Peace Development Fund - April 20, 2011

Old Lyme Affordable Housing (OLAH) was established in 1993 for the purpose of providing low income first-time home buyers with the opportunity of purchasing an Old Lyme home without incurring the additional expense of purchasing the land (ownership of the land remains with OLAH). Homes are buillt (or rehabilitated) and sold to qualified families or individuals with earnings at or below 80% of the median income of the New London region. The land is leased back to the homeowner under a renewable 99 year lease, thus keeping costs low and affordable.

From its birth in 1961, Amnesty International has inspired people to raise their voices when fellow human beings were imprisoned and persecuted simply for their beliefs or identity. Today it is a worldwide movement of over 1.1 million volunteer members who mobilize their communities, put pressure on goverments, support victims of human rights violations and their familes, lobby for legal reform and raise public awareness about human rights guarantees set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California (ACLU-NC) is dedicated to preserving and protecting the freedoms enshrined in the United States Constitution. The ACLU-NC addresses the full range of civil liberties and civil rights, including: free speech; due process of law; race discrimination; reproductive health and choice; educational equity; government surveillance; LGBT equality; and religious freedom. While they work on behalf of all people, they stay particularly cognizant of those most at risk of government abuse, including people of color, immigrants, gays and lesbians, youth, prisoners, and the poor. Their programs employ a variety of strategies such as litigation, public education, community organizing, policy advocacy, and media outreach.

Vote Smart researches 40,000 public officials and candidates and issues 365 days a year. Information at the presidential, congressional, gubernatorial, state legislative, and judicial levels includes voting records, issue positions, speeches, campaign finances, special interest group ratings, biographies, ballot measures, voter registration, and CongressTrack, tracking the status of legislation. No other organization comes even close to covering the number of candidates and issues in as much depth as Vote Smart does. In fact, hundreds of sites, from major media to universities, now depend on Vote Smart for the data they provide.

San Francisco Pride at Work is an organization of queers for economic and social justice. They are the LGBTQ arm of the labor movement, actively campaigning to protect workers' rights to organize and defending queer justice in the workplace. Their group also organizes to build tenant power in San Francisco, to ward off the gentrification of queer neighborhoods, and stop the displacement of communities.

The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.

Founded in 2004, Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) is a national membership organization of over 2,000 members who have served in the 'Global War on Terror' in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Originally begun as a speakers' bureau, IVAW's work has evolved into a Field Organizing Program with an organizing model based on leadership development and grassroots organizing. Through IVAW's organizing, they seek to effectively deprive the U.S. military occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan of its workforce by withdrawing support for the wars from within the active military.

Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA) International provides financial services to the world's lowest-income entrepreneurs so they can create jobs, build assets and improve their standard of living. They target the poorest of the working poor: those who have the least access to services such as loans, savings programs, and insurance. Their clients include women, who make up 70 percent of the world's poor; individuals unable to find work in the formal sector; families displaced by war and internal conflict; the rural poor; and those affected by chronic poverty.

The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) is the largest peace lobby in Washington, DC. Founded in 1943 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), FCNL staff and volunteers work with a nationwide network of tens of thousands of people from many different races, religions, and cultures to advocate social and economic justice, peace, and good government. They seek a world free of war and the threat of war, a society with equity and justice for all, a community where every person's potential may be fulfilled, and an earth restored.

Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates's (KIWA) mission is to empower Koreatown’s low-wage immigrant workers for dignity and respect in the workplace and community, and to work together with other communities to realize a vision of a just Los Angeles that works for everyone. As one of Los Angeles’ most unequal local economies, the struggles of the Koreatown’s low-wage immigrant workers point to the core problems in our society and systems, as well as offer up potential solutions. Koreatown is an important battleground in the struggle to create a more equitable city.

Nearly two decades ago, the Ploughsares Fund was born out of the conviction that even with modest resources, people who are concerned about the ever-growing nuclear danger could play a major role in shaping public policy on issues of supreme importance to the survival and well-being of society. The Ploughshares Fund pools contributions from donors and reinvest those resources in the most practical and effective efforts to stop the spread of weapons of war in the nuclear age.

Ubuntu Education Fund's mission is to provide vulnerable children access to higher education and the world of work. However, in areas of great need like South Africa, children may be unable to attend school for a variety of reasons-a sick parent, younger siblings who need care, or an inability to pay for school fees or a uniform. Therefore, Ubuntu must provide comprehensive services to ensure academic success. The Ubuntu Model ensures that every child has the full range of support they need to be successful, happy, and stable adults. Their holistic services allow counselors to develop unique, individualized plans for each unique, individual child.

Greenpeace has been a vehement defender of the environment since our founding in 1971. As an organization they use creative, peaceful strategies to contest those that would destroy fragile ecosystems or deny the peril the face. They have also pushed tirelessly for an energy revolution that invests in renewable energy, and phases out dirty fossil fuels.

