make systemic changes around the issue of bullying through their Bully Proof project.
Germantown Residents for Economic Alternatives Together used a grant from the Opportunity Fund to hire a bookkeeper to maintain and expand their organization’s capacity after the unanticipated departure of their bookkeeper.
Philadelphia Aging People in Prison Human Rights Campaign hosted a forum called “Mass Incarceration’s Impact on Women” to spotlight incarceration’s impact on families and women. This was their first of three events focused on women and mass incarceration in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia Area Immigrant Collective Action provided community leaders with an accessible alternative to the City’s Wellness Academy, supporting the emerging needs around mental health in their community.
Savage Sisters Recovery, Inc. used information collected on the effectiveness of teaching harm reduction in schools to grow their campaign to expand school curriculums to include harm reduction in Pennsylvania’s school system.
The Saturday Free School for Philosophy and Black Liberation brought together educators, activists, community and religious leaders, and students for conferences to celebrate their 10th anniversary of providing political education for the people of Philadelphia.
Why Not Prosper and their members went to Harrisburg in support of the passing of PA HB1419, which promotes parity, equity, and safety for current and formerly incarcerated women to quality healthcare, including birth care.
2021 Grantees
Indigenous Education created an educational winter mural highlighting traditional Indigenous winter themes on the 1600 block of Ridge Avenue.
Philly Black & Native Street Medic Crew trained thirty-two new Black and Indigenous street medics to provide aid at Juneteenth events. New street medics will become part of their BIPOC street medic crew which provides street medic aid to BIPOC events throughout the city.
Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign led a press offensive in an attempt to bring national attention to their lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to address the affordable housing crisis.
Siloam Wellness expanded their social media presence to provide information and engage youth on the topic of HIV prevention.
Why Not Prosper hosted a community celebration in honor of their 20th Anniversary to celebrate their re-entry work and share visions for their next phase of growth.
2020 Grantees
Caribbean Community in Philadelphia hosted an immigration legal clinic and know-your-rights workshop for their community of Caribbean immigrants. The grant helped cover the lawyer’s fees for the workshop.
Successful Women Achieving Goals partnered with Planned Parenthood, EEOC, and Gardner Law Firm to put together a know-your-rights workshop for women and teens regarding harassment, assault, rape, and discrimination. The grant helped pay for supplies and materials for the event.
2019 Grantees
ACT UP hosted a conference for Black and Brown queer people to dialogue with their own community with a goal of organizing to take community control of healthcare organizations that are white-led, but serve Black and Brown people.
Asian Americans United (AAU) sent staff to the People of the Global Majority in the Outdoors, Nature and Environment summit in May 2019. At the summit, AAU staff members built relationships with emerging and established leaders of color in the climate justice movement.
The Birth Brown Cooperative hosted a training for their co-op to learn grant management skills and to support their organization’s budget management, allowing them to provide comprehensive services to community members health and family care.
The Black and Brown Workers Cooperative (BBWC) hosted a daylong symposium on June 9th for Black and Brown people living with HIV and AIDS to discuss how white supremacy shows up in health care systems.
Camp Sojourner, Girls’ Leadership Camp organized the 7th Annual Sojourner Truth Walk on May 4, 2019. The Sojourner Truth Walk brings community members together across race and class and offers political education on female leadership in resistance movements.
The Caucus of Working Educators delivered a petition with over 2,200 signatures to the Board of Education, City Council, and every district school in March demanding the end of the 10-year tax abatement to raise revenue to pay to clean up Philadelphia schools.
Coalition to Abolish Death by Incarceration (CADBI) funded four buses to transport people to the state capitol to advocate for parole eligibility and an end to life without parole for people incarcerated in Philadelphia and the wider state of Pennsylvania.
The COLOURS Organization hosted an event to provide community engagement to LGBTQI+ men of color and provided incentives to event participants to expand their audience.
Germantown Residents for Economic Alternatives Together (GREAT) organized a workshop in March 2019 to educate community members on displacement and gentrification in Germantown.
MOVES hosted six workshops led by local activists and healers on self-care, healing, empowerment, and rehabilitation. The workshops were held in a temporary storefront that MOVES was able to rent for two months.
One Pennsylvania convened and strategized with workers from multiple organizations to help ensure their legislative wins get implemented. They secured food, childcare, transportation, and interpretation for the meeting.
Philadelphia Drug User Union began hosting weekly meetings in April 2019 to organize drug users to keep themselves and their communities healthy and safe.
The Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) organized the “National Mobilization to Oppose NATO, War, and Racism” protest in March 2019 to create an anti-war movement with poor and low-income people of color at its center.
Sappho and LaRoyce Foundation hosted a two-day celebration of LBTQ womyn and families in April 2019. The celebration included a one day summit called “Together We Rise: Building and Sustaining QWOC.”
Senior to Senior Community Outreach held forums to discuss the accessibility of public spaces such as community gardens and libraries for seniors.
St. Daniel’s Ray of Hope Community Development Corporation held their annual Juneteenth celebration in Chester on June 15 commemorating the implementation of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Womanist Working Collective sent one of their organizers to Blue Door Group’s Transformational Intergroup Dialogue Facilitation training series in March 2019.
VietLead hosted their annual Hai Bà Trưng School for Organizing in May 2019 for youth aged 18-33 to explore a progressive Vietnamese-American identity, learn land-based and electoral-based organizing theory and skills, explore a local community campaign around land justice and community control, and connect to local and national organizers doing social justice work.
Women’s Community Revitalization Project (WCRP) hosted a series of workshops to educate people on how decisions get made on land and housing in Philadelphia.
2018 Grantees
Art Sphere, Inc provided adult art education focusing on African American, Native American, and African art.
Asian Americans United (AAU) sent nine youth and one adult staff member to attend the first ever “Beyond our Boundaries Summit” in Chicago, where they collaborated with other Asian American youth organizers to develop an Asian American Youth Organizing Platform.
Camp Sojourner, Girls’ Leadership Camp organized the 6th Annual Sojourner Truth Walk on May 5, 2018. The Sojourner Truth Walk brings community members together across race and class and provides political education on female leadership in resistance movements.
cinéSPEAK, in partnership with Black Lives Matter presented Louis Massiah’s documentary Bombing of Osage Ave at Malcolm X Park in West Philadelphia.
Coalition of African Communities (Africom) responded to increased fear around immigration enforcement by hosting a forum for African community leaders to meet pro bono legal service providers.
Disabled in Action received support for ASL interpretation at Disability Pride, an annual celebration of diversity within the disability community.
Her Philly MOVES created an public art installation that explicitly called out Gayborhood racism and the intentional suppression of the voices of queer people of color.
Neighborhood Bike Works responded to police harassment of Black youth members by collaborating with Up Against the Law Legal Collective to host a Know Your Rights training for the community.
Neighbors Against the Gas Plants supported residents’ legal fees to participate in an appeals hearing that could revoke SEPTA’s permission to build and operate a natural gas power plant in Germantown.
Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance (PACA) sent a staff member to attend the 2018 Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training (GIFT) conference to learn more about grassroots fundraising for social justice and to connect with leaders across movements.
Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) organized a “Frontline Defenders Meeting” to educate members of the Kensington community about the budget cuts and plan a response for survival. Later in the year, PPEHRC received another Opportunity Fund grant to organize poor people and their families in a “March for Our Lives” starting in Kensington and ending in Washington, DC.
POWER (Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower, and Rebuild) received a grant to offset costs incurred to respond to the unjust arrest of two Black men at a local Starbucks.
