Grants 2012
Central New York Community Foundation f/b/o the Literacy Coalition of Onondaga County
Syracuse, NY
$20,000 to evaluate a community literacy program for refugee families and identify what motivates participating parents to read to their children.
Farmworker Association of Florida, Inc.
Apopk, FL
$20,000 for a study that quantifies farmworker wage loss due to natural disasters in Florida, a component of the the Farmworkers Disaster Relief Project.
Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center
Miami FL
$20,000 to study the economic impact of Secure Communities on local governments, businesses, and families in Miami -Dade County.
Fuerza Laboral
Central Falls, RI
$20,000 for a study of wage theft in Rhode Island.
New Immigrant Community Empowerment
Jackson Heights, NY
$20,000 to document predatory and fraudulent consumer, financial, and immigration services and businesses targeting residents in Queens, NY.
Workers Defense Project
Austin, TX
$20,000 to study working conditions in the construction industry of Texas.
YMCA of the University of Illinois
Champaign, IL
$19,000 to document the perceptions of undocumented youth and youth of undocumented parents about policies that limit their educational advancement.
2011 Grants
Food Chain Workers Alliance
New York, NY
$20,000 to support a study in collaboration with the DataCenter and the Applied Research Center of the state of food workers in the U.S. The research will identify and compare the labor market and labor force characteristics of the farm-to-table food system in terms of wages, working conditions, and demographics.
The Leadership Institute at the Santa Fe Indian School
Santa Fe, NM
$20,000 to support research that examines the roles, perceptions, of youth in native language revitalization. The study will identify strategies and opportunities in language policy and planning that directly involve youth.
National Day Labor Organizing Network
Los Angeles, CA
$20,000 to support a study in collaboration with the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago to document the impact of anti-immigrant legislation and policies on Latino residents in Phoenix, Arizona. The project will identify the social and economic costs associated with attrition-based immigration policies that create an unwelcoming environment for undocumented immigrants.
PUEBLO
Santa Barbara, CA
$20,000 for a study in collaboration with the Institute for Social Behavioral, and Economic Research at the University of California, Santa Barbara to document the effect of heightened state and federal immigration enforcement policies on Latinos in Santa Barbara, California. The project will explore if the new policing practices and racial profiling promote insecurity. It will also document the phenomenon of “turning inward” among documented and undocumented Latinos.
Restaurant Opportunities Center of New Orleans
New Orleans, LA
$20,000 to conduct a matched pair audit testing study to document occupational segregation and discrimination in the greater New Orleans restaurant industry.
Student Immigrant Movement
Boston, MA
$20,000 to support a study in collaboration with Brandies University and the United We Dream Network that collects narratives from U.S. born children of undocumented parents. The goal of the project is to identify the collective themes of these stories as a strategy to support equal access to higher education and organize young people and their families in the larger movement to support the DREAM Act.
Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice
Detroit, MI
$20,000 to support a study in collaboration with the Detroit Metropolitan Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues, and Interfaith Worker Justice to document wage theft among contingent workers in Detroit, Michigan. The study will identify key features of Detroit’s contingent workforce, document the incidence of wage theft among low-wage workers, and gather data to help describe the experience of these workers.
2010 Grants
Alliance of Forest Workers and Harvesters
Albany, CA
$20,000 to investigate the enforcement of labor laws on public lands by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.
Florida Immigrant Coalition
Miami, FL
$15,000 for a participatory research project to develop a database that systematically documents and reports cases of wage theft in the state of Florida. The project will support a statewide advocacy campaign to enforce wage and hour standards.
National Training and Information Center
Chicago, IL
$20,000 to analyze patterns of subprime home lending, national and metropolitan foreclosure trends, and access to credit among lower-income and minority borrowers. The data will be used to advocate for financial reform, and consumer protection.
Oiste
Boston, MA
$20,000 to document differences in student achievement in Massachusetts public schools between Two-Way Bilingual Immersion and Shelter English Immersion models of instruction for students that are dual language learners.
