9to5 Working Women Education Fund (9to5)

Grant Amount: $40,000
Contact: Linda Meric, National Director

207 E. Buffalo Street, #211
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Telephone: (414) 274-0925
Fax: (414) 272-2870
E-mail: 9to5@9to5.org
Web address: www.9to5.org

9to5 is a national multi-racial grassroots organization that combines organizing, public education, research, training, and policy advocacy in an effort to end economic and other types of discrimination against women in the workforce. Active since 1973, 9to5 focuses on four main areas: work/family issues, including family and sick leave, and good jobs; nonstandard work such as temporary and part-time work; welfare, wages and income supports; and anti-discrimination including equal pay, efforts against sexual harrassment and combating the downsizing of the EEOC. 9to5 has staffed offices in Milwaukee, Atlanta, Denver and San Jose, and activist networks in 200 cities in all 50 states.


Alliance For Justice (AFJ)

Grant Amount: $40,000
Contact: Doug Lakey

519 17th Street, Suite 560
Oakland, CA 94612-1527
Telephone: (510) 444-1527
E-mail: alliance@afj.org
Web address: www.afj.org

AFJ was formed in 1981 and is a leader in promoting nonprofit participation in public policy. Many nonprofits with a social justice mission shy away from lobbying on policy matters due of a lack of un-derstanding of the exact nature of the restrictions. AFJ believes that these groups will become more ac-tive in the public policy arena when they are confident that they are acting within the confines of the law. In 2004, AFJ opened an office on the West Coast to provide nonprofit organizations and founda-tions in California with information on both the state and the federal laws and regulations governing advocacy and lobbying activities.


Center for Civic Policy (CCP)

Grant Amount: $50,000
Contact: Eil Il Yong Lee

P.O. Box 27616
Albuquerque, NM 87125
Telephone: (505) 842-5539
E-mail: Eliilyonglee@gmail.com
Web address: www.civicpolicy.com

The Center for Civic Policy in New Mexico provides technical support to its five partner organizations among which are community organizing and advocacy groups. CCP's technical assistance includes commu-nications strategy and implementation, support for public policy advocacy, leadership and non-partisan can-didate development and non-partisan voter engagement techniques.


Center for Community Change (CCC)
The Community Voting Project

Grant Amount: $50,000
Contact: Deepak Bhargava, Executive Director

1536 U Street NW
Washington, DC 20007
Telephone: (202) 339-9300
Fax: (202) 360-5686
E-mail: info@communitychange.org
Web address: www.communitychange.org

The Community Voting Project (CVP) of the CCC gives community-based groups the tools and skills to do voter engagement work with low-income voters. In 2004, the CVP provided technical assistance to commu-nity organizing groups across the country for ramping up their voter engagement work. A detailed evalua-tion of this project was completed and provides important lessons for the ongoing work of the CVP and for the field of voter engagement. In 2006, CVP worked with a smaller number of groups in a more comprehen-sive manner to help them fully integrate their voter and issue-based organizing work. CCC was founded in 1968 and is the most prominent anti-poverty organization in the nation that devotes itself to enhancing the power of low income Americans. It is known for its historic role in building the national and grassroots coa-litions that led to the creation of the food stamps program, the Community Reinvestment Act and the large-scale preservation of low-income housing around the country.


Center for Third World Organizing (CTWO)

Grant Amount: $50,000
Contact: Danielle Mahones, Executive Director

1218 East 21st Street
Oakland, CA 94606
Telephone: (510) 533-7583
Fax: (510) 533-0923
E-mail: ctwo@ctwo.org
Web address: www.ctwo.org

Founded in 1980, CTWO is a racial justice organization dedicated to building a social justice movement led by people of color. CTWO promotes and sustains community organizing in communities of color by train-ing new organizers, further developing the abilities of more skilled organizers and offering strategic cam-paign development and analysis. It creates and strengthens community organizations through on-the-ground organizing projects, training, and publication programs. Among CTWO's many programs are the Minority Activist Apprenticeship Program, which trains people of color as organizers, and Community Action Train-ing, a program for new community organizers conducted in collaboration with local organizations.