The mission of Independent Arts & Media is to expand civic dialogue by increasing access to independent voices. They support people, projects and organizations who build community through media, journalism, the arts and culture. They strengthen community expression, dialogue and access to information through grassroots incubator services.

Corporate Accountability International's purpose is to stop life-threatening abuses of transnational corporations (TNCs) and increase their accountability to people around the world. Corporate Accountability International is a membership organization that protects human rights and the environment by waging and winning campaigns that challenge irresponsible and dangerous corporate abuses around the world. Since 1977, Corporate Accountability International (formerly Infact) has succeeded in its mission through focused shareholder advocacy, policy and coalition work, building a robust membership base, far-reaching consumer actions, and national organizing. Corporate Accountability International is a movement leader that achieves big results with campaigns Challenging Big Tobacco, Corporate Control of Water and Corporate Abuse of Our Food.

Dedicated to bringing the realities of the "third world" and the richness of diverse cultures to North Americans, Our Developing World provides hands-on as well as visual and print materials and training for teachers, and programs for community groups and classes, study tours, a tri-annual newsletter - Our Developing World's voices and a lending resource library free to local teachers.

Center for Invetsigative Reporting (CIR) is working to ensure that high-quality, credible, unique journalism does not die, but flourishes. Their innovative new model relies on in-depth collaboration with other news organizations, journalists, public policy organizations and universities, and fully exploits new storytelling technologies, to provide citizens—local and global—with critical, actionable information that impacts their lives. Important to this model is their search for new revenue streams that can help sustain high-quality journalism in a digital age.

The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom is the oldest, continually active women's peace organization in the world, with sections in 37 countries. From their beginning, WILPF has recognized that peace is not simply the absence of war and that true security will only come about when the needs of all people are met and thier human rights respected. WILPF is unique in challenging the interconnected threats of a militarized society and economy, violence against women, racial injustice, food and water insecurity, environmental degradation and chemical trespass, and corporate power, through the framework of human rights.

Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) was established in 1993 when a consortia of individuals (University of Massachusetts Extension, New England Small Farm Institute, American Farmland Trust, farmers, wholesalers and retailers, community members and others) joined together to sustain agriculture in western Massachusetts. CISA has, since that time, focused on long-term farm viability and greater consumer awareness of the environmental, economic, and health benefits of local agriculture. Farmers make up one third of our Board of Directors and participate in all aspects of CISA’s programming.

Harambee House's mission is to educate, inspire, organize and build the capacity of African Americans and other communities of color in order to create and sustain safe, economically vibrant, healthy neighborhoods that promote healthy living, wellness, environmental justice and green sustainability.

Japan Pacific Resource Network's (JPRN) primary focus in on corporate responsibility and civil rights awareness within transpacific, especially U.S. and Japan, relations. Their goal is to improve socio-economic opportunities for local low-income and minority communities.

New York University was granted this money to aid the Uranium Minining Film. The purpose of this project is to travel to Navajo Nation and gather footage for a documentary on the effects of uranium mining on the Navajo people in light of a renewed interest in mining uranium on the reservation as an alternative energy source.

The mission of Proyecto Common Touch is to empower women on parole through a combination of education, assistance, training and development, and policy advocacy.

Founded in 1975, Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth is a member-led, multi-ethnic community organization with a thirty year track record of victories that have improved the lives of tens of thousands of low-income children in San Francisco. With a pioneering hybrid model of grassroots organizing and policy advocacy, their long term mission is to create a city of hope, opportunity and justice for all children. Their parent and youth members are organizing for their right to stay in this increasingly gentrified city, and for the right of poor and working class children of color to have an economically secure future in San Francisco.

For more than 35 years, Disarm has worked in the forefront of peace, social justice, and human rights movements throughout the Americas. Through strategic partnerships, grassroots advocacy, direct relief, and humanitarian aid, Disarm's programs promote a foreign policy based on human rights and human needs.

Their grantmaking program focuses on strengthening women's rights groups around the world. Their grantees address a wide variety of issues critical to women. Some of these are women's political participation and leadership, poverty and economic opportunity, women's rights in religious traditions, reproductive health and choice, lesbian rights, disabled women's rights, violence against women, and access to communication technology and to the media.

Through lifesaving, emergency response measures, long-term community development, and advocacy for government policies supportive of sustainable development Oxfam America has worked to alleviate global poverty and hunger.

The Southern Poverty Law Center is a nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of society. Founded by civil rights lawyers Morris Dees and Joseph Levin Jr. in 1971, the SPLC is internationally known for tracking and exposing the activities of hate groups. Their innovative Teaching Tolerance program produces and distributes free of charge documentary films, books, lesson plans and other materials that promote tolerance and respect in our nation’s schools.