Public Accountability Initiative
Buffalo, NY
$20,000 to investigate the networks of influence and control over anti-poverty resources such as Community Development Block Grants in the city of Buffalo, New York and promote a more accountable and transparent allocation process.
Urban Justice Center
New York, NY
$20,000 to document the vacancy and construction status of luxury condominiums in low-income neighborhoods of New York City. The data will be used to support advocacy efforts to increase the development of affordable housing.
Washtenaw County Workers’ Center
Ann Arbor, MI
$20,000 to document wage and working conditions of domestic workers in Washtenaw County, Michigan. The data will be used to support organizing efforts that improve enforcement of labor laws and improve working conditions.
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA
$20,000 to examine barriers to local civic engagement for immigrant residents of the Southgate neighborhood of Reston, Virginia and to develop strategies to increase involvement in community affairs
Middle Tennessee Jobs with Justice
Nashville, TN
$15,000 to study the effects of proposed living wage ordinances on Nashville’s budget, employers and workers and how wealth building would improve workers’ quality of life and affect government subsidized programs to support impoverished workers
Planned Parenthood of New York City
New York, NY
$19,458 for a study to document sexual and reproductive health care utilization and barriers to accessing care for Mexican immigrants living in New York City
Restaurant Opportunities of New York
New York, NY
$20,000 to support a participatory study of the restaurant industry in Southeastern Michigan that will form the basis of advocacy and organizing for improved wages and working conditions
Rural Action, Inc.
Trimble. OH
$20,000 to build a staple foods industry and coalition through a participatory mapping and network analysis process in Appalachian Ohio
South Florida Jobs with Justice
Miami, FL
$15,000 for a participatory study that examines the impact of mobile home park redevelopment on residents and support efforts that minimize the social costs of relocation and community disruption
University of Massachusetts
Boston, MA
$20,000 to examine the Massachusetts’s rental housing voucher program and develop recommendations that help the program better serve the state’s lowest income residents.
Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival
Vallejo, CA
$20,000 to evaluate the Master Language Apprentice Program’s effectiveness in preserving endangered native languages in California and Arizona
Boston Workers Alliance
Roxbury, MA
$15,000 to monitor the compliance of city-contracted businesses with hiring regulations prohibiting the discrimination of ex-offenders through the use of criminal background checks in Boston, Massachusetts
Community Organizing and Family Issues
Chicago, IL
$15,000 to document family perspectives on why many eligible low-income children are not enrolled in quality early childhood education
Community Voices Heard
New York, NY
$$20,000 for a resident-led study that examines governance and decision-making structures in the New York City Public Housing Authority and explores other management models that more effectively support resident participation
Fund for an Open Society
Maplewood, NJ
$20,000 to support “Capturing Lessons Learned from Intentionally Integrated Communities,†a study to document strategies for intentional integration over the last 40 years in five targeted communities
GALEO Latino Community Development Fund
Atlanta, GA
$12,000 to support a study that will analyze Latino voter turnout and engagement in Georgia’s election
Just Harvest Education Fund
Pittsburgh, PA
$15,000 to document bureaucratic and institutional barriers that prevent eligible households from using food stamps in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
William Monroe Trotter Institute at the University of Massachusetts
Boston, MA
$20,000 to support “Competition or Cooperation? – A Study of Strategic Alternatives in Community Building†which will focus on immigrants in disparate urban communities and how their needs might overlap
Worker’s Defense Project
Austin, TX
$15,000 for a study of working conditions in the construction industry in Austin, Texas
Binational Migration Institute at the University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ
$15,000 to support the Immigration Enforcement Monitoring Project to enhance efforts to eliminate racial profiling and study methodologies for collecting reliable data regarding racial profiling of Arizona Latinos by immigration officers
Class Action
Hadley, MA
$15,000 to study whether there are differences in class culture that get in the way of activists of different classes working together effectively
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation
Toppenish, WA
$15,000 to restore and revitalize the indigenous language and philosophy of the confederated tribes and bands of the Yakama Nation
Different Avenues
Washington, D.C.
