List of RECENT Grantees
We provide grants in the three areas of Social Justice (Human & Civil Rights), Environmental Justice, and Economic Justice (Anti-Poverty).
Social Justice
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Empower Mt et al. v. Montana et al.
Multi-plaintiff civil rights case against the state of Montana to overturn SB 99, a Montana state law that limits the discussion of reproductive health and LGBTQ+ identities in public schools
Amount: $25,000
Al Otro Lado et al. v. Mayorkas et al. (III)
Class action against the Department of Homeland Security for mandating the use of the CBP One smartphone app, which is inaccessible due to language barriers and limited access to technology, during the asylum process at the U.S.-Mexico border
Amount: $30,000
Jeremiah M. et al. v. Crum et al.
Class action against the Alaska Office of Children’s Services for excessively moving foster youth, many of whom are Alaska Native, across multiple placements and isolating them from their communities, harming their mental health and well-being
Amount: $31,500
Cadwell Sanford Deibert & Garry
S.A. et al. v. Sioux Falls School District 49-5
Multi-plaintiff Title IX civil rights case against the Sioux Falls School District, which eliminated the girls’ gymnastics program while not making similar cuts to athletic opportunities for boys
Amount: $10,000
Williams et al. v. Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General et al.
Civil action against the police, a pipeline company, and a security contractor challenging targeted harassment and intimidation of water protectors/land defenders and members of the Gidimt’en Clan of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation in Canada
Amount: $20,000
White et al. v. Sacramento Police Department et al.
Multi-plaintiff civil rights case against the city of Sacramento’s police department for its abusive, invasive, and discriminatory treatment of racial justice protesters in 2020, including violence against protesters with disabilities
Amount: $30,000
Disability Rights North Carolina
Disability Rights in North Carolina Jails
Disability rights case on behalf of individuals with disabilities who are incarcerated in North Carolina jails without adequate treatment for several months, although they have been found incapable to proceed with a criminal trial
Amount: $30,000
Voglewede et al. v. City of San Antonio
Multi-plaintiff disability rights case seeking accountability for the city of San Antonio’s failure to adequately plan for and respond to the medical and transportation needs of people with disabilities during the 2021 winter freeze
Amount: $35,000
Juana Doe et al. v. Chiquita Brands International, Inc. et al.
Multi-plaintiff corporate accountability case against multinational produce company Chiquita Brands International, brought by family members of Colombians murdered by paramilitary death squads funded by Chiquita in the 1990s and early 2000s
Amount: $37,500
Elder Law & Disability Rights Center
Riverside All of Us or None et al. v. City of Riverside et al.
Class action challenging the city of Riverside's unlawful seizure and destruction of unhoused people's property and its discriminatory policies against unhoused people with disabilities
Amount: $20,000
Anderson et al. v. Centurion et al.
Multi-plaintiff civil rights case against a prison doctor for abusing patients and against a prison medical care provider for failure to protect patients from sexual abuse at the largest women's prison in Florida
Amount: $30,000
Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, Ltd.
Williams et al. v. City of Chicago et al.
Racial justice class action challenging Chicago’s use of gunshot detection technology that inaccurately targets Black and Latine communities and leads to thousands of unnecessary police deployments in these neighborhoods each year
Amount: $50,000
Mitchell Shapiro Greenamyre & Funt LLP
Avid Bookstore v. Taylor et al.
Constitutional challenge of the "authorized retailer" policy of Georgia’s Gwinnett County Jail, under which the jail limits the list of possible booksellers to only a few, greatly restricting the number of books available to people in the jail
Amount: $10,650
Unist’ot’en (Dark House) v. Attorney General of British Columbia
Strategic claim brought by the Unist’ot’en House of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation seeking an Aboriginal title to portions of traditional territory and Aboriginal rights to governance over non-Indigenous, third-party activities on this territory
Amount: $30,000
Land et al. v. Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District et al.
Class action brought on behalf of youth and their parents against the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District to end the district's disproportionate use of restraint and seclusion on students with disabilities
Amount: $25,000
Annunciation House, Inc. v. Paxton et al.