The Living Wage Coalition is a grassroots movement of low-wage workers and their allies fighting for economic justice. They have been fighting since 1998 to change political priorities so that government does not subsidize poverty wage employers. They are engaged in a transformative rethinking of the economy that makes the goals of economic development a more prosperous, healthier, and livable community.

Unity Foundation was founded in 1976 for the purpose of promoting world peace, cooperation and unity. The foundation accomplishes its non-profit purpose through the presentation of special cultural and education events, creative arts, media campaigns, and the use of interactive communications technologies.

The Berkeley High School Development Group (BHSDG) is an independent nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation that was founded in 1991 by a group of parent volunteers to ensure the quality and excellence of Berkeley High School as the primary fundraising organization for the school. Their mission is to support and strengthen the educational experience of all BHS students by raising and distributing funds to enhance academic and other projects.

Movement Strategy Center is a movement building intermediary that engages youth and adults across issues and regions - through a collective visioning and mapping process that encourages collaboration and joint strategizing in order to develop stronger, more effective movements for democracy, equity, and social change.

Ignite trains young women to run for office. They deliver a semester-long curriculum in public high schools, non-profits, and colleges that provides exposure to local political role models, policy experience, civic education, and leadership opportunities.

The community-based Insight Garden Program (IGP) at San Quentin prison was launched in 2002 with the mission of providing prisoners vocational and life skills through the process of organic gardening so they can practice constructive relationships between themselves, their communities and the natural environment and become productive members of society when they leave prison. In 2003, and in close collaboration with the prison administration and staff, program staff and inmates built an organic flower garden on the prison’s medium security prison yard that serves more than 1,000 prisoners. IGP also is also planning to create a continuum of care for the formerly incarcerated to help them find green jobs (including opportunities in landscaping, gardening and sustainable agriculture) when they reenter society. This effort is based on the premise that everyone should be part of the green economy including former prisoners who face greater employment challenges upon reentry than any other population.

The mission of Minding The Arts is to create and support arts based educational programs both within and outside of The United States of America, embarking with The Integrity School, a pre-primary school.

Out4Immigration addresses the widespread discriminatory impact of U.S. immigration laws on the lives of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and HIV+ people and their families through education, outreach, advocacy and the maintenance of a resource and support network.

The Prison Birth Project is an organization focused on reproductive justice, working to provide education, support and resources about pregnancy, birth and mothering to incarcerated women. Their goal is to provide the tools to help make empowering birth choices and provide continuous care throughout the pregnancy, birth, and postpartum process. Their ultimate goal is abolition of the prison industrial complex and the mobilization of an intersectional movement for reproductive justice for all people.

Safe Kids Now!'s mission is o prevent crime and violence at the local level and to keep children safe by building neighborhood support networks and strengthening families.

afghans for Afghans is a humanitarian and educational people-to-people project that sends hand-knit and crochet blankets and sweaters, vests, hats, mittens, and socks to the beleaguered people of Afghanistan. To encourage cross-cultural appreciation, they document traditional Afghan knitting designs and create new knitting patterns based on Afghanistan's rich cultural heritage. They hope to develop micro enterprise to leverage our reputation and help the Afghans earn income, within the difficult circumstances of war and security.

BAY-Peace empowers Bay Area youth to resist aggressive military recruiting and war. They focus on fighting back against aggressive military recruiting in our schools-- especially the Oakland public schools where low-income youth of color are specifically targeted. They reach out to youth throughout the entire Bay Area to organize for better alternatives.

The Cambodian Water Project (CWP)'s goals, as it began, was to create clean sources of water as well as adequate sanitation facilities to prevent the contamination of new water supplies, focusing its efforts on the small villages of Omani, Onk, Pursat, Kaodak, Prey Totand, and Troh Pan Chann. Local villagers carry out much of the work using locally available technology and all donations have gone directly to supporting these efforts. With time, CWP has also begun to broaden the types of projects in each village to reach beyond water and sanitation. New projects and focuses have been proposed by the villagers and endorsed by the project’s Board. These have included projects relating to education, irrigation and food production and economic development. By working to improve the basic infrastructure of villages in Cambodia, CWP of Massachusetts is moving forward a movement for peace and social justice.

The Heart and Hand Fund supports feminist women activists in the Balkans. The groups that H&H funds are self defined as feminist and most of them morphed out of the peace movement in the Balkans in the early '90's. They tend to fund groups that inclusive and working with women from all the varied ethnic groups in their region.

Helping American Veterans Endure, H.A.V.E. works with the VA to prevent veteran suicides due to PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, by facilitating workshop programs in Music, Creative Writing, Humor, and Art. It is the goal of H.A.V.E. to dramatically reduce the number of veteran suicides due to PTSD and depression.