$15,000 to support community based research to determine the effects of current law enforcement and related social control practices on sex workers and people profiled as prostitutes in the District of Columbia
Empire Justice Center, Inc.
Rochester, NY
$15,000 to support an in-depth analysis of the factors contributing to home foreclosures on low-income families in Albany and Rochester
Immigrant Coalition
Miami, FL
$15,000 to identify the type and extent of the violation of wage and hour laws affecting plant nursery workers in the South of Miami-Dade County
Hampden Community Council
Baltimore, MD
$15,000 to support archeological excavations to uncover information about the everyday lives of Hampden’s mill workers from the 1840′s to the 1930′s
Institute for Asian American Studies at the University of Massachusetts
Boston, MA
$10,000 to conduct a Boston area survey that assesses Asian American attitudes toward immigration
New Mexico Voices for Children
Albuguerque, NM
$15,000 to support a study to identify racial, ethnic, and gender disparities in the disciplinary policies and practices the Albuquerque Public Schools
Washtenaw County Workers Center
Ann Arbor, MI
$15,000 to support a study to document the extent to which native-born workers are being displaced by immigrant workers and to identify problems faced by both groups
Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health
Brooklyn, NY
$14,816 to support Nuestra Belleza: the Health and Beauty of Latina Women, a cardiovascular disease education program based in beauty salons in Brooklyn, New York. Funds will support a series of focus groups with Latina hair stylists.
Battered Women’s Resource Center
Brooklyn, NY
$15,000 to document the treatment of survivors of domestic violence who have been referred to the New York City Family Court system. Data will support policy recommendations and efforts to improve how family courts handle cases involving domestic violence.
Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy
Boston, MA
$15,000 to promote policies that encourage women on welfare to take advantage of education and training opportunities. Funds will support a study that examines how education and training exemptions to the welfare work requirement are implemented in Boston.
Charlotte Center for Urban Ministry, Inc.
Charlotte, NC
$15,000 to conduct a series of interviews of the homeless in the Charlotte/Mecklenburg, North Carolina community that identify the challenges of the homeless resulting from the attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs of the more stable and sheltered society.
East Point Community Action Team
East Point, GA
$15,000 to document the educational inequalities between the Northern and Southern regions of the Fulton county school system in the Atlanta, Georgia area. Funds will support the participatory action research study of the Fulton Youth Investigators.
Indigenous Language Institute
Santa Fe, NM
$15,000 to develop an information management system that makes documented and recorded language materials useful and accessible to community native language teachers. Funds will support a survey of three Indian communities in the Great Lakes region.
Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York
New York, NY
$15,000 to document discriminatory employment practices faced by restaurant workers in New York City. Funds will support interviews, focus groups, and field research.
Save Middle East Action Committee, Inc.
Baltimore, MD
$15,000 to identify the post-relocation needs of displaced residents of a major redevelopment project in Baltimore, Maryland. Funds will support a series of interviews, focus groups, and analysis.
Tenants & Workers United
Alexandria, VA
$10,000 to advocate for universal access to health care programs for the uninsured in Northern Virginia. Funds will support a comparative study of the policies governing uninsured access to free and reduced price care at over twenty-four clinics and hospitals.
Tennessee State University
Nashville, TN
$15,000 to increase the capacity of the Latino community and local service providers in Nashville, Tennessee to take action to improve the health of the community. The project will test a community readiness model (CRM) to guide planning.
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR
$15,000 to develop social equity and labor standards for sustainable development projects in Eugene, Oregon. Funds will support research and focus groups that identify business and labor perspectives about sustainable development indicators and standards.
