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]

2015 Social Justice Fund Grants

Total Grants (18): $34,950

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!

Campaign to Bring Mumia Home, Brooklyn, NY: $2,000 in September for “Inside the Activist Studio,” a web-based video series geared toward educating the public about social justice activism, documenting past activism, inspiring future activism, fostering a collaborative learning environment among activists, recognizing activist contributions to social justice movements, and bringing attention to the unjust imprisonment of Mumia Abu-Jamal and crises of mass incarceration and political imprisonment in the United States. bringmumiahome.com

Children create a peace mural in a small park in Sanski Most as part of the 2014 International Peace Week, organized by the Centar za izgradnju mira.

Centar za izgradnju mira (Center for Peacebuilding), Sanski Most, Bosnia and Herzegovina: $950 in June for International Peace Week Campaign, a week-long event to raise awareness of the need for peacebuilding activism in modern day Bosnia and Herzegovina, held in September 2015. unvocim.net

Center for Peacemaking Leadership, Woodbridge, VA: $2,000 in September for the Burundi Nonviolence Initiative, to establish nonviolence sanctuaries, nonviolent intergroup dialogue, nonviolence training of trainers, and related educational activities in Bujumbura, Ngozi, Bururi, and Gitega in Burundi.

Community Resource Initiative, San Francisco, CA: $2,000 in September for Families United Against the Death Penalty: engaging and supporting people who have family members on death row or incarcerated with pending capital charges to organize themselves for mutual support, educate the public about the impact of the death penalty on their families and communities, and carry out advocacy, activism, and mobilizing toward abolition of the death penalty. cr-i.org

COMPPA's training manual for popular communication.

COMPPA- Popular Communicators for Autonomy (Comunicador@s Populares por la Autonomía), Chiapas, Mexico: $2,000 in April to support the Mesoamerican Network of Community, Indigenous, and Garifuna Radios through development of a comprehensive training manual for popular communication and community radio. comppa.org

Creative Nonviolence Center, Brookings, South Dakota: $2,000 in April for the Satyagraha Institute, a training program with leaders interested in deepening their understanding, skills, commitment, and practice of nonviolent social change. satyagrahainstitute.org

International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, White Plains, NY: $2,000 in June (via WESPAC Foundation) for a release tour for the “Business of Backlash” report, exposing the funders and organizations who attack anti-occupation activists and organizers in the U.S. and building collective response strategies. ijan.org

Iraq Veterans Against the War, New York, NY: $2,000 in September for development of a speakers' bureau through regional trainings for IVAW members in dialogue facilitation, public speaking, and community building, in order to strengthen capacity within the veteran community to educate the public about the impact of U.S. militarism at home and abroad. ivaw.org

MachsomWatch/Women’s Fund for Human Rights, Jerusalem Israel: $2,000 in September (via New Israel Fund) for the Military CourtWatch project, expanding the observation and monitoring of trials of Palestinians charged with security offenses in Israel's military courts, and improving the ways in which information about these trials is shared. machsomwatch.org/en/

Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Advocates, Saint Louis, MO: $2,000 in September for Unity for the Community/Unidad por la Comunidad, an immigrant-led community group focused on opposing racial profiling and discrimination, advocating for inclusive access to housing and services, and working toward increased cooperation among diverse immigrant and non-immigrant residents. mira-mo.org

May 30, 2015: New York City activists march in East Harlem to demand freedom for Oscar López Rivera. (Photo: Heidi Boghosian)

National Boricua Human Rights Network, Bronx, NY: $2,000 in April (via El Maestro, Inc.) for outreach and publicity for a diverse coalition march and rally in New York City to free Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera, who has spent 34 years behind bars despite never harming anyone. boricuahumanrights.org

A New Dawn in the Negev, Rahat, Israel: $2,000 in June (via New Israel Fund) for an anti-violence training course for social justice activism and leadership development in the Bedouin city of Rahat, to address police violence and ethnic, social, political, and economic tensions. anewdawninthenegev.org

Participants in the NYS Youth Leadership Council's 2015 Youth Empowerment Program study a historical timeline of immigrant resistance.

New York State Youth Leadership Council, New York, NY: $2,000 in April to bring together students for peer mentoring, leadership development, community building, resource-sharing and activism around immigrant rights and the right to a higher education. nysylc.org

Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice, Olympia, WA: $2,000 in September to support the review, development, and distribution of effective materials to educate local community members, students, cross-movement allies, and others about the movement for boycott, divestment, and sanctions which is geared toward ending Israel's occupation of Palestine and winning equal rights for Palestinians. rachelcorriefoundation.org

Rise Up Georgia, Atlanta, GA: $2,000 in September for the 2015 Criminalization Leadership Development Program, developing leadership capacity and skills among members of constituent communities organizing for racial justice and against the criminalization of African-American youth. riseupga.org

Unidad Latina en Acción, New Haven, CT: $2,000 in September for the Human Rights Education and Action Project, connecting the local immigrant struggle in Connecticut with global movements for racial and economic justice through grassroots education, mobilizing, and arts and media. ulanewhaven.org

Activists with the Workers Rights Center protest wage theft at Pan y Pan Bakery in Madison in October 2015. (Photo: Leon Carlos Miranda)

Workers Rights Center, Madison, WI: $2,000 in April for the Wage Theft Monitor Training Project, developing a core group of workers as community monitors to identify wage theft and workplace abuse in Madison, in order to support vulnerable low-wage workers in understanding and enforcing their rights. wrcmadison.org

Youth Rise Texas, Austin, TX: $2,000 in April for the Youth Organizing Institute, a transformational leadership development and community organizing program designed to facilitate a space for young people impacted by a parent’s incarceration or deportation to engage in collective healing through self-empowerment. youthrisetx.org

Teens impacted by a parent’s incarceration or deportation protest the separation of families by unjust immigration policies. The action was part of the Youth Rise Texas Organizing Institute.