Reconstruction hosted a coalition building meeting with other groups working on mass incarceration to build support for the Fight for Lifers Sponsor-A-Vote project.
Senior to Senior Community Outreach hosted a series of community forums to discuss food insecurity amongst seniors.
Soil Generation sent youth members to the AgroYouth Encounter at Black Dirt Farm. The AgroYouth Encounter is rooted in the struggles of Black and Brown people and provides an opportunity for young people to deepen their understanding of history, build practical skills, and come together to heal.
Successful Women Achieving Goals (SWAG) hosted a workshop with Women Organized Against Rape and EEOA on equal pay, sexual harassment, and workplace discrimination.
St. Daniel’s Ray of Hope Community Development Corporation held their annual Juneteenth celebration in Chester commemorating the implementation of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Teacher Action Group held an education and liberation conference, “Connecting the Dots: Building Solidarity to Transform our City and Schools,” which focused on building solidarity across movements for justice.
Till Arts Project co-directors attended the Arts Advocacy Day: The National Arts Action Summit in Washington, DC in March 2018 to make connections and gain skills in using art for social change.
Urban Creators purchased stage and sound equipment to use at their annual Hoodstock festival and to lend to their partners and allies throughout the year.
Urban Tree Connection youth members attended the Rooted in Community National Youth Leadership Summit in Greensboro, NC, where they connected with other youth leaders working to create a just food system by centering the experiences and leadership from within communities of color.
West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship hosted a one-day training on systemic racism to build their shared language and understanding of racism and how it manifests in our society.
2017 Grantees
The Black and Brown Workers Cooperative collected narratives from Black and Brown workers in Philadelphia and created a report to inform anti-racism organizing in the Gayborhood.
Camp Sojourner, Girls’ Leadership Camp organized the 5th Annual Sojourner Truth Walk on May 6, 2017. The Sojourner Truth Walk brings community members together across race and class and provides political education on female leadership in resistance movements.
Disabled in Action hired American Sign Language interpreters for Disability Pride, held in June 2017, to make the event fully accessible.
GALAEI provided the opportunity for 10 queer Latinx leaders to participate in the Embajadores professional development program, part of the Creating Change conference’s Unión-Fuerza institute: a day-long program promoting activism in the LGBT Latinx community.
The Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger organized a gathering of nonprofit leaders on January 27, 2017 to discuss how the coalition can protect funding and other resources that fight hunger in our community under the Trump administration.
Kol Tzedek organized Inauguration Day: West Philly Community Solidarity Gathering, an evening gathering of neighbors rededicating themselves to face the political challenges of the coming years, on January 20, 2017.
Maypop Collective for Climate and Economic Justice (Philly Thrive project) held School for Organizers, a series of community organizing skills trainings between January and May 2017. The trainings were held to support Philly Thrive’s Right to Breathe campaign combating the local oil refinery and its resulting air pollution in Southwest Philadelphia.
North of Washington Avenue Coalition organized a series of four workshops to train and empower groups of neighborhood residents to fulfill common needs and address local issues and to be effective advocates for their community‘s interests.
Philadelphia-Camden Boricua Committee began organizing demonstrations, rallies, and forums related to the movement for Puerto Rican independence in response to the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), a federal law that established an oversight board for Puerto Rico.
Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation organized a zine-making workshop in partnership with Chinatown Community Press Project to amplify the voices of Chinatown residents in the face of the gentrification. This workshop was held in response to Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority’s selection of Pennrose and WRT Design’s proposal to build four buildings at 8th and Vine streets over Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation’s community-based proposal for the same land.
Philadelphia International Action Center organized a “Shut Down the DNC” march and rally in partnership with the MOVE Organization, Black and Brown Workers Collective, and many other local community organizing groups on July 26, 2017.
Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign sent anti-poverty organizers to Cleveland, OH during the Republican National Convention to protest against poverty and advocate for movement-building with other anti-poverty organizers.
South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA) organized “Where We Belong: Artists in the Archive,” a community gathering exploring the overlooked and untold stories of South Asian Americans, on April 8, 2017.
St. Daniel’s Ray of Hope a community development corporation in Chester County, organized a Juneteenth event celebrating the end of slavery in the United States, on June 17, 2017.
United Nations Association of Greater Philadelphia organized International Rights Day, a celebration of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, on December 8, 2016.
Urban Creators held a series of youth-led discussions on the Black Lives Matter movement, education, mass incarceration, food justice, and more during the Democratic National Convention on July 26, 2017 and July 27, 2017.
Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project held an event called “The State of Criminal Justice & Reentry in Philadelphia: Opportunities for Innovation and Reform” at which participants discussed local and national efforts to increase opportunities and resources for returning citizens. The event was held on April 12, 2017.
2016 Grantees
The Black Radical Organizing Collective hosted the conference, Reclaiming Our Future: The Black Radical Tradition Today.
Breaking the Silence In Philly! Taskforce hosted a town hall, in partnership with the African American Policy Forum, to amplify the voices and stories of girls and women of color.
Camp Sojourner, Girls’ Leadership Camp expanded the 5K Sojourner Truth Walk: Celebrating Girls’ and Women’s Leadership event.
CORAJUS presented a series of teach-ins with the local chapter of #BlackLivesMatter.
Dancing for Justice Philadelphia brought the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond for a weekend workshop to educate Philadelphia cultural leaders in strategies to heal the racial injustice in the city.
DISLABELED Philly Film Series brought filmmaker Joshua Tate to the screening of the film, Love Land.
Girls Rock Philly brought a poetry workshop by indigenous Mexican rapper and organizer Mare Advertencia Lirika.
Human Rights Coalition attended an international women’s conference.
Jubilee School organized elementary school children in Philadelphia to speak out about police brutality in black communities through a series of speaking events, poetry writing and reading, and a children’s march to the Commissioners’ office.
Juntos attended a Mijente convening.
Liberty Resources held the National Deaf Rally in Harrisburg, PA.
National Institute for Healthy Human Spaces (NIHHS) hosted the conference Beacons of Light: The Protest Legacy of Black Students at Rutgers University.
Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance (PACA) held a full-day teach-in event about cooperatives in Philadelphia.
Prison Radio organized a petition demanding immediate medical care for Mumia Abdu-Jamal.
Spiral Q held an annual PEOPLEHOOD parade on October 24 as a celebratory honor and dedication of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
2015 Grantees
BlackStar Film Festival
AIDS Policy Project
Action United
To: Women, From: Men
Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations (PACDC)
Camp Sojourner, Girls’ Leadership Camp
The MOVE Organization
Lancaster Avenue Autonomous Space (LAVA)
Student/ Farmworker Alliance
Senior to Senior Community Outreach (SSCO)
Philadelphia Public School Notebook
I’m FREE – Females Reentering Empowering Each Other
Pathways PA
Urban Research-Based Action Network – School Closing Symposium
2014 Grantees
The 2014 Community Forum for the Next Governor was a people’s forum produced by a coalition of progressive organizations and convened by Neighborhood Networks. The forum took place in February 2014 and was televised by the Pennsylvania Cable Network and made available on the web to increase grassroots participation in the election as well as advocacy for progressive issues.
The AIDS Policy Project is a small, all-volunteer AIDS and human rights organization that is focused on advocating for an AIDS cure. AIDS Policy Project received funding to attend the GIFT two day conference for grassroots fundraising in Baltimore on August 2 and 3, 2014. The conference allowed the organization to learn more about ways to raise money to support their work and build development skills.
