A.J. MUSTE MEMORIAL INSTITUTE
Supporting Nonviolence and Social Justice Since 1974.
339 Lafayette Street, New York, New York 10012 (212) 533-4335 Fax: (212) 228-6193 [email protected]

2011 Social Justice Fund Grants

Total Grants (5): $6,000

The Muste Institute’s Social Justice Fund makes grants for grassroots activist projects in the U.S. and around the world. If supporting nonviolent action for social justice is important to you, please donate now to help us expand this important program. Thank you!

A Community Voice (ACV), New Orleans, LA: $1,050 in September 2011 to organize and mobilize the underemployed and unemployed within Louisiana through community labor partnerships. ACV has held leadership trainings, created a hiring hall matching unemployed people to employment options, held community meetings and actions that led to new jobs for local residents, and engaged with local churches to support union organizing campaigns. acommunityvoice.com

Young people take part in a training organized by COPA at Youth Works High School. (Photo: Ann Yellott.)

Culture of Peace Alliance (COPA), Tucson, AZ: $1,050 in September 2011 for a series of nonviolence trainings teaching the history and strategies used by Martin Luther King during the civil rights movement. COPA organized trainings throughout the region, helped create a “Peace Warriors” after-school program at a local high school, and hosted an Art & Peace Activity Center for kids at the Annual Tucson Peace Fair. cultureofpeacealliance.org

EPOCA member Michael Rose testifies at a public hearing in Boston in April 2012 about new regulations that bar Massachusetts employers from discriminating against people with criminal records. (Photo: Delia Vega.)

Ex-prisoners and Prisoners Organizing for Community Advancement (EPOCA), Worcester, MA: $1,800 in September 2011 for a leadership development internship, part of the “Re-Routing the Prison Pipeline” campaign. Last year EPOCA helped win a state law barring employers from asking job applicants about their criminal history. Now the group uses a “Ban the Box Hotline” and outreach posters to ensure that the law is respected. exprisoners.org

Los Alamos Study Group (LASG), Albuquerque, NM: $1,050 in September 2011 for an internship program to mobilize public support for redirecting federal funding from nuclear weapons toward a sustainable future for New Mexico. By distributing well-researched informational materials and organizing community meetings and actions, LASG recently won a victory: the federal government postponed plans to build a plutonium manufacturing complex — a flagship nuclear warhead project — at Los Alamos. lasg.org

Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice (WNPJ), Madison, WI: $1,050 in September 2011 for “Bring the War $$ Home,” educating and mobilizing Wisconsin residents to press for redirecting military spending toward social needs. WNPJ develops key resources for the campaign, supports communities in presenting local “war $$ home” resolutions, and shares a digital “cost of war” counter for high-profile public displays. wnpj.org