Civil lawsuit against the Texas Office of the Attorney General to protect a nonprofit organization’s right to provide food and shelter to immigrants who have just crossed the U.S.-Mexico border
Amount: $13,000
Paulino-Santos et al. v. Metropolitan Transit Authority et al.
Class action disability rights and transportation rights case against the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority for its failure to provide comparable transit (paratransit) to people with disabilities who cannot use subways or buses
Amount: $30,000
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Jonathan R. v. Jim Justice
Class action lawsuit against West Virginia’s Governor and Department of Health and Human Services (DHHR) and several DHHR executives for violations of foster children’s constitutional and statutory rights
Amount: $36,250
Sow et al. v. City Of New York et al.
Putative class action against the city of New York, individual officers, and officials, seeking damages and declaratory and injunctive relief to end the NYPD’s unconstitutional policies and practices in policing demonstrations
Amount: $25,000
Johnson v. Becerra
Nationwide class action on behalf of people with long-term disabilities against the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, challenging barriers to accessing home health aide services provided with Medicare
Amount: $10,000
Connecticut Legal Rights Project, Inc.
Anthony Dyous et al. v. Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services et al.
Proposed class action against Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Whiting Forensic Hospital, and the Psychiatric Security review board for unnecessarily segregating and institutionalizing mental health acquittees
Amount: $50,000
Ward et al. v. Young
Class action on behalf of plaintiffs with disabilities who have been found incompetent to stand trial and not guilty by reason of insanity in the state of Texas and have been languishing in jail with no remedy
Amount: $50,000
Texas Juvenile Justice Department Impact Litigation
Class action civil rights case against the Texas Juvenile Justice Department for conditions of confinement, including excessive use of isolation and restraints, poor mental health care, and failure to provide a free and appropriate public education
Amount: $10,000
Imani v. Baton Rouge
Multi-plaintiff civil rights case in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, following illegal mass arrests of protesters and journalists after the police shooting of Alton Sterling
Amount: $10,000
Ruderman et al. v. McHenry County et al.
Class action on behalf of civil immigrant detainees against McHenry County, Illinois, and its sheriff for human trafficking violations, including threats of force to coerce immigrant detainees to perform uncompensated labor
Amount: $35,000
Daniels v. Jeffreys
Class action against the Illinois Department of Corrections and Illinois governor, challenging the treatment of prisoners with a mental illness, including claims under the 8th and 14th Amendments and the ADA
Amount: $50,000
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Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago
Carter and DRACH v. the City of Chicago
Multi-plaintiff civil rights case against the City of Chicago due to its homeless shelter program’s inaccessibility to people with disabilities
Amount: $10,000
Centro de Análisis y Defensa de Derechos
Accessibility, Rehabilitation, and Non-Discrimination for People with Disabilities in Health Services
Amparo case on behalf of people with disabilities in Sonora, Mexico, challenging the social security regulations for legal discrimination in access to health and rehabilitation services
Amount: $10,000
Bryan C. v. Lambrew
Class action case against the state of Maine challenging its pervasive failure to safely monitor the prescription and administration of powerful psychotropic medications to foster youth
Amount: $50,000
Civil Liberties Defense Center
Black Unity v. City of Springfield
Civil rights impact suit against Springfield, Oregon, its police department, and 26 police officers for excessive force, wrongful arrest, conspiracy to deprive civil rights based on race, and lack of due process during a Black Lives Matter protest
Amount: $25,000
Criminal Justice and Civil Rights Litigation Clinics of the UC Irvine School of Law
Chicanxs Unidxs v. Spitzer
Class action case against Orange County District Attorney testing the California Racial Justice Act’s application to gang injunctions, with the goal of ending prosecutions under the 13 gang injunctions currently in effect in Orange County
Amount: $10,000
Haitian Bridge Alliance et al. v. Biden et al.
Organizational plaintiff and class action case that challenges the application of Title 42 expulsion to Haitians, discriminatory treatment experienced by Haitians, and denial of access to the US asylum system
Amount: $20,000
National Health Law Program, Inc.