Black Lily Inc. received a grant for the third BlackStar Film Festival that took place in University City from July 31 through August 3, 2014. BlackStar celebrates the visual and storytelling traditions of the African diaspora, showcasing film and video works by and about black people from across the globe and providing panels and workshops about the industry. BlackStar is a highly visible platform for the voices of independent black filmmakers.
Camp Sojourner, Girls’ Leadership Camp is a nonprofit leadership development program for Philadelphia girls ages 8 to 16. Camp Sojourner used this grant to expand their second annual 5K walkathon event, “The Sojourner Truth Walk: Inspiring Girls’ and Womens’ Leadership,” that took place on April 26, 2014. The walk is an opportunity to honor women and girls as leaders and to connect girls, parents, and the wider community with important social justice work happening in Philadelphia.
Decarcerate PA, a coalition seeking to end mass incarceration and prison expansion in Pennsylvania, received funding to attend the Allied Media Conference and the Nation Inside Gathering in Detroit on June 19 – 22, 2014. Both events provided Decarcerate PA with communication and media based tools that will help the coalition build relationships across the city and advance the campaign across the state.
Filadelfia Latin American Film Festival (FLAFF) received a grant to support the first Philadelphia screening of the socially conscious documentary depicting Cesar Chavez’s Last Fast. The film provided an opportunity for audience members to view the struggles facing farm workers, many of which continue to exist today. FLAFF held a discussion following the film which allowed for audience questions and discussion on how to support the cause.
The Independence EDGE Studio is a new grassroots group that is committed to social change for people with disabilities. The studio provides space and implements programs so that artists with and without disabilities can practice their craft, learning from each other’s perspectives. The Independence EDGE Studio used their grant to hire a consultant for help with developing a solid organizational and financial plan to ensure the future stability of the studio’s initiatives.
The Philadelphia Unemployment Project (PUP) recently convened the Raise the Wage PA Coalition to fight for an increase in Pennsylvania’s minimum wage. PUP received a grant for transportation to a lobby day and rally in Harrisburg on June 3, 2014 as part of the Raise the Wage campaign. This event allowed low wage workers and their community allies to connect with their elected officials and press them to take action to raise the minimum wage.
The Women’s Therapy Center (WTC) nurtures individual well-being and personal growth by providing high-quality, affordable psychotherapeutic services in a feminist environment. WTC received funding to host a Community Forum addressing Trans-Affirming Mental Health Care, organized in response to transgender communities’ demands for trans-affirming mental health services. The Community Forum was held on May 1, 2014 and generated community dialogue around past barriers and micro-aggressions and ways that WTC can be transparent and accountable to the trans community.
2013 Grantees
Camp Sojourner, Girls’ Leadership Camp launched their first annual 5K walkathon event, “The Sojourner Truth Walk: Inspiring Girls’ and Women’s Leadership,” honoring women and girl leaders, raising awareness, and connecting with other Philadelphia social justice groups.
Comité de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agrícolas (CATA) is a non-profit migrant farmworker organization that partnered with the Alliance for Citizenship in preparation for the national Immigration March in Washington DC on April 10, 2013.
Elements Organization held the 4th annual conference for LGBTQ Women of Color.
Filadelfia Latin American Film Festival partnered with ROC-Philadelphia to present two short documentaries about working conditions for Latino restaurant workers in the United States.
Heschel-King Festival held a festival in honor of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and Martin Luther King, Jr. in January 2013.
Media Mobilizing Project attended a convention at the Vermont Workers’ Center in September 2012, gaining valuable skills by learning about successful campaigns that promote the dignity of all people.
National Alliance of Women Veterans, Inc. (NAWV) held the 2012 National Day of Service and Remembrance in September.
New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia (NSM) mobilizes Philadelphia’s powerful and diverse faith communities in support of the immigrant rights movement. NSM hosted a long event called “40 days of Action, Fasting and Prayer” from June 22 to July 31, 2013 to raise visibility of two grassroots organizing campaigns: the fight for the passage of just and humane Comprehensive Immigration Reform and the campaign for the end of collaboration between the Philadelphia police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Occupy Philly Labor Working Group (LWG) is working in support of Philadelphia public schools to bring key leaders from the Chicago Teachers Union to Philadelphia to assist potential activists.
Ollin Yoliztli Calmecac met with IDP in the State House of Representatives to talk about Resolution 110641, and is working on a long term plan to create a native village on the Belmont plateau on Fairmount Park.
Pennsylvania Health Access Network (PHAN) mobilized low income, uninsured Philadelphians to a day of action in Harrisburg on June 12, 2013 in support of Medicaid Expansion.
Philadelphia NOW Education Fund (PNEF) collaborated with the Coalition of Labor Union Women to create a handbook and hold trainings about running for election board or committee person as part of an effort to encourage community and civic group members to run for local office.
Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign promoted self-reliance and resourcefulness in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia by using reclaimed vacant land to create a farm to collectively grow food, while working to eradicate food insecurity.
Prison Radio interviewed a number of prisoners currently in solitary confinement in PADOC facilities to amplify perspectives from inside prison walls and bring them into public debate, worked on building strategies to break down solitary, and networked with prison support groups that are engaged in the Delaware Valley including Stop Max of the AFSC and the Human Rights Coalition.
Scribe Video Center produced and distributed DVDs of a three-minute film, FARM LABOR, which aims to support comprehensive immigration reform through stories told by family farm owners.
The 11th Ward Civic Education Initiative of 2013 held WATCHDOG Elections civic education workshops for the 2013 Philadelphia local and state wide elections and partnered with 11th ward based neighborhood groups to increase voter turnout.
The Working Group on Mass Incarceration and Global Women’s Strike are two Philadelphia-based groups dedicated to challenging the racial and class disparities that are encrusted in the current criminal justice system. The two groups presented the Philadelphia-based forum “When the Punishment is a Crime” on September 21, 2013.
2012 Grantees
ACT UP Philadelphia received funding for their campaign to press the City of Philadelphia to invent in housing for people with HIV.
Arway Recovery, Inc. hosted a Recovery Core retreat for training in community organizing, outreach and leaders’ development in an effort to assist Camden residents to become self sufficient and self reliant.
Decarcerate PA attended the Allied Media Conference and Nation Inside Gathering in Detroit to provide its members with communication and media based tools.
Global Education Motivators planned and facilitated a dialogue, 21st Century Xenophobia: Changing Attitudes and Perspectives on Multiculturalism, between participants in the US and in Norway and Egypt to explore root causes and look towards global solutions to extreme xenophobia.
Metropolitan Community Church of Philadelphia held a non-violent demonstration against the illegal rejection of a student’s application due to his HIV-positive status, protesting the stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS.
Norris Square Neighborhood Project sought funding to hire a consultant to facilitate a discussion between the organization’s Board of Directors and Staff regarding how best to address violence in the community and what directions to take in programming and advocacy.
Northwest Neighbors of Germantown demanded reparations from the Philadelphia Housing Authority for disturbing Germantown’s ancestral burial ground for African Americans by requesting that PHA provide an open green space and utilize the safest method of implosion.
Occupy Philly received a grant for general operations.
Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition held a Lobby Day against anti-immigrant legislation to make immigrant voices heard, educate legislators, and stop passage of the bills.
Philadelphia M.L.K. Jr. Association for Nonviolence, Inc.
received funds to expand their after-school non-violent program, AAStep, which teaches students positive conflict resolutions, building self-esteem and positive future goals, in accordance to the Nonviolent Principles outlined by Dr. Martin Luther King’s philosophy.