Alliance of Forest Workers and Harvesters
Willow Creek, CA
$15,000 to survey the working conditions of labor-intensive forest workers in southwest Oregon. The survey will identify worker needs be used to develop reforms and plan organizing campaigns.
Community Farm Alliance
Frankfort, KY
$15,000 to conduct a community food assessment of Lexington, Kentucky. The project will shape a strategy and plan of action for developing a locally integrated food economy for the city.
Community Organizing and Family Issues
Chicago, IL
$15,000 to investigate class and racial variations in punitive disciplinary policies and practices in the Chicago public schools. The research will be used to develop an organizing campaign to change school policies and practices.
Community Voices Heard
New York, NY
$15,000 to study the effectiveness of New York City’s Transitional Jobs Programs. The research will be used to develop recommendations that improve the program and increase access to living wage jobs for the low-income unemployed.
DAMAYAN Migrant Workers Association, Inc.
New York, NY
$15,000 to document the working conditions and family and social lives of Filipino domestic workers. The findings will be used to develop tighter regulations of the domestic work industry.
Discrimination Research Center
Berkeley, CA
$15,000 to investigate compliance with language access laws at 20 health care facilities in Alameda County. The study will generate recommendations to improve communication with residents with limited English proficiency.
English for Action
Providence, RI
$15,000 for a collaborative research project between Latino English students and medical students to investigate and address language, cultural, and policy, barriers to health care for Latino immigrants.
Hofstra University
Hempstead, NY
$15,000 to examine the relationship between day labor markets, hate, and hate crimes in communities on Long Island. The project seeks to determine if regulated hiring sites promote positive attitudes and behaviors towards ethnic minority groups.
Idaho Community Action Network
Boise, ID
$15,000 to identify language-based barriers to hospital care in Idaho and identify system-wide solutions. The study will inform local campaigns to improve access to hospital care for people with Limited English Proficiency.
Lavender Seniors of the East Bay
San Leandro, CA
$15,000 to identify characteristics of health and human service programs that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender seniors consider as LGBT seniors-friendly.
NLG/Maurice and Jane Sugar Law Center
for Economic and Social Justice
Detroit, MI
$15,000 to study the impact and enforcement of living wage laws in Michigan. The research will help advocates and policymakers promote living wage implementation and enforcement practices and help workers enforce their rights to a living wage.
Sweatshop Watch
Los Angeles, CA
$15,000 for the Los Angeles Immigrant Worker Survey Project. The research will identify issues faced by immigrant workers, develop a policy framework for avocates, and inform strategies that address the displacement of garment workers.
New York State Tenants & Neighbors
Information Service
New York, NY $10,000 to identify obstacles that Community Development Corporations face in acquiring and preserving expiring-use HUD subsidized housing. The study will help inform a plan to transfer failing project-based Section-8 properties to CDCs and tenant partners.
ACORN – Little Rock
Little Rock, AR
$15,000 to study housing disparities in Pulaski County, Arkansas.
ACORN- Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA
$15,000 to train tenant organizers to use a web-based database and mapping system that tracks building code violations and demographic indicators.
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH
$9,000 for the Language Keeper Project. This project will test if the learning of the Mingo language can be improved by formally assigning subsets of words to individuals or families, making them more likely to preserve and pass on linguistic information.
Center for Immigrant Families
New York, NY
$15,000 for a participatory action-research project to investigate patterns of segregation and racial exclusion in the New York City Schools.
College of Notre Dame of Maryland
Baltimore, MD
$15,000 to study how Creole English-speaking high-school students from West Africa can improve their writing. The project will also test instructional strategies, train teachers in the Fairfax County, Virginia Schools, and publish an instructional handbook.
Day Laborer Collaboration
Chicago, IL
$15,000 to study the day labor industry in the Chicago Region. The study will support a metro-wide Code of Conduct Campaign that seeks to reduce unfair employment practices in the day labor market.