Center on Policy Initiatives (CPI)

Grant Amount: $50,000
Contact: Donald Cohen, President

3727 Camino del Rio South, Suite 100
San Diego, CA 92108
Telephone: (619) 584-5744
Fax: (619) 584-5748
E-mail: centerpolicy@onlinecpi.org
Web address: www.onlinecpi.org

The focus of CPI's work is to raise the standard of living for San Diego's working poor. Its primary strate-gies include economic research and analysis, and policy development. It engages in coalition building and advocacy as well as limited grassroots organizing. Its research topics include economic equity, the growth of the working poor, and the development of a state and municipal level infrastructure by the right wing. CPI was at the forefront of the successful living wage campaign in San Diego and helped negotiate a com-munity benefits agreement with the stadium developer. It is building a progressive alliance among commu-nity organizations, labor unions, faith-based organizations and student groups in the region.


Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE)

Grant Amount: $40,000
Contact: Marcos Vargas, Executive Director

2021 Sperry Avenue, Suite 18
Ventura, CA 93003
Telephone: (805) 658-0810 ext. 201
Fax: (805) 658-0820
E-mail: marcos@livablewage.org
Web address: www.coastalalliance.com

CAUSE is a community planning and public policy research center serving the central coastal region of California. Its mission is to promote economic and social justice for working families through policy advo-cacy, research, organizing, leadership development and community building. CAUSE was founded in 2001 and has five key program areas: living wage and accountable economic development, health coverage ex-pansion, women's economic justice, redistricting and fair representation, and community building. CAUSE emphasizes coalition building as a sustainable approach to changing public policy. Recent accomplishments include the passage of five local living wage ordinances in the region and the opening of Centro Mujer, a women's organizing center in May 2006.


Communities for a Better Environment (CBE)

Grant Amount: $40,000
Contact: Bill Gallegos, Executive Director

5610 Pacific Boulevard, Suite 203
Huntington Park, CA 90255
Telephone: (323) 826-9771
Fax: (323) 588-7079
E-mail: billgallegos@cbecal.org
Web address: www.cbecal.org

CBE works for environmental health and justice for residents of heavily polluted urban communities. The group provides community members with organizing skills, leadership training, and legal, scientific, and technical assistance so that they can successfully confront threats to their health from toxic pollution. CBE sees environmental health as a civil rights and social justice issue because polluting facilities are dispropor-tionately located in or near minority and low-income communities. CBE was created in 1978 and has offices in both Southern and Northern California. In 2005 CBE was instrumental in the adoption of regulations strictly limiting the burning off of toxic chemicals from oil refineries in Richmond, California. In 2006 these regulations were strengthened as a result of continued community organizing work.


DataCenter

Grant Amount: $50,200
Contact: Miho Kim

1904 Franklin Street, Suite 900
Oakland, CA 94612-2912
Telephone: (510) 835-4692
Fax: (510) 835-3017
E-mail: datacenter@datacenter.org
Web address: www.datacenter.org

The DataCenter is a national nonprofit public access research group that has provided social justice activists and organizations with research information and assistance since 1977. The DataCenter helps groups that do not have the ability to perform in-house research by teaching them research skills and including community members in a participatory research process. This ensures that the groups' campaigns are based on solid information and have the data necessary to persuade the public and public officials. Moreover, the DataCenter provides analytical skills to integrate research into campaign strategy from the outset and enables grassroots groups to own the research process. This helps organizations bridge the gap between wanting to create change and actually having the power to do so. Recently, the DataCenter helped FACT grantee Communities for a Better Environment with corporate research, analy-sis and expert testimony in a successful campaign for limits on refinery flaring in Richmond, CA.


East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE)

Grant Amount: $50,000
Contact: Amaha Kassa, Director

1714 Franklin Street, Suite 325
Oakland, CA 94612
Telephone: (510) 893-7106
Fax: (510) 893-7010
E-mail: info@workingeastbay.org
Web address: www.workingeastbay.org

EBASE brings together community, labor and faith-based groups to work for greater economic and social justice for low-wage workers in the San Francisco area's East Bay region. It emerged from the labor/community collaboration that won the Oakland living wage ordinance in 1998. EBASE combines organizing, research, policy analysis and advocacy, and coalition-building in its efforts to end low-wage poverty and secure economic equity for those living and working in East Bay communities. EBASE also is the driving force behind the East Bay Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, which is building partnerships between labor and religious groups, and promoting leadership development among low-wage workers through its Worker Education and Leadership Development program. Among the group's successes have been winning living wage ordinances in the cities of Hayward, Oakland and Berkeley, and at the Port of Oakland. EBASE was also instrumental in creating a program to monitor the implementation of the city of Oakland's living wage ordinance.


Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (EBC)

Grant Amount: $25,000
Contact: Jakada Imani

344 40th Street
Oakland, CA 94609
Telephone: (510) 428-3939
E-mail: jakada@ellabakercenter.org
Web address: www.ellabakercenter.org

The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (EBC) is a strategy and action center working for justice, opportu-nity and peace in urban America. Its Campaign for Green-Collar Jobs aims to create a model green and sus-tainable jobs program for marginalized and low-income youth by bringing together city agencies, non-profits, foundations and private builders in Oakland, CA.


Environmental Health Coalition (EHC)

Grant Amount: $100,000
Contact: Diane Takvorian, Executive Director

401 Mile of Cars Way, Suite 310
National City, CA 91950-6608
Telephone: (619) 474-0220
Fax: (619) 474-1210
E-mail: ehc@environmentalhealth.org
Web address: www.environmentalhealth.org

EHC is a base building group founded in 1980 that organizes in communities in San Diego, CA and Tijuana, Mexico. EHC works with a range of constituencies, including low-income people of color and middle class white communities, all trying to protect themselves from exposure to toxic substances in their neighborhoods. EHC members learn leadership skills and gain political education that enable them to become actively engaged citizens working on the public policies that impact their lives. The group is a leader in the use of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) mapping to demonstrate the impact of multiple toxic pollutants on communities. EHC is an advocate of the Precautionary Principle and is involved in toxics reduction efforts at the national level. Locally, EHC is working with other groups on a comprehensive regional economic development strategy.


Florida Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN)

Grant Amount: $40,000
Contact: Jennifer Lawson, Statewide Organizing Director

1380 W. Flagler Street
Miami, FL 33135
Telephone: (305) 612-3005 ext. 11
Fax: (305) 644-6091
E-mail: flacorn@acorn.org
Web Address: www.acorn.org

Florida ACORN is a member of the national grassroots ACORN network. It is a membership-based organi-zation with chapters across the state that builds power for low-income people of color through organizing and advocacy. It works on issues ranging from discrimination, education, housing, and immigrant rights to jobs, predatory lending, and safe streets. ACORN's activism model is based on local membership and lead-ership from neighborhood chapters.


Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC)

Grant Amount: $30,000
Contact: Maria Rodriquez, Director

3000 Biscayne Blvd. #400
Miami, FL 33137
Telephone: (305) 573-1106
Fax: (305) 576-6273
E-mail: mrodriguez@fiacfla.org
Web Address: www.fiacfla.org

Originally started in 1998 by advocates of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center in Miami, FLIC was incorporated in 2004 into a grassroots, membership-based coalition with a commitment to de-veloping statewide capacity. It has since become an active, agile and respected progressive force bringing together more than 60 immigrant-led organizations and their allies in Florida. In 2006 FLIC successfully convinced Florida legislators, including the two Senators, to support a compre-hensive approach to immigration reform and injected Florida into the national immigration rights movement.


Funders Network on Trade and Globalization (FNTG)

Grant Amount: $20,000
Contact: Mark Randazzo, Executive Director

3401 Folsom Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
Telephone: (415) 642-6022
E-mail: mark@fntg.org
Web address: www.fntg.org

Established in 2000, FNTG is a network of funders that incorporates a global analysis into their grantmaking strategies. The primary purpose of the network is to facilitate an understanding among funders of the im-pacts of trade and macroeconomic policy on the issues the foundations seek to address. To this end, FNTG hosts educational briefings, conference calls and dialogs, and arranges funder delegations to related events such as WTO and FTAA ministerial meetings and World Social Fora. Through information provided by FNTG and dialog among its members, grantmakers are able to consider strategic funding opportunities that influence the public policies on international trade and globalization that ultimately affect their other issues and priorities. . In 2007, FNTG led a delegation of funders to the World Social Forum in Kenya and to the first US Social Forum in Atlanta.


Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ)

Grant Amount: $50,000
Contact: Kim Bobo, Executive Director

1020 West Bryn Mawr, 4th Floor
Chicago, IL 60660
Telephone: (773) 728-8400
Fax: (773) 728-8409
E-mail: info@nicwj.org
Web address: www.nicwj.org

IWJ was founded in 1996 to educate and organize the religious community about issues and campaigns to improve wages, benefits and working conditions for workers - especially those in low-wage jobs. Since its founding, the organization has become the leading national organization engaging the religious community on issues of workplace justice. It has helped thousands of workers secure contracts that raise wages and im-proved benefits and working conditions, and has helped secure several million dollars in back wages through its 14 workers' centers. Among the efforts supported by IWJ-affiliated labor-interfaith groups are living wage campaigns, the Poultry Justice Campaign, and Labor in the Pulpits, which brings labor representatives to churches on Labor Day weekend to speak on employment issues.


Jobs with Justice (JwJ)

Grant Amount: $50,000
Contact: Sarita Gupta, Executive Director

1325 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20005
Telephone: (202) 393-1044
Fax: (202) 393-7408
E-mail: info@jwj.org
Web address: www.jwj.org

JwJ is a national campaign for economic justice, consisting of more than 40 local coalitions made up of labor, community, faith-based and student organizations. Formed in 1987, JwJ coordinates technical as-sistance for its local coalitions in cities throughout the U.S, helping them to develop their capacity and infrastructure. JwJ assists local coalitions to develop and carry out campaigns focusing on workplace justice issues such as living wages, and social justice issues, such as immigrant rights. In addition, JwJ works closely with community, labor, policy and other groups on efforts to promote alternatives to cor-porate-led globalization. One recent campaign resulted in a living wage for workers at Georgetown Uni-versity and Washington University.


Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC)

Grant Amount: $120,000
Contact: Burt Lauderdale, Executive Director

P.O. Box 1450
London, KY 40743
Telephone: (606) 878-2161
Fax: (606) 878-5714
E-mail: blauderdale@earthlink.net
Web address: www.kftc.org

KFTC is a chapter-based, multi-racial, low- and moderate-income citizens' organization committed to long-term social, political, environmental, and economic justice. Founded in 1981 by a group of 40 Kentucky residents, it now has over 3,600 members from 90 of Kentucky's 120 counties. Through direct-action com-munity organizing, it targets corporate and governmental institutions that perpetuate unjust social systems and the degradation of health and the environment in Kentucky. KFTC's victories include gaining a two-year extension of welfare benefits for recipients pursuing additional education prior to transitioning into the workforce, and halting the devastating mining practice of mountain-top removal on the state's highest moun-tain. It also recently helped increasing the state income tax threshold which took over 500,000 low-income individuals off of the tax rolls.


Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE)

Grant Amount: $100,000
Contact: Madeline Janis, Executive Director

464 Lucas Avenue, #202
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Telephone: (213) 977-9400
E-mail: info@laane.org
Web address: www.laane.org

LAANE was founded in 1993 to help end working poverty and improve the quality of life for working people in the Los Angeles area. It began by organizing a broad-based coalition to work for a living wage law in Los Angeles. It pioneered a strategy to negotiate legally binding community benefits agreements (CBAs) in which a developer commits to a set of benefits desired by the community (including affordable housing, local hiring and environmental mitigation) in exchange for public subsidies and community support. LAANE also provides technical assistance regarding accountable development to residents and community groups across the country. Since implementing the strategy, 11 CBAs have been approved and the City of Los Angeles now negotiates community benefits standards with developers as a matter of course.


Miami Workers Center (MWC)

Grant Amount: $40,000
Contact: Randy Jackson, Development Director

6127 NW 7th Avenue
Miami, FL 33127
Telephone: (305) 759-8717
Fax: (305) 759-8718
E-mail: info@theworkerscenter.org
Web address: www.miamiworkerscenter.org

MWC was founded in 1999 to empower low income workers and communities of color to advocate for better public policies on their own behalf. MWC's goal is to serve as an umbrella organization to provide organizing skills, political education, technical assistance and campaign strategy development to its constituent groups. These groups, made up of local residents from all racial backgrounds, will have a shared analysis and theory of change as a result of MWC's leadership development and political educa-tion programs, and will take action locally in their neighborhoods. MWC's work with multi-racial constituencies is particularly important because racial and ethnic tensions are a powerful and divisive force in Florida.