Philadelphia Student Union funded the transportation of students from Philadelphia, Chester, Reading and Pittsburgh to protest the budget cuts in the state capitol Harrisburg to ensure that the budget has equal and adequate public school funding.
Philadelphia Unemployment Project purchased a film projector to show throughout the city documentaries about struggles for justice in labor, civil rights, women’s issues and in the broader economy.
Prometheus Radio Project brought 10 media justice activists to Detroit for the Allied Media Conference to connect them to the broader media justice community and train them in media-based organizing.
SMART, Inc. (Single Mothers Are Really Trying) held violence prevention and thinking for a change workshops as well as seminars that addressed coping skills in an attempt to resolve the problem of violence in the city of Chester by educating the youth population at-risk for crime and their parents.
South Kensington Community Partners published two community newsletters to help guide the Kensington community in a corridor planning process designed to develop a master plan to preservie, add and sustain green spaces.
Teacher Action Group launched Inquiry to Action Groups in partnership with the Philadelphia Writing Project to provide a space for the professional development teachers need and strengthen the influence of educators within schools and over policy decisions.
Way of the Spirit Ministries International established a Leadership Support Process for the women of Camden City to learn the elements of leadership support and address issues such as internalized oppression, the impact of the prison system, and parenting concerns in low-income, single-headed households.
X Offenders for Community Empowerment attended the Formerly Incarcerated and Convicted People’s Movement strategy conference in Los Angeles to advance their national agenda and unite with other formerly incarcerated people and organizations.
2010 Grantees
ACORN, in the wake of politically motivated attacks on organizing, requested funding to rebuild. They used their grant to create a new infrastructure for grassroots organizing in low-income communities.
ACT UP Philadelphia held a demonstration in support of needle exchange in a decades-long series of actions, and it paid off: Congress and President Obama lifted the ban on federal funding for needle exchange.
Cambodian Association received funding for a Family Unity BBQ to celebrate immigrant communities, provide Know Your Rights information to community members, and organize for the upcoming national debate on immigration.
Darfur Alert Coalition covered transportation cost for members of Darfuri Leaders Network to travel to Philadelphia for their first National Conference to develop a strategic plan for formal negotiations between the Sudanese government and those representing Darfurians.
Granny Peace Brigade produced bilingual materials for the “Our Opt Out Alternatives Packet,” an anti-enlistment resource for students considering joining the armed forces.
Jobs with Justice and the Philadelphia Security Officer’s Union received funding to support their work to print and distribute a security officers’ documentary.
Media Mobilizing Project requested funding for travel cost for MMP members to attend the Allied Media Conference, where they built relationships with other groups around the country.
National Alliance of Women Veterans held the 2009 Women Veterans Tribute on November 7, 2009 as a kick-off for its outreach initiative for veteran survivors of rape and sexual assault.
Philadelphia Immigration Cultural Conference (PICC) received support to hold a conference about immigration, especially as it pertains to youth, in an effort to alleviate tension between immigrant students and their peers.
Philly Coalition for Essential Services and Philly Neighborhood Networks held a debate among candidates for governor focused on social justice and progressive issues.
Philly Road to Detroit received funding to defray travel costs to Detroit, ensuring widespread participation by Philadelphia community leaders and activists in the US Social Forum.
Prometheus Radio Project brought 10 media justice activists to Detroit for the Allied Media Conference and the US Social Forum.
Reconstruction, Inc. received funding in support of Ex-offenders In Transition: An Urban Strategy (EXIT-US). EXIT-US runs a women and family support group, and provides continuing care for individuals maxing out of prison the restricted housing units.
Right to Know requested funding to conduct a workshop in which community participants learn how to use environmental laws and policies to improve neighborhood environmental conditions.
Southeastern Pennsylvania First Suburbs Project requested funding to cover registration and travel cost to send community leaders to a weeklong leadership and community organizer training.
Taxi Workers Alliance of Pennsylvania produced the “Driving the American Dream” DVD, which documents the dangers involved in taxi driving and the struggle to attain workers’ compensation. They distributed copies of the DVD to state legislators.
Trans Masculine Advocacy Network held a Transgender Day of Remembrance to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice.
Youth United for Change hosted the Northeastern Regional Convening of the Alliance for Educational Justice to bring together representatives of organizations working to change educational policy at the federal level.
2009 Grantees
ACT UP received funding to support a June 26th demonstration in support of the reauthorization of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS. ACT UP’s political pressure from the demonstration resulted in the repeal of Sen. Coleman’s hold and passage of the bill, which guaranteed funding and flexibility for HIV/AIDS programs.
Asian Americans United used the grant to support the organizing of the “No Casino in Chinatown Committee” and “Students Against the Casino Group.”
Casino Free Philadelphia used this funding to further their mission of preventing the arrival of casinos in Philadelphia and closing any that open.
LGBT People of Color Coalition is a multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-gender alliance of LGBT organizations. The grant they received helped fund the organization’s participation at the first amendment rights national equality rally convened by Equality Forum on May 3, 2009.
LGBTQ Womyn of Color Conference was a two-day conference that addressed concrete concerns that the participants brought back to their communities and inserted into conversations lacking the voices of LGBTQ women of color.
Moving Creations Inc. is an arts-based, youth leadership program whose participants created an award-winning documentary. The grant was used to help send two members to present the film at a national conference in Austin, Texas.
Philadelphia Immigration Cultural Conference is a citywide conference organized by high school students to address issues that immigration brings to youth. The conference was held at Temple University on April 25, 2009, with attendance of over 200 high school students from across the greater Philadelphia region.
Susquehanna Clean Up/Pick Up, Inc received funding to support their effort to engage, educate, and organize Temple students in an anti-litter campaign.
Taxi Workers Alliance of Pennsylvania worked with the Data Center of Oakland, CA, to publish a report of survey findings from drivers, using the report as leverage for lawmakers to create legislation protecting the rights and well-being of taxi workers in Philadelphia.
The Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania received funding to support Housing Matters Day, an event they hosted on May 5th at the State Capitol in Harrisburg to highlight joint consumer/provider advocacy for a State Housing Trust Fund.
The Right to Know Committee was established in 1997 in an effort to organize former workers and neighbors concerned about toxic exposure from the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia. RTKC requested funds to support its outreach efforts in the form of a newsletter and survey to galvanize 200 residents.
Witness to Innocence received funds for its collaborative project with Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty: Execute Art, Not People. These funds covered travel, lodging, meals, and honoraria for two exonerated ex-death row prisoners attending the event.
2008 Grantees
African American United Fund allowed African Americans to educate candidates on issues of importance in their communities.
Eastern North Philadelphia Coalition combats gentrification in the Northern Liberties, Olde Kensington and Kensington South neighborhoods.
Jobs with Justice led an organized effort to reform the low-waged private security industry, continuing to recruit, orient and mobilize new members.
Media Mobilizing Project collaborated with Prometheus Radio Project to send 30 Philadelphians to the Allied Media Conference and share their grassroots model.
Philadelphia Immigration Cultural Conference is a citywide conference for high school students addressing the impact of immigration issues on youth.
Philadelphia International Women’s Day Coalition was an effort to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day and urge the mayor to reinstate the Philadelphia Commission on Women.
Prometheus Radio Project fosters community-based voices in radio and presented a radio skills and transmitter building workshop at the Allied Media Conference.