Grassroots Empowerment Alliance of Rome
Rome, GA
$15,000 to use a community organizing and popular education model to develop a family literacy program in Rome, Georgia.
North American Alliance for Fair Employment
Boston, MA
$15,000 to study day-labor hiring halls and identify organizing strategies that promote alliances with traditional labor unions, increase wages of laborers, and using the halls as a bridge to regular employment.
South Metropolitan Planning Council
Madison, WI
$15,000 to train residents in community based participatory research techniques and develop short-term action plans that promote affordable housing.
Suffolk University
Boston, MA
$15,000 to document the best practices for ‘community circles’ for men who are re-entering their communities after having served time in correctional institutions.
Arizona State University
Phoenix, AZ
$15,000 for an ethnographic study of bilingual language practices in a Phoenix dual-language immersion elementary school. The goal of the project is to explore children’s language practices and investigate the language use and language attitudes of bilingual educators and administrators.
Big Creek People in Action f/b/o Just Connections
Caretta, WV
$15,000 to develop community based research centers in three communities of Appalachia. The project will document research and learning practices across three communities and develop a “curriculum toolbox” for activists involved in community-based research.
California Coalition for Rural Housing
Sacramento, CA
$11,700 for a statewide study of housing policies designed to stimulate affordable housing in new residential development. The project will highlight the challenges and opportunities of implementing a local exclusionary housing program.
Center on Fathers, Families, and Public Policy
Madison, WI
$15,000 for a study of birth cost recovery policies in Wisconsin. The project will determine if women are dissuaded from seeking prenatal care because policies that require fathers to repay the government for costs related to the birth of their children. The project will also educate families and health providers about state policy, seek redress for the missapplication of this policy, and advocate for the reversal of the policy in the state.
Community Research and Learning Network
Washington, DC
$12,000 for a community based research project of Project South and the Community Research and Learning Network that examines the impact of gentrification and redevelopment in low-income communities. The project seeks to find ways to develop livable communities without displacing long-time residents, and maintain the current racial, ethnic, economic, and age diversity existing in Columbia Heights and other similarly affected neighborhoods in Washington, DC.
Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation
Warm Springs, OR
$15,000 to develop a native language restoration program with Portland State University. The goal of the partnership is to develop a two-way learning and working process that will help preserve and promote the tribal languages in the area. The project includes a study of language acquisition, language classes and programs, a video project, and several training workshops.
Housing and Community Network of New Jersey
Trenton, NJ
$5,000 for a study to determine if low-income, minority, and female residents in Trenton and Camden will benefit economically from New Jersey’s public school construction program. The data will help frame advocacy efforts to increase access to jobs and small business contracts for women and minorities.
Housing Works
New York, NY
$5,000 for a study of disparities in HIV/AIDS funding for services for women in the State of New York. The research will support advocacy efforts to reduce discrepancies in funding.
National Association of Social Workers Connecticut Chapter
Rocky Hill, CT
$13,777 to study the consequences for low-income women transitioning from welfare to work. The projects will support advocacy efforts that may mitigate any potential limitations of the current “work first” policies in the state of Connecticut.
National Indian Child Welfare Association
Washington, DC
$7,500 to investigate the impact NICWA research has had on practices and policies at the tribal, state, and federal level. The goal of the project is to compile a set of best practices for conducting research in tribal communities and assess if prior study recommendations were implemented.
University of Minnesota – Water Resources Center
Minneapolis, MN
$15,000 for a participatory action research project that examines the unintended costs and consequences of the university research agenda to hybridize and commodify wild rice. The goal of this project is to develop a replicable methodological framework to assess the unanticipated consequences of Western agricultural development on traditional cultures.
Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival
Berkeley, CA
$10,000 to support the Breath of Life/Silent No More project to recover California native languages with no speakers. This project will train language advocates in basic phonetics, grammar, and research skills at an annual workshop held in collaboration with the Linguistics Department of the University of California at Berkeley.