S.J. v. Tidball
Multi-plaintiff case challenging the failure of the Missouri Medicaid agency to arrange for in-home nursing services for children with medically complex conditions
Amount: $8,000
Montana Youth Action v. Secretary of State
Multi-plaintiff voting rights case challenging voter suppression laws in Montana that disadvantage young adults and that give priority to gun owners
Amount: $15,000
Woodward and Company Lawyers LLP
Johnson Sr. and AB v. Vancouver Police Board
Intervention in a human rights complaint against the Vancouver Police Board to show systemic discrimination faced by Indigenous people related to use of Indian Status Cards
Amount: $25,000
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DC Appleseed Center for Law & Justice
D.C. Appleseed v. D.C. Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking
Supplemental request for consumer protection case to ensure that the Washington, DC, Blue Cross Blue Shield provider fulfills its obligations as a nonprofit and invests its excess surplus of $364 million to address the local community health needs
Amount: $5,000
Fund for Empowerment v. City of Phoenix
Multi-plaintiff civil rights case against the City of Phoenix for property destruction and loss of personal belongings resulting from unconstitutional police sweeps of homeless encampments
Amount: $8,000
Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center v. Biden
Multi-organizational-plaintiff case challenging violations of the Immigration & Nationality Act to ensure asylum seekers are entitled to a full and fair hearing that accords with constitutional standards of due process
Amount: $25,000
Namisnak v. Uber
Multi-plaintiff case asking Uber to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act by providing an option for wheelchair-accessible vehicles
Amount: $15,000
Baxley v. Jividen
Civil rights class action seeking injunctive relief to require adequate medical and mental health care and to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act in West Virginia jails
Amount: $12,000
National Immigration Litigation Alliance
Nightingale v. USCIS
Class action to force U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services and U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement to comply with Freedom of Information Act requests for immigration case files in a timely manner
Amount: $10,000
National Lawyers Guild, Detroit and Michigan Chapter
Detroit Will Breathe et al. v. City of Detroit et al.
Multi-plaintiff case against the city of Detroit for the repeated use of racially motivated excessive force and arrests without probable cause against nonviolent local demonstrators in the wake of Derek Chauvin killing George Floyd
Amount: $10,000
Project on Organizing, Development, Education, and Research
Amparo: M.O.Y.P. & Others
Multi-plaintiff constitutional lawsuit against the decision of the authorities to close a rural health center and their failure to maintain roads for access to health services, which violate the right to health and to an adequate living standard
Amount: $15,000
NAACP v. City of San Jose
Civil rights class action against the city of San Jose, city officials, and police for police violence against Black Lives Matter protesters, Islamophobic harassment, disability discrimination, an unlawful curfew, and wrongful arrests
Amount: $25,000
Suffolk University Law School Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples Clinic
Pueblos Indigenas Kaqhikuel Maya de Sumpango y Otros v. Guatemala
Multi-plaintiff indigenous peoples' rights case before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights against Guatemala for violations of the rights of freedom of expression, culture and media, and equality
Amount: $15,000
Environmental Justice
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Alianza Nacional de Campesinas et al. v. EPA et al.
Administrative challenge by farmworker groups and environmental and consumer health organizations challenging the EPA’s failure to test and regulate dangerous endocrine-disrupting pesticides as mandated by Congress
Amount: $27,500
Centreville Citizens for Change et al. v. City of Cahokia Heights et al.
Multi-plaintiff environmental racism case against the city of Cahokia Heights, Illinois, for failing to maintain adequate sewage systems, leading to flooding, water damage, and unsafe drinking water in a predominantly Black and low-income community
Amount: $27,500
Navahine et al. v. Hawai‘i Department of Transportation et al.