Sustainable Business Education Network assists local independent businesses and creates economic opportunities for low-income communities.
United for Peace and Justice, Philadelphia held a day of action involving the formation of a “human chain for peace” extending around 60 blocks to show public opposition to, and create awareness of, the war in Iraq.
Uptown Entertainment and Development Corporation develops strategies for creating more green buildings and jobs, and countering developers gentrifying the North Central Philadelphia area.
Urban Rural Mission USA, an outgrowth of the World Council of Churches, has been working with 13 grassroots organizations to form the Tri-State Social Forum.
2007 Grantees
Asian Americans United published a community newspaper Asian American Justice Watch to engage Asian communities in the current immigration reform movement that has largely been considered predominantly Mexican, to build a better-informed constituency, and to ultimately incite significant changes in the ways the U.S. consider immigrants and immigration. This issue of Justice Watch addressed the abuse and deportation of immigrant Asian families in the area and contained know-your-rights information from the National Immigration Law Center.
Eastern North Philadelphia Coalition is an emerging collective of 20 organizations, housing groups, neighborhood groups, congregations, and social service agencies organizing residents in Kensington and Northern Liberties to address gentrification that threatens to displace low and moderate income households. The coalition received funding to hire a strategic planning consultant to build infrastructure that would allow the Coalition to stay strong, to outlast individual leaders or member organizations, and to handle multiple campaign issues in the future.
School Of Americas Watch North East received funding for organizing and advocacy work in Latin America to influence state leaders to stop sending soldiers to be trained at the School of Americas/Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (SOA/WHINSEC). Funds were used for local outreach as well as continued travel to Latin American countries.
2006 Grantees
ACT UP received funding to mobilize a direct action during the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on AIDS report back (UNGASS), bringing 500 people living with HIV/AIDS to this historic meeting to meet up with a large scale march and action to hold US and world leaders accountable for goals set 5 years ago by the UN to reduce rates of HIV and increase access to treatment.
Chester-Upland Community, Parents, and Students On the Move mobilized community members including students, parents, and residents in support of a pending lawsuit to bring control of Chester-Upland schools from state-appointed boards to the local level and demand community participation in school reform and governance decisions.
Coalition to Raise the Minimum Wage received funding for a lobby day and rally in Harrisburg to raise the state minimum wage. The funds were used to pay for buses to take people to Harrisburg.
Millions More Movementmobilized people, particularly people of color, into an action that developed into a national plan for the African American community. The movement received funding to transport local leaders to Washington D.C. following the Million Man March in Philadelphia.
Peace Center of Delaware County used the funds to hire professional ASL (American Sign Language) interpreters for the Fourth Annual Delaware County Peace Festival on May 13, 2006. The festival, entitled “Celebrating Human Rights – Stand Up, Speak Out, Sing With All Your Heart!”, was a celebration to acknowledge cultural diversity.
Philadelphia Student Union advocated for breaking the West Philadelphia High School into four smaller schools that would be designed and controlled by the community. The grant was used to take a group of community leaders, students, parents, and district officials to visit El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice in New York and to fund an overnight retreat for current student leaders aimed at strategizing about next steps and boosting morale of the organization.
Shalom Center organized local faith-based and activist groups at a multireligious, multicultural celebration on October 23rd during a convergence of two different holidays, Ramadan and Sukkot. This was a grass-roots effort to build a strong network and alliances among people from different communities and those who have traditionally focused on different issues, from street gun violence and human rights to the war in Iraq and environmental concerns.
Tenants Union Representative Network received support for the Katrina Leadership Academy that trained individuals from among the victims of the Katrina hurricane to organize fellow evacuees to influence recovery policies which affect their lives. The fund was used to pay for the feeding and transporting of the New Orleans and Mississippi to the training sites in Philadelphia.
2005 Grantees
DARFUR Alert Coalition received funding for the Exhibit and Panel Discussion that presented the photographs and drawings done by children in refugee camps in Darfur in honor of U.N. International Human Rights Day. The event provided an opportunity for the coalition to involve its various communities in becoming informed and active in reversing the crises, as well as to influence the public to urge the government to join with the international community to end the genocide by imposing targeted sanctions against those responsible.
Delaware County Wage Peace & Justice educates and organizes the people of Delaware County in support of alternatives to war and to the militarization of our society. Delco WP&J received funding to support the Chester “Vote 2K4” Celebration,a day of music, poetry, games, free food and drink, voter registration, and voter empowerment messages with the goal of bringing new low-income, young African American and Latino American voters into the system.
Friends of MOVE is an organization of people of all backgrounds coming together to educate the public about the ongoing unjust incarceration of MOVE 9 political prisoners. Friends of MOVE received funding to organize a march and a rally to mark the 20th anniversary of the police bombing of MOVE to educate the public about the gross injustice and push for the release of the MOVE 9 political prisoners. The event featured speakers from many worldwide struggles to show the common links between all forms of oppression and to establish that the police bombing of MOVE is symptomatic of a much broader campaign of repression that movements have faced throughout history.
Iraq Veterans Against the War sought to mobilize reservists, those in active duty, and recent Iraq veterans to take action to oppose to war in Iraq. IVAW received funding for a regional meeting that brought together members in the Philadelphia area and provided a critical opportunity for consolidation of ranks and local recruitment.
Kensington Welfare Rights Union, a founder of the Poor People’s Economic Rights Campaign, presented a formal testimony at a general hearing on the violation of the right to affordable housing in the Americas held by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States. This hearing served to help not only low-income families in Philadelphia, but also set precedent for the country.
Palestine Film Festival aims to provide Philadelphia area residents with a space for dialogue and a political and cultural context for issues that are often simplified in the media, while articulating the humanity of a people living under decades of occupation. The festival showcases a diverse program of experimental, documentary, and narrative films from Israel, Palestine, and the international community. The Festival received funding to support the translation and distribution of promotional materials into Arabic.
Philadelphia Million Worker March Committee received funding to distribute information about the Million Worker March by distributing over 75,000 fliers. The goal of the march was for working people to raise issues relevant for them and to have an independent voice throughout the election period.
Philly Resistance Against Genetic Engineering (RAGE) collaborated with activists from Philadelphia and across the US to create an informative and dynamic grassroots response to the 2005 convention of the Biotechnology Industry Organization that took place in Philadelphia. The counter-event was named “BioDemocracy 2005: Reclaim the Commons!” and united diverse Philadelphia area constituencies around a broad spectrum of concerns related to the uses and abuses of biotechnology in agriculture, medical research and bioweapons development.
Reconstruction Inc. is a community-based organization that creates, facilitates and promotes a progressive therapeutic and political agenda that advocates for a true democratic society. Reconstruction received funding to assist its advisory board on issues pertaining to the men, women and children serving life sentences in Pennsylvania, Fight for Lifers, with the opening performance at a state-wide conference at Temple University of an excerpt of a play Beyond the Walls. The performance highlighted many of the pressing issues related to those serving life sentences that were further addressed throughout the day-long conference.
2004 Grantees
Brandywine Peace Community is a faith based peace activist group formed in 1977 by people experienced in the nonviolent resistance to the war in Vietnam. Brandywine Peace Community received funding to organize and transport people from Philadelphia to the Dover to D.C. Memorial Procession, a powerful anti-war event that captured the moral voice of military family members, military veterans, and September 11th victims’ family members and expressed the spirit of growing resistance to the U.S. war and occupation in Iraq.
