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2006 GRANTEES

Since 1998, the Union Square Awards program has recognized grassroots activists who demonstrate extraordinary commitment, creativity and dedication to social justice. Award recipients have created projects and built organizations that improve the lives of people in communities throughout New York City. In January 2004, the Union Square Awards program launched a grants program to help sustain recipients already recognized who continue to engage in important grassroots social justice work. The purpose is to help strengthen the grassroots community working for social justice goals in New York City.

ELIGIBILITY
The Union Square Awards grants program is open to award recipients who have submitted all reports due and are not currently receiving or being considered for other Union Square Awards funding.

In 2006, the program distributed a total of $423,500 in grants to 14 organizations for projects in the following areas:

Collaboration - This area aims to bring grassroots organizations together to work on common projects, activities, and campaigns.

Community Outreach - This area supports efforts to expand outreach toward building community awareness, mobilizing the public, or expanding services.

Organizational Capacity Building -This category looks to develop the long-term capacity and sustainability of the organization to pursue social justice goals.

COLLABORATION

Ali Forney Center (AFC)
AFC will collaborate with the Peter Cicchino Youth Project to establish an on-site clinic to provide free legal consultation and services to homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth.

CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities
CAAAV’s Chinatown Justice Project will collaborate with the Urban Justice Center’s Community Development Project to create policy initiatives and build the grassroots power of Chinatown tenants to protect their community from large-scale displacement.

Mothers on the Move (MOM)
MOM will collaborate with the Latin American Integration Center and Make the Road by Walking to conduct joint training to build the leadership and organizing capacity of staff and members.

West Harlem Environmental Action, Inc. (WE ACT)
WE ACT will collaborate with For A Better Bronx (FABB) to launch the Rosa Parks School Bus Campaign, an initiative to reduce the exposure of school children and drivers to diesel exhaust inside school buses.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH & ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY BUILDING

Amethyst Women’s Project, Inc. (AWP)
AWP will secure fiscal and executive management support services designed to improve operations and help ensure long-term organizational sustainability.

Center for Immigrant Families
The Project to Challenge Segregation in OUR Public Schools will continue addressing the systemic segregation of public schools in Manhattan Valley through a combination of member training, legal research, community outreach and organizing strategies.

DRUM - Desis Rising Up and Moving
The Legalization not Deportation Campaign is a grassroots research, education, and base-building project to document and report the effects of immigration policy on low-income South Asians in New York City.

Dwa Fanm
Dwa Fanm will expand its capacity to engage in women’s human rights advocacy work through a combination of campaign, outreach, education, and board development strategies.

FIERCE!
To build its infrastructure and capacity for long-term sustainability, FIERCE will secure strategic planning and fundraising consulting services.

Maura Clarke – Ita Ford (MCIF) Center
MCIF will create a job developer-counselor position and professional marketing materials to enhance outreach and support for its job training programs.

New Yorkers Against Gun Violence Education Fund (NYAGV)
NYAGV will improve its communications capacity by updating its website and creating multi-lingual educational brochures for community constituents.

Sisterhood Mobilized for AIDS/HIV Research and Treatment, Inc. (SMART)
SMART will expand its community education and awareness activities, host ongoing participant meetings, and build partnerships with other HIV/AIDS providers.

Voices Unbroken
To enhance its funding base, Voices Unbroken will implement a marketing campaign including the production and distribution of new outreach materials.

Youth Empowerment Mission, Inc. (YEM)
YEM will hire a development manager to implement a fundraising plan to help advance the organization toward long-term sustainability.