Constitutional climate change case challenging Hawai'i's transportation system, which emits significant amounts of greenhouse gases, for violating the youth plaintiffs' right to a clean and healthful environment under the Hawai’i Constitution
Amount: $20,000
Talon Metals Nickel Sulfide Mine Project
Environmental justice case seeking to prevent the permitting of a nickel, cobalt, and copper sulfide-ore mine that would result in water pollution and create health risks for Indigenous, low-income, and rural communities in central Minnesota
Amount: $10,000
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Alternativas y Procesos de Participación Social
Class Action Lawsuit Against the Planting of GM Corn
Collective action filed by a citizens' coalition against four major multinational corporations and two government agencies seeking the permanent prohibition of genetically modified corn cultivation in Mexico due to probable impacts on biodiversity and human rights
Amount: $25,000
ALDF v. Foster Poultry Farms
Environmental justice and animal cruelty case against Foster Poultry Farms, which operates a large slaughterhouse in Merced County, California, for engaging in the unreasonable use of water in violation of the California Constitution
Amount: $25,000
Eversource Substation Administrative Permit Proceeding
Environmental justice case in East Boston involving an administrative appeal of waterways permit for a proposed energy facility to ensure the local affected communities are fully involved and represented in the appeal process
Amount: $25,000
Toxic-Free Plastic Bottles
Citizen enforcement Proposition 65 case against beverage companies for failing to warn people of exposure to cancer-causing chemicals from plastic bottles, which disproportionately affects children and people of color
Amount: $25,000
Environmental Law & Justice Clinic, Golden Gate University School of Law
Candlestick Heights Community Alliance v. City and County of San Francisco
Environmental racism case challenging the city's failure to obtain permits required under the Clean Air Act for diesel-powered generators at a vehicle triage center intended for 150 RVs and other vehicles for the unhoused
Amount: $5,000
Larry Lee v. Amazon.com
Proposition 65 case against Amazon for allowing the sale and fulfillment of skin lightening creams containing toxic levels of mercury or mercury compounds to California consumers, targeting women of color, without posting the required warning
Amount: $25,000
Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability
Friends of Calwa & Fresno Building Healthy Communities v. California Department of Transportation
Multi-plaintiff environmental racism case challenging Caltrans’ approval of a highway interchange expansion project that would increase truck traffic and industrial development in some of California’s most environmentally burdened communities
Amount: $40,000
Held v. State of Montana
Multi-plaintiff constitutional climate case on behalf of 16 Montana youth suing the state for supporting and promoting a fossil fuel energy system that violates their Montana constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment
Amount: $15,000
Snake River Waterkeeper v. J.R. Simplot Company, Simplot Livestock Company
Environmental justice case against Simplot Company for unregulated and unpermitted pollution of the Snake River at its Grand View, Idaho, concentrated animal feeding operation, which impacts safe drinking water and threatens native fish populations
Amount: $20,000
In re NorthMet Permit to Mine Application
Environmental impact and justice case to deny the permit to mine of the planned PolyMet sulfide mine in Northern Minnesota and to prevent contamination of Lake Superior watersheds and harm to Native and non-Native communities
Amount: $10,000
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California Coastkeeper Alliance
Sacramento Area Sewer District Litigation
Enforcement action for violations of the Clean Water Act by the County of Sacramento and the Sacramento Area Sewer District resulting from discharges of raw sewage into the Delta, the Sacramento River, and the American River
Amount: $28,000
Citizens Protecting San Pedro v. City of Los Angeles (Projected)
Environmental justice case appealing the approval of a development project in a highly polluted, low-income, predominately non-white community in Los Angeles for failing to comply with CEQA Gitxaala Nationand planning and zoning laws
Amount: $10,000
Gitxaala Nation v. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of the Province of British Columbia
Environmental racism and Indigenous rights case to quash mineral claims registered on Banks Island in British Columbia without prior notification of or consultation with Indigenous peoples who claim the land
Amount: $25,000
Grassy Narrows Mercury Litigation
Impact litigation on behalf of the Grassy Narrows First Nation against Ontario and Canada with respect to mercury contamination of the English-Wabigoon river system, which has caused catastrophic environmental and health impacts
Amount: $10,000
Initiative for a Just Society, CCCCT at Columbia Law School
Thunderhawk v. County of Morton
Class action case challenging the five-month closure of a North Dakota highway in response to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, disproportionately affecting the livelihoods and health of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe members