Brit Tzedek v’Shalom received funding to send a member to Geneva as a part of the American delegation witnessing the signing of the Geneva initiative for Israeli/Palestinian peace. After traveling to Geneva and witnessing the historic signing of the accord, the member spoke about the initiative and his experiences in Geneva at house parties organized by Brit Tzedek and before Jewish audiences in synagogues and other venues to mobilize the Jewish community in support of the Geneva Initiative.
Community Youth Organizing Campaign is an organization whose vision of social change resides in organizing working class people of color to fight for their own self determination and social justice. CYOC received funding to build the infrastructure needed to maintain its ongoing community organizing work in Philadelphia’s Chinatown and South Philadelphia including outreach and coalition work to fight against the threat of gentrification and a youth leadership/capacity building project that involves developing relationships with low wage workers.
Ibdaa Dance Host Committee is a collaborative effort of several organizations in the Philadelphia-area which advocate for justice and peace in the Middle East. The committee received funding to organize the Philadelphia stop of the Ibdaa Dance Troop, a grassroots initiative from young people in the Dheisheh Refugee Camp, located in the Occupied Territories. The event helped empower the Palestinian community in the Philadelphia-region and served as an educational/outreach vehicle for activists working on these issues.
Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania received funding for the “Restore the Calls” rally and lobby day at the Capitol in Harrisburg that mobilized folks hardest hit by human service budget cuts – consumers of drug & alcohol treatment services, mental health services, homeless services, etc – to demand that the state government immediately restore the $103 million in cuts to human service programs.
Patriot Art Cartoon Exhibit was hosted a the Main Branch of the Philadelphia Free Library and exhibited the work of over 40 political cartoonists whose work comments
on the aftermath of 9/11, focusing on the effects of the USA PATRIOT Act on civil rights. The exhibit was conceived as a reaction to the mainstream media’s unquestioning, uncritical coverage of many post 9/11 events and policy changes and aimed to represent views that were rarely, if at all, permitted to be seen or heard in the mainstream.
Philadelphia Community Access Coalition received funding to send the campaign manager to the annual Alliance for Community Media conference, which provided an excellent opportunity to maintain and expand the links PCAC has to media activists across the country, to learn from campaigns in other parts of the nation, and to connect the current staff member to the public access world.
Philadelphia Cuba Solidarity Coalition received funding to send 18 young people, high school and college students as well as young workers, to spend a week in Cuba, hosted by Cuba’s youth organizations for the U.S./Cuba Youth Exchange held during the 50th anniversary celebrations of the beginning of the revolution.
Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference received funding for a one-day retreat that allowed the organizers to critically think about and restructure the planning process for the conference; strategize ways to make the planning process and the resulting conference more accessible, relevant to, and inclusive of diverse trans communities and individuals, specifically trans people of color, trans women, and low-income trans people; and address the internal group dynamics of the committee.
Reconstruction, Inc. received funding to send an Alumni Ex-Offenders Association member to Midwest Academy Training.
The Shalom Center is a network of American Jews who draw on Jewish tradition and spirituality to seek peace, pursue justice, heal the earth, and build community. The Shalom Center received funding to support the New Freedom Seder, an event which connected justice-seeking threads across communities using creative cooperation, ritual, and reflection and served as a starting point for continued engaged organizing along cross-issue solidarity.
Queer Body Mafia is a group of local queer activists who have found themselves outside of and marginalized by mainstream queer representations and movements because of their bodies. Queer Body Mafia held a Queer Bodies event at the William Way Center devoted to those people who, in bodily-ways, do not ‘fit’ standard conceptions of the mainstream queer movement in an effort to provide a space for empowerment and community building for members of the queer community who are on the margins.
2003 Grantees
ACT-UP Philadelphia held a dinner meeting in early February 2003 for shelter and recovery house leaders and representatives from among their members. This event allowed ACT-UP to deepen its collaboration with key Philadelphia allies by involving them in decision-making and strategy and providing opportunities for information and skills sharing.
Alliance for a Sustainable Future held the 2nd Earth Charter Summit with the goals of reaching out to new people in the Delaware Valley, motivating new activism with respect to eight interrelated sustainability issues, especially energy and climate issues, and strengthening existing organizations to carry out agendas that would enable unprecedented progress toward regional sustainability.
Asian Pacific American Coalition received funding to support a three-day student organizing training, “Grassroots Organizing Weekend” (GROW), at Temple University. Participants covered a variety of topics including ‘Understanding the Relations of Power’, ‘Choosing an Issue’, and ‘Recruitment and Organization Building’. Through lectures, discussion, role plays and other interactive exercises they explored the concept of power; discussed how they can convert the problems they encounter at Temple and the ‘larger’ world into issues they can address through strategic organizing; and set goals for the future. In addition to helping participants be more effective organizers, the event helped create a strong network of organizers who would support each other’s efforts across issues.
Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors received funding for the “That’s Not Who You Are” Draft Campaign, an ad campaign targeting youth, especially poor youth of color, their parents and grandparents to raise awareness and organization against bill H.R. 3598, designed to reinstate the draft for all US male citizens and residents between the ages of 18 and 22. The campaign consisted of print ads (postcards, bookmarks, and posters), radio spots and PSAs created by young artists of color.
Community Leadership Institute is a resident incorporated community based organization in North Philadelphia with the mission to help create a better community by assisting groups of adult and youth residents and community organizations get the information and skills necessary to build community, communicate their issues effectively, and promote citizen involvement. The CLI received funding to support their work with Concerned Residents of the American Street Empowerment Zone (ASEZ), a group that opposed the taking of viable homes by city agencies for the development of an Urban Industrial Park.
Human Rights Activists for Peace received funding for a mailing, ads in local newspapers highlighting the price we pay for military buildup and war, and an educational program to give trade unionists and others a deeper understanding of the connections between labor and anti-war movements.
N’COBRA and AYBP-Philadelphia received funding to take one bus from Philadelphia to “A Year of Black Presence, Month Three” on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. held by A Year of Black Presence Coalition (AYBP) to support bill HR40 which would establish a Federal Reparations Commission to study the Holocaust of African captivity and enslavement, the violence and terror of Jim Crow, and the impact of both on living African-Americans, followed by recommendations for reparations and restitution.
Peace Center of Delaware Valley sponsored the First Annual Delaware County Peace Festival on Saturday, June 14, 2003. The Festival was a day to celebrate the struggle and vision of the local peace and justice community and had the theme of “Can’t kill the spirit – creating peace in an age of endless war.”
Peace in the Streets… Peace on Earth Coalition sponsored a march and rally in Chester for a day of marching, multi-cultural celebration, and political education that linked the demand to cut the US military budget with the demand for increased resources for housing, jobs, education, etc. The event involved dozens of local congregations, community service agencies, neighborhood groups, and peace organizations and included speakers and multi-cultural presentations of music, dance and poetry.
Philadelphia A.N.S.W.E.R. received funding to support efforts to build local participation in a National March on Washington to oppose a new U.S. war against Iraq.
Philadelphia Cuba Solidarity Committee received funding to send a 12 member delegation to the 13th Congress of the Continental Organization of Latin American and Caribbean Students (OCLAE), made up of student and youth organizations throughout the region who work together to fight the effects of imperialism. OCLAE’s 13th Congress was entitled “A Better World is Possible” and will bring together over 1,500 activists from virtually every country in the Americas to discuss the impact of, and resistance to neo-liberal globalization, and attacks on democratic and social rights.