California State University, Long Beach
Long Beach, CA
$15,000 to study community-based culture and language preservation programs developed by religious institutions and Even-Start Family Literacy programs. This project will examine how these programs contribute to heritage language preservation among Latinos.
Hope Chinese School
College Park, MD
$15,000 for a study of changing ethnic identities, social competence, and family relationships in connection with Chinese language classes and cultural enrichment programs at the five campuses of the Hope Chinese School.
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
Indianapolis, IN
$9,250 for the creation of a deaf-centered theatrical production reflecting the diversity of life in the deaf community. The project will explore deaf culture and language, highlight cultural diversity, and educate the local hearing community.
Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance
Garden Grove, CA
$15,000 to support a needs assessment of low-income Asian American youth living in Orange County. The youth-led needs assessment will include a large scale survey and individual interviews with youth regarding their needs, assets, and influences upon their health, safety, education, socioeconomic status and well-being.
Queens College/CUNY
Flushing, NY
$14,995 to examine language variation in a New York high school. The project will examine linguistic changes occurring among the youth of New York and reveal their social significance.
University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, OH
$15,000 to develop and evaluate a literacy program for urban Appalachian girls that bridges community and school language practices. This project will work with urban teachers, community organizers, and university researchers to create an umbrella organization that promotes literacy in Lower Price Hill, Cincinnati.
Washington University
St. Louis, MO
$15,000 for a study “local illiteracies” of students in elementary schools and adult education centers within the St. Louis public schools. The project will focus on uncovering narrative styles and discourse patterns of the local literacies students bring with them from the homes and communities and examine how teachers and students might take a more active role in the construction of the literacy curriculum.
Yale University
New Haven, CT
$15,000 to support surveys and in-depth interviews with key players in gay and lesbian media industries as part of a larger study of the relationship between ownership consolidation and content diversity in minority media systems.
Behavioral Research Center of the Southwest
Albuquerque, NM
$15,000 to evaluate a school-wide system to assess truants and prevent truancy in the Albuquerque public schools. This grant supports the pilot testing of a standardized system of assessing truants. Data will be used to develop strategies to keep students in school.
California Tomorrow
Oakland, CA
$15,000 to develop a practice and policy framework for programs and schools for bilingual and bicultural youth. This grant supports efforts to document exemplary and promising community and school efforts that promote bilingualism and biculturalism in ten communities.
Center for Family, Work and Community – University of Massachusetts Lowell
Lowell, MA
$15,000 to support a study examining housing affordability and facilitate a community planning process that addresses housing policy in the city of Lowell, Massachusetts. This grant supports the collection of housing data and a series of community planning forums.
Institute for Women’s Policy Research
Washington, D.C.
$15,000 to support a pilot study that will examine the barriers to women leaving welfare in Washington, D.C. The research will involve qualitative interviews with welfare recipients to identify barriers to self-sufficiency and supportive services.
Massachusetts Law Reform Institute
Boston, MA
$15,000 to represent low-income residents of the threatened Julian Steele public housing development in Lowell, Massachusetts. This grant supports legal research, planning and advocacy work with and on behalf of residents.
Multicultural Education, Training and Advocacy (META)
Somerville, MA
$7,500 to analyze the language and content of curriculum used in Boston Public School classes with limited English proficient students and compare it with the language and content used on state competency exams. META will present its findings to parent groups and provide training and technical assistance to help them develop an action plan for addressing their concerns regarding education reform and state testing policies.
Pennsylvania State University – Center for Language Acquisition
University Park, PA
$15,000 to support a cross-cultural study of school bullying. The study investigates the cultural aspects of school bullying using focus group data collected from Japan, Korea and the United States.
Toledo Acorn
Toledo, OH
$15,000 for a participatory study of the barriers and threats to home ownership in the Old South End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio. This grant will support a door-to-door survey of residents, data collection on housing home ownership patterns and the training of residents in community research and housing advocacy.