Mujeres Unidas y Activas (MUA)

Grant Amount: $30,000
Contact: Andrea Lee, Co-Director

3543 18th Street, #23
San Francisco, CA 94110
Telephone: (415) 621-8140
E-mail: andrea@mujeresunidas.net
Web address: www.mujeresunidas.net

MUA is an organization with a dual mission of personal transformation and building community power among Latina immigrants. Through group support and political education, MUA members are able to make links between their own personal issues and the broader social, economic and political systems. Through trainings on job skills and workers rights, MUA creates the conditions that enable its members to leave behind domestic violence and find work situations that will support them and their children. MUA's leadership and economic development trainings have graduated 375 women. Established in 1989 as a project of another organization, MUA obtained its 501(c)(3) status in December 2005. MUA recently launched a statewide household workers coalition working to pass legislation in the state of California to ensure overtime pay and protections for in-home childcare workers. The legislation passed the state Assembly and Senate but was vetoed by the governor.


New Mexico Environmental Law Center (NMELC)

Grant Amount: $40,000
Contact: Doug Meikeljohn, Executive Director

1405 Luisa Street, Suite 5
Santa Fe, NM 87505
Telephone: (505) 989-9022
E-mail: dmeikeljohn@nmelc.org
Web address: www.nmenvirolaw.org

NMELC is a nonprofit law firm dedicated to working with grassroots organizations that represent low-income communities on environmental justice issues in the state. It was formed in 1987 and works with organizations and grassroots groups that are fighting environmental injustice. NMELC also fights gov-ernmental decisions that allow pollution, destruction of environmental and cultural resources and nega-tive impacts human health. Recent victories have resulted in stringent water and air pollution require-ments at a chemical plant, the cancellation of open burning permits at the Los Alamos national laboratory, a ban on uranium mining and processing in Navajo Indian country, and the return of sacred lands to the Picuris Pueblo.


Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC)

Grant Amount: $30,000
Contact: Janet Keating, Co-Director

P.O. Box 6753
Huntingon, WV 25773-6753
Telephone: (304) 522-0246
E-mail: ohvec@ohvec.org
Web address: www.ohvec.org

The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) works to ensure environmental justice in the coalfield communities of Appalachia. Active since 1987, OVEC has recently focused media widespread attention on mountaintop removal mining. OVEC has partnered with 13 groups in a regional alliance to devise a broad collaborative strategy to end mountaintop removal mining. The strategy includes base building, raising pub-lic awareness through the media, state and national campaigns, and promoting economic alternatives for a just transition away from a coal-based economy.


Partnership for Working Families (PWF)

Grant Amount: $50,000
Contact: Leslie Moody, Executive Director

140 Sheridan Blvd.
Denver, CO 80226
Telephone: (303) 477-6111
E-mail: lmoody@communitybenefits.org
Web address: www.californiapartnership.org

The PWF is an organization formed in 2002 by the alliance of the Center on Policy Initiatives (CPI), the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy and Work-ing Partnerships, USA. These four organizations - anchored in the major population centers of California - joined together to build an economic justice movement that calls on developers who receive taxpayer dollars in the form of public subsidies to provide measurable community benefits as defined by local residents in exchange for the subsidy. The group works with community-based organizations, labor un-ions, city councils, and the developers to come up with plans that will positively affect the local commu-nity where a development is proposed. PWF has recently expanded to provide technical assistance to groups with similar goals all over the country.


Progressive Technology Project (PTP)

Grant Amount: $50,000
Contact: Mark Sherman, Executive Director

2801 21st Avenue #132E
Minneapolis, MN 55407
Telephone: (612) 724-2600
Fax: (612) 395-9153
E-mail: info@progressivetech.org
Web Address: www.progressivetech.org

PTP is a collaboration of grassroots organizers, technology specialists, and funders seeking to build stronger grassroots organizations by helping them explore and implement the most effective information technologies, and then share their experiences so that the entire field benefits from the results. PTP also makes grants and provides capacity-building technical assistance to community-based groups. Since its creation in 1998, PTP has made over $1,000,000 in technology-related grants to community organizing groups and developed a multi-tiered technology training program for organizers.