Philadelphia Unemployment Project received funding to send 20 PUP members to Texas to participate in a national action on President Bush organized by the National Campaign for Jobs and Income. PUP was the only group representing Philadelphia and the interests of area residents among a gathering of over 30 grassroots organizations from across the nation.
Recycling Alliance of Philadelphia received funding to support a postcard mailing to 3,000 to 5,000 Philadelphia residents. The mailing urged residents to attend budget hearings on March 18th and testify on the importance of recycling in their community and write City Council members and the Mayor to support funding for recycling programs.
SOA Watch Northeast organized events focusing on human rights issues relating to the prospect of war in Iraq, the “war on terrorism”, the FTAA, civil rights, oil policy, the “war on drugs” and responses we need to make to bring about greater justice and peace. Events included teach-ins and workshops surrounding the theme of “Overcoming War and Terror at Home and Abroad,” a rally under the theme of “No More Martyrs,” and a celebratory march led by puppets from Spiral Q with music by acclaimed folk musicians.
Unite for Peace sponsored “Waging Peace in Wartime,” a strategy and vision workshop for anti-war organizers. Participants will include individuals and representatives from regional organizations representing differing perspectives (e.g. peace and antiwar organizations, various religious groups, student organizations and individuals from academic institutions).
2002 Grantees
Advocate Community Development Corporation collaborated with Art Sanctuary to invite 20 artisans who were in Philadelphia for the Splendor of Florence celebration to a community event at the Church of the Advocate with the goal of bringing visibility to North Philadelphia as a part of the cultural and historic landscape of Philadelphia.
Alliance for a Sustainable Future produced The Earth Charter Summits, the primary grassroots effort to introduce the Earth Charter, a declaration of 16 principles and values that promote a healthy, peaceful and sustainable global society, to the people in the United States. The intended outcomes of the Philadelphia Earth Charter Summits were to raise the level of public awareness and organizational responsibility to global concerns, design new action projects that will fulfill chosen Earth Charter principles in the tri-state area, develop and strengthen coalitions committed to carry out the new action projects, and commit to reconvene within six weeks to further boost action projects and coalitions.
Coalition to Keep Public Schools Public received funding in support of its anti-school privatization organizing project, which involved students, parents, community-based organizations, and others to insure that the community has input into the public school process. The project consisted of: door knocking in areas surrounding schools at risk of takeovers, community meetings, press conferences, demonstrations and vigils at City Hall and the School District Administration building, bus trips to Harrisburg, parent meetings, actions against Edison, a weekly e-letter ‘STOP PRIVATIZATION NEWS’, and more.
Community Women’s Education Project screened Standing on My Sisters’ Shoulders at the Community College of Philadelphia in honor of Women’s History Month and as part of CWEP’s 25th anniversary celebration. The film explored the oral histories of three generations of African-American and Caucasian women who shared their experiences of involvement in the Civil Rights movement. CWEP used the screening to initiate a discussion with the audience about the leadership role of women in the civil rights movement and how it can serve as a guidepost for today, hoping that the film would raise awareness of women’s historical role in social change movements; enhance knowledge and understanding in order to help reduce racism in our increasingly diverse and polarized society; and inspire individuals and organizations to take action on current issues including welfare term limits.
Delaware County Campaign for Peace and Justice received funding to support the community outreach efforts for Wage Peace: A Campus/Community Gathering to Educate, Activate, and Organize, a day-long campus/community peace event in Swarthmore. The event featured educational panels, discussion circles, organizing workshops, music, meals, and fellowship and had the purpose of helping forge a campus/community coalition to work for peace in Delaware County.
International A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) is a coalition initiated just after the events of September 11 in response to threats of war and racism that were coming from Bush administration. The grant was used for an international day of coordinated local activities held in response to a call from the initiators of the coalition.
Media Fellowship House brought ESL students from the city of Chester to the Fellowship House’s 5th Annual Fellowship Festival of Myth, Folklore and Story, which was created to “explore the diversity of storytelling from around the world, celebrate the oneness of humankind, and promote fellowship” and focused on immigrant communities. A goal of the organizers was to use the festival to help the regional community become more aware of the increasing ethnic diversity of its residents.
Norris Square Neighborhood Project serves the Norris Square community of Lower West Kensington, the population of which is 86% Latino, low income, and mostly women-headed single parent households. NSNP’s community development work includes taking over thirty vacant lots and working with neighborhood residents to convert them into gardens, using greening as a leadership development tool. NSNP received a grant to send a staff member to a 10 day Sustainable Agriculture program in Havana, Cuba.
PA NOW Education Fund received funding for their Committeeperson Project, which had the goals of raising awareness about the gender imbalance in Philadelphia politics and encouraging women to consider running for the position of committeeperson. The grant was used to produce flyers to publicize workshops, workshop handouts and to support staffing costs.
Peace Action Delaware Valley developed a local dialogue outreach project that supported the goal of reaching and mobilizing a broader public. The dialogue outreach project was designed to overcome the communication barriers of heightened public fear of terrorism, the American public’s sense of being part of a ‘special’ people, and selective news coverage. After the completion of the program, participants were encouraged by facilitators to take some form of action including signing up for next steps with PA-DV.
Philadelphia A20 Mobilization Committee raised awareness about and provided transportation to the “Stop the War, At Home and Abroad!” march in Washington D.C. The march is sponsored by over 200 organizations including the National Coalition for Peace an Justice, National Youth and Student Peace Coalition, and the 9-11 Emergency Response Network. To build momentum locally, the group sponsored a prior event with speakers from groups like New York City Labor Against the War and Peaceful Tomorrows and developed flyers and other outreach materials.
Pig Iron Theater created a new piece entitled, Flop, a clown-play with an all-female cast, which used clowning techniques to explore the emotional and physical changes girls undergo during adolescence. The goals of the production were to demonstrate the clowning talents of women, who as a group have been largely excluded from the genre, and to use the clowning form as a medium for an exploration of the complicated nature of women’s identity.
The Move Organization sent a member to Tear Down the Walls, an international human rights conference held in Havana, Cuba on winning amnesty for U.S. held political prisoners. The conference provided a place to analyze victories of the past as well as setbacks, helping participants to draw lessons that would contribute to the development of a multi-pronged strategy to free political prisoners.
Wages for Housework received funding to support outreach for the “Women’s Action to Stop the War! Invest in Caring, Not Killing!”, a joint project with the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. The project was developed as an approach to engage women, particularly from low income and immigrant communities and women of color, in the burgeoning anti-war movement. The outreach plan included local religious groups, the Germantown Women’s YWCA, welfare offices, neighborhood and smaller constituency-based papers, email and list servs.
Women’s Development Institute held a seminar organized to broaden the understanding of Islam and current issues of ethnic and racial bias following the events of September 11. Topics included, “Islamic Faith and the View of Contemporary Events” and the UN Conference against Racism held in Durban, South Africa that fall.
2001 Grantees
Alliance Organizing Project received funding to support its collaboration with the Philadelphia Public School Notebook on an expanded issue of the paper focused on the theme of “strengthening partnerships between teachers and the community”.
Centro Juan Antonio Corretjer received funding to support a park naming ceremony and its ‘Youth In Resistance’ program, a series of workshops that trained Latino youth how to organize using culture and education as fundamental tools for empowerment. The series of workshops began a weekly forum for grassroots organizing around social justice issues for young people in North Philadelphia.
Coalition Against the American Correctional Association came together to develop a response to an upcoming American Correctional Association (ACA) conference in Philadelphia. Leading up to the conference, the group held teach-ins, forums, and workshops, and an alternative conference and permitted demonstrations were organized during the ACA gathering.
the defenestrator collective, an anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist Philadelphia publication, worked closely with the CAACA to produce a special issue containing the following sections: What is the Prison Industrial complex?; What is the American Correctional Association?; Race, Class and Criminal Justice; Women in Prison; Prisons and Capitalism; and Anti-Prison work as part of the Larger Struggle for Social and Economic Justice.
Empty the Shelters received funding to help cover the cost of food for delegates to the Poor People’s Summit to End Poverty. Over 500 delegates attended the summit, which was organized to bring together poor Americans with people working with anti-poverty organizations from around the world and their allies.
Jobs With Justice sent two leaders from the Philadelphia area Jobs With Justice (JWJ) campaign to a national JWJ staff and new leader training in Portland.
National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (NCOBRA) held a town meeting on the subject of reparations for African Americans. The goals of the meeting were to raise awareness about the issue, gather information for a team of legal scholars researching the potential for class action lawsuits, and draft a document reflecting the needs and aspirations of a segment of Philadelphia’s Black community that would be presented at NCOBRA’s national conference in Baton Rouge that June. This event was co-sponsored by the Black United Fund and the local organizing committee of the Black Radical Congress.
Nexus/Foundation for Today’s Art organized and exhibition of artist Frank Greene’s audience-participatory performance “Anonymous Test Site.” Greene, who is HIV positive, used this performance to explore issues of medical testing and the conventional protocol of treating the disease, not the person. Greene also examined the ramifications of “touch” within the framework of the AIDS virus and sought to focus the attention on the mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of individuals instead of viewing them as a test result or statistic.
One Day At A Time (ODAAT) and the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition (GPUAC) organized a traveling exhibit entitled “A Moment of Sanity”, a project featuring the portraits and testimonials of formerly homeless substance abusers who have stopped using drugs. The goal of the event was to educate business leaders, public policy experts, elected officials and others about the struggles and successes of formerly homeless addicts, humanizing the issue and showing that the possibility for change exists.
Philadelphia International Action Center organized Philadelphia area participation in the counter-inaugural protest in Washington D.C. on Inauguration Day. The initial demands included an end to the death penalty and police brutality, abolishing the prison industrial complex and a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal. The protest was also designed to target U.S. economic and military policies abroad.
Pennsylvania NOW Education Fund provided a bus for members of Kensington Welfare Rights Union and the Union for the Homeless to attend the World March of Women held in Washington D.C.
Right to Know Committee received funding to cover the cost of mailing a health assessment survey. The results of the survey were used by the committee, comprised of residents relocated from Passyunk Homes and former employees of the South Philadelphia naval base, to begin an environmental justice organizing campaign the following fall.
Students Against Sweatshops sent two representatives from local public educational institutions to attend the Jobs with Justice annual meeting in Cleveland in September as part of a delegation from the Philadelphia Area.
2000 Grantees
Asian Americans United received funding for outreach materials to present a progressive, anti-corporate analysis of the issues surrounding the construction of a stadium at 12th and Vine Streets to Chinese speaking residents of Chinatown. AAU wrote and distributed a weekly bilingual flyer with updates and political analysis as a way to provide popular education and unify the community, in addition to pursuing a postcard campaign to get people to send in postcards opposing the Chinatown site to the Mayor.
Big Mountain/Leonard Peltier Support Group held a “Leonard Peltier Freedom Month,” a month-long focus on Native American political prisoner Peltier to bring attention to his case and highlight the issues facing native communities everywhere. The grant was used to cover housing and transportation costs for the “Run for Leonard,” the first event of the project in which fifty Native American ceremonial runners traveled from Philadelphia to the White House. Other events included erecting ceremonial teepees behind the White House, conducting Native ceremonies each morning, holding a “Freedom Fast for Peltier” in front of the White House, cultural activities representing different indigenous nations, and educational efforts such as a reenactment of the massacre of Wounded Knee.
The Black Radical Congress (BRC) Philadelphia Local Organizing Committee received funding for the BRC National Council that took place in Philadelphia where approximately 40 representatives discussed the work of local organizing committees across the country and planned for the BRC National Organizing conference in Detroit. The meeting was an exciting opportunity for local Black activists to connect with a national network of Black radicals to engage in critical dialogue, share organizing strategies and build relationships.
Consolidated Neighbors held an action involving attaching decorative ribbons and evergreens around a chain link fence surrounding an embattled vacant lot. The action had the goals of indicating in a peaceable way that the immediate neighbors of the lot have a stake in the future development of the lot and of providing an occasion for the underorganized and underrepresented community to come together, meet, talk, and increase solidarity and mutual trust.
Custody Action for Lesbian Mothers (CALM), a clearinghouse on the issue of lesbians and custody, merged with the Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights, assuming responsibility for lesbian custody issues under the Center’s Family Rights Project.
Drivers Information Network is comprised of drivers from three area companies with the goals of bringing a new union to Atlantic Paratransit, gaining better working conditions for all drivers, and providing safer services to people with disabilities. The Network received funding for outreach materials, postage, and a phone line.
Health GAP (Global Access Project) Coalition held demonstrations nationally and internationally on World AIDS Day. The main event of the Health GAP World AIDS Day activities was a press conference and action in Washington D.C. the goal of which was to fight the U.S. government’s efforts to obstruct poor nation’s (including South Africa’s) access to life saving AIDS medication.
In Da Hood Coalition sponsored an “In Da Hood” Street Rally in North Philadelphia featuring poets, musicians, street theater performers, and speakers addressing issues including police brutality and corruption, prison brutality, racism in the legal system and class bias of the death penalty. The rally was followed by a march to the 39th Police District Headquarters culminating with a protest.
Moonstone Inc. held a series of screenings of “Global Village, Global Pillage,” a 26 minute documentary that shows ways people around the world are addressing the impact of globalization on their communities, workplaces, and environments. Discussions on the impact of corporate globalization on people’s daily lives and eyewitness accounts of Seattle demonstrations followed each screening.
Pennsylvania Campaign for Public Education organized a rally and advocacy day in Harrisburg to bring attention to the critical need for increased funding for public education in Philadelphia and other underfunded districts in the state and to educate citizens on local, state, and national education issues to promote policies that will make public education work for all children.
Pennsylvania NOW Education Fund held the Women of Color and Allies Summit at the Community College of Philadelphia. The summit allowed participants to share ideas, celebrate their commonality, and explore ways to break down barriers that keep women divided through workshops, roundtable discussions, caucuses, speeches, and artistic performances.
R2K Network provided support to activists leading up to and during the Republican National Convention, including a Media Outreach Center that was set up to provide public relations support to groups and a Mobile Communications Team that was responsible for maintaining all radio and bicycle communications among activist groups during the convention protests.
Refuse and Resist! Youth Network, Philadelphia held a free outdoor hip-hop concert to draw attention to Mumia Abu-Jamal’s case. The goals of the event included having artists and young people take a stand on Mumia’s case publicly and make connections between his case and issues like police brutality, racism, and the prison industrial complex.
Training for Change conducted trainings for activities surrounding the Republican National Convention such as non-violent civil disobedience, protesters’ legal rights, first aid, and safety.
Wages for Housework Campaign organized Women’s Wednesday Actions as part of the Republican National Convention protest. The project had the goals of raising the visibility of women in the protests and highlighting the impact on women of globalization and US policy against pay equity, welfare and farmers.