Public Health Institute - Blue Green Alliance (PHI)

Grant Amount: $25,000
Contact: Les Leopold, Director

31 West 15th Street, Suite 601
New York, NY 10011
Telephone: (917) 606 0511 Fax: (212) 353-1203
Email: lesleopold@aol.com
Web Address: www.greenlabor.org

The Public Health Institute (PHI) is a nonprofit organization that focuses on education and strategy development to build alliances for social and economic justice. PHI believes that environmental, community and public health organizations want to work with labor, but need opportunities and guidance in forging those relationships. Because the labor movement can be difficult to navigate from the outside, PHI offers paths of entry and contacts. PHI originated and popularized the Just Transition concept that calls for a fair and equitable transition for workers and communities suffering dislocation as a result of environmental regulation. Project support for PHI will go to support and integrate chemical security and chemicals pol-icy issues into a broader, unified blue green alliance anchored by the United Steelworkers and the Sierra Club, and includ-ing a variety of other environmental health groups.


Research Institute for Social & Economic Policy (RISEP)

Grant Amount: $20,000
Contact: Bruce Nissen, Director

c/o Center for Labor Research & Studies
Florida International University
Miami, FL 33199
Telephone: (305) 348-2616
Fax: (305) 348-2241
E-mail: Bruce.Nissen@fiu.edu
Web Address: www.risep-fiu.org

RISEP conducts empirical research that examines issues important to Florida's low- and moderate-income workers and their families. RISEP's data helps substantiate calls for policy and legislative change. RISEP formally started in 2004 and is the Florida affiliate of the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN). It is located within Florida international University's Center for Labor Research and Studies. RISEP has successfully completed and released a series of reports analyzing how Miami-Dade County can maximize community benefits in the upcoming renovation of the Orange Bowl and the expansion of the Jackson South Hospital. Recommendations include hiring local contractors to do the work, providing health insurance to all workers on the project, using minority and small contractors as much as possible, and using a "best value" rather than a "lowest bid" method of procurement on the project. These reports were commis-sioned by South Florida Jobs with Justice, another FACT grantee.


Save Our Cumberland Mountains (SOCM)

Grant Amount: $40,000
Contact: Maureen O’Connell, Director

P.O. Box 479
Lake City, Tennessee 37769
Telephone: (865) 426-9455
Fax: (865) 426-9289
E-mail: maureen@socm.org
Web Address: www.socm.org

SOCM is a member-driven, multi-issue community organization based primarily in rural Tennessee communities and small towns that was started in 1972. SOCM's overall mission is to work for economic, environmental, and social justice by developing multi-racial, grassroots, democratic community organizations to tackle critical issues at the local and state levels. It provides leadership in coalitions at the state, re-gional, and national levels to advance the movement for justice in the South and in the nation. Recent victories have won new water quality policies to stop mining in the most toxic coal seam in the state, limited expansion of mining on a mountaintop removal site and have advanced the issue of restoring voting rights to ex-felons. It is democratically run by its 2,500 members and emphasizes the growth and leadership devel-opment of members as much as winning issues.


Southern Echo

Grant Amount: $100,000
Contact: Leroy Johnson, Executive Director

P.O. Box 9306
Jackson, MS 39286
Telephone: (601) 982-6400
Fax: (601) 982-2636
E-mail: souecho@bellsouth.net
Web Address: www.southernecho.org

Southern Echo is a statewide, grassroots, leadership development, education, and training organization working to develop new grassroots leaders and organizers in African American communities in Mississippi and the surrounding region. It was created in 1990. Through a comprehensive training and technical assistance program Echo builds the capacity of African Americans to hold decision-makers accountable. Among the group's accomplishments is winning the passage of the Mississippi Adequate Education Funding Program, which provides $650 million over five years to improve education facilities and equalize education spending per pupil statewide. Echo has conducted dozens of workshops to educate parents, students, educators and public officials about how education funding in Mississippi is designed. This has led to a more informed public that can hold the state officials accountable for their actions. During 2005, informed community members prevented the governor's attempt to cut education funding by $111 million.


South Florida Jobs with Justice (SFL JwJ)

Grant Amount: $40,000
Contact: Alyce Gowdy Wright

1671 NW 17th Avenue
Miami, FL 33125
Telephone: (305) 324-1107
Fax: (323) 789-7939

SFL JwJ provides community organizing support to working poor people of color and immigrants and it is a coalition of labor, community, small business and student activists working towards a sustainable economy in the South Florida region. SFL JwJ emerged in 2002. It engages in local policy fights, commissions relevant research, organizes community members for direct action, provides popular education and fosters grassroots democracy. It is one of the few groups working to build solidarity between African Americans and immigrants in the region and is helping to convene and anchor a community benefits coalition which is fighting for residential control on local hiring on subsidized construction projects.


SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP)

Grant Amount: $50,000
Contact: Robby Rodriquez, Director

211 10th Street, SW
Albuquerque, NM 87102
Telephone: (505) 247-8832
Fax: (505) 247-9972
E-mail: swop@swop.net
Web address: www.swop.net

SWOP is a multi-racial, multi-issue, statewide, grassroots organization established in 1981. SWOP seeks to empower the disenfranchised in New Mexico to realize racial and gender equality and social and economic justice. SWOP focuses on increasing citizen participation and building leadership skills in low-income communities (composed predominantly of people of color), so residents can participate in decision-making on issues affecting their lives, including environmental, community, and worker protection. As a member of a local coalition during the 2005 election cycle, SWOP helped to ensure the passage of a clean elections bill for the state of New Mexico. This ordinance provides public financing for candidates and will make it possible for low-income people of color to run in municipal elections in Albuquerque. Similar laws have passed in Arizona, Massachusetts and Maine. As a member of a coalition, SWOP recently helped ensure the passage of a municipal living wage ordinance in Albuquerque. With their allies, they continue to work toward increasing the minimum wage in the state.


Strategic Concepts in Organizing & Policy Education (SCOPE)

Grant Amount: $100,000
Contact: Ericka M. Smith, Executive Director

1715 West Florence Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90047
Telephone: (323) 789-7920
Fax: (323) 789-7939
Web Address: www.scopela.org

SCOPE seeks to reduce and eliminate structural barriers to social and economic opportunities for poor and disadvantaged communities. Since its founding in 1992, SCOPE has built models of civic participation for disadvantaged communities, worked to develop strategic alliances between diverse communities, equipped poor communities with strategic research and analysis to understand the issues, and provided training to build collaboration at the local, regional, state, national and international levels. SCOPE fulfills its mission through interlocking divisions that include: Action for Grassroots Empowerment and Neighborhood Development Alternatives (AGENDA) which organizes in south Los Angeles communi-ties, the LA Metropolitan Alliance which includes community-based groups and organizes in inner city communities (such as South Los Angeles, East Los Angeles, and Pico Union/Koreatown) and working class suburban communities (such as West Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley), Community Institute for Policy Heuristics Education and Research (CIPHER) which provides research for SCOPE campaigns, and The Environmental and Economic Justice Project (EEJP) which offers technical assistance and trainings both within SCOPE and to allied organizations. The President's Initiatives focus on voter engagement and tax and fiscal policy reform. In 2005, SCOPE's model of organizing low-income communities increased civic participation in those neighborhoods and resulted in over 70,000 contacts with prospective voters.


Strategic Press Information Network (SPIN) Project

Grant Amount: $50,000
Contact: Heath Wickline, Director

c/o Communications Leadership Institute
149 Natoma Street, 3rd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
Telephone: (415) 227-4200
Fax: (415) 495-4206
E-mail: info@spinproject.org
Web address: www.spinproject.org

The SPIN Project is a national media training and organizing project created in 1997 to provide technical assistance so that community groups can increase their capacity to conduct effective media and public relations work. Through on-site, interactive trainings, customized strategic media planning sessions, and the "SPIN Academy," which focuses on advanced media training, the Project unites the critical aspect of media strategy with grassroots organizing strategies. SPIN also produces resource materials, including "SPIN Works! The Nuts and Bolts of Good PR" and training videos, as well as customized organizational consultations on strategic communications plans.


Tax & Fiscal Policy Workgroup (TFP)

Grant Amount: $50,000
Contact: Juliet Ellis, Executive Director

c/o Urban Habitat
436 14th Street, Suite 1205
Oakland, CA 94612
Telephone: (510) 839-9512
E-mail: info@urbanhabitat.org

The tax and fiscal hub of the California Alliance is composed of grassroots organizations determined to improve the economic well-being and political capabilities of low income constituencies through a pragmatic tax reform agenda. The primary organizations of the working group include California ACORN, AGENDA, Urban Habitat and Working Partnerships USA. The coalition was formed in 2004. The workgroup has recently published an historical analysis of tax and fiscal policy in California which analyzes the evolution of the state's current tax and fiscal policies. The group has also completed a statewide mapping of the dominant worldview and values of both base and swing communities as the first step in developing a long-range plan to develop strategic initiatives for tax and fiscal policy reform.


Tennesseans for Fair Taxation (TFT)

Grant Amount: $30,000
Contact: Brian Miller, Director

2918 E. Magnolia Avenue, Suite 120
Knoxville, TN 37914
Telephone: (865) 524-4424
Fax: (865) 524-4424 ext. 21
E-mail: brian@yourtax.org
Web Address: www.yourtax.org

TFT is a statewide coalition of member organizations and individuals working toward a fair and modern tax system in Tennessee that invests in the communities and in key public services in the state. Originally founded in 1984 as a loose coalition of groups working for passage of state tax reform, TFT has matured and taken on a broader set of tax and business budget issues that affect its membership and coalition partners. One of TFT's most significant accomplishments is the establishment for the first time in state history, of a separate, lower tax rate on food compared with nonfood items. Other accomplishments include the defeat of the so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights and resisting efforts to ban state income tax in the state constitution.


Tennesse Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC)

Grant Amount: $30,000
Contact: David Lubell, Executive Director

442 Metroplex Drive, Building D
Nashville, TN 37211
Telephone: (615) 833-0384
E-mail: david@tnimmigrant.org
Web Address: www.tnimmigrant.org

TIRRC empowers immigrants and refugees in Tennessee to develop a unified voice, defend their rights and create an atmosphere where they are viewed as positive contributors to the region. Established in 2001 it was a union of grassroots groups working to pass a law to allow applicants to receive a drivers license without presenting a social security number. Since then, TIRRC has worked hard to strengthen the collaboration and have identified and incorporated over 30 new immigrant and refugee groups into the coalition bringing the total number of organizations to more than 45. TIRRC has become one of the most diverse immigrant rights coalitions in the country with member groups representing Congolese, Egyptian, Haitian, Iranian, Iraqi, Kurdish, Laotian, Nigerian, Ethiopian, Somali, Pakistani and Vietnam-ese communities as well as a large number of Latino groups. TIRRC helped mobilize over 30,000 immigrants and supporters in four different Tennessee cities as part of the Spring 2006 immigrants rights mobilizations that took place across the country.


Urban Habitat

Grant Amount: $50,000
Contact: Juliet Ellis, Executive Director

436 14th Street, Suite 1205
Oakland, CA 94612
Telephone: (510) 839-9512
Fax: (510) 839-9610
E-mail: info@urbanhabitat.org
Web address: www.urbanhabitat.org

UH was created in 1989 as an intermediary organization working in partnership with low-income communi-ties and communities of color to advance regional equity in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. The Bay Area with its many municipalities and nine counties is economically bound together. UH founded the Social Equity Caucus (SEC) in 1997. Today the SEC has 75 members throughout the region who represent community development, labor, faith, youth, social justice, and environmental concerns all working together to improve communities. The membership includes organizations with differing strategies - grassroots groups, policy advocates, service organizations, academics, legal services and philanthropists.


Working Partnerships USA (WPUSA)

Grant Amount: $65,000
Contact: Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, Executive Director

2102 Almaden Road, Suite 107
San Jose, CA 95125
Telephone: (408) 269-7872
Fax: (408) 269-0183
E-mail: wpusa@atwork.org
Web address: www.wpusa.org

WPUSA was founded in 1995 to counter the growing economic disparity in California's Silicon Valley. Working Partnerships coordinates a broad-based coalition of community, labor, faith, housing, and environmental organizations and activists working to institute systemic economic reforms by developing and passing progressive public policies, organizing popular education trainings, and developing new models of employee organizations to raise wages and increase job security. The group's recent accomplishments include winning living wages for workers at San Jose International Airport and then expanding that victory to include employees at the rental car companies located at the airport. It also increased the local transit authority's commitment to improving bus service in the area, and released a study of the decline in job-based health coverage for U.S. workers. WPUSA's Childrens Healthcare Initiative, which provides for health coverage for all of the region's children has been replicated in several other municipalities and the model is being considered at the State level as well.