Amount: $15,000
Law Office of Dennis M. Grzezinski
I-94 East-West Expansion Project
Multi-party environmental justice legal challenge to a proposed expansion of a highway in downtown Milwaukee dividing the region's Black, Asian, and Latine neighborhoods and bringing pollution and ill health
Amount: $10,000
Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability
South Fresno Community Alliance v. City of Fresno (Projected)
Environmental justice case challenging City of Fresno’s environmental impact report to streamline industrial development without meaningful protection from adverse environmental and public health impacts on vulnerable neighborhoods
Amount: $7,135
Held v. Montana
Multi-plaintiff constitutional climate case on behalf of 16 Montana youth suing the state for supporting and promoting a fossil-fuel-based energy system in violation of their Montana constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment
Amount: $10,000
Wai Ola Alliance v. United States Department of the Navy
Clean Water Act citizen enforcement by a community alliance of Native Hawaiians, social justice activists, community leaders, and elected officials against the U.S. Navy to safely eliminate an ongoing threat to O’ahu’s sacred waters
Amount: $50,000
In re NorthMet Permit to Mine Application
Environmental impact and justice case to deny the permit to mine of the planned PolyMet sulfide mine in Northern Minnesota, with a goal of preventing contamination of Lake Superior watersheds and harm to Native and non-Native communities
Amount: $15,000
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ALDF v. Foster Poultry Farms
Environmental justice and animal cruelty case against Foster Poultry Farms, which operates a large slaughterhouse in Merced County, California, for engaging in the unreasonable use of water in violation of the California Constitution
Amount: $25,000
Citizens Protecting San Pedro v. City of Los Angeles (Projected)
Environmental justice case challenging the City of Los Angeles's approval of a development project in San Pedro, for failure to conduct an environmental review in a highly polluted, low income, predominately non-white community
Amount: $10,000
McKittrick 1 and 1-3 Oil Wastewater Disposal Facility
Multi-plaintiff case against Valley Water Management Company and Sentinel Peak Resources for groundwater pollution, including pollution from Prop 65-listed chemicals, caused by discharge of oil wastewater into the largest open pits in California
Amount: $30,000
Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Environmental Protection v. Grant Township of Indiana County et al.
Countersuit against the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection challenging the department's use of Pennsylvania statutes to preempt municipalities from passing laws on oil and gas
Amount: $12,000
Bennett v. City of Centreville
Multi-plaintiff environmental racism case against the City and Township of Centreville, IL, Commonfields of Cahokia, and their respective managers in their individual capacities for failing to maintain operable stormwater and wastewater systems
Amount: $10,000
Gitxaala Nation v. Minister of Energy, Mines & Petroleum Resources
Environmental racism and Indigenous rights case in British Columbia challenging mineral claim registration, which allows companies to undertake exploratory work for minerals without consultation with the Indigenous peoples who claim the land
Amount: $40,000
Jefferson County Foundation, Inc. v. West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
Multi-plaintiff environmental justice case against the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection for approving a stormwater permit for a heavy industrial plant directly across from a Title 1 elementary school
Amount: $6,000
Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability
Juntos por un Mejor Oasis v. Scott Lawson dba Oasis Mobile Home Park
Multi-plaintiff case to address arsenic-laced drinking water, wastewater contamination, and overcharging for utilities on behalf of the 1,900 residents of Oasis Mobile Home Park in the Eastern Coachella Valley
Amount: $30,000
Midwest Environmental Advocates, Inc.
Enbridge Line 5 Reroute in Wisconsin
Administrative challenge to permitting decisions and the environmental review compliance determination authorizing Enbridge Energy to reroute Line 5, an outdated, 645-mile oil pipeline, around an Ojibwe Reservation in northern Wisconsin
Amount: $10,000
Economic Justice
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Chinese-Funded Illicit Cannabis / Forced Labor Operation in New Mexico
Multi-plaintiff forced labor case brought by 15 Chinese immigrants, who were coerced into trimming cannabis illegally grown on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico, against their traffickers and the operation's investor
Amount: $10,000
Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest
Glendale Elementary School District et al. v. State of Arizona
Multi-plaintiff case challenging Arizona’s method of funding its public school system, which is based on local property values and consequently disadvantages students attending schools in low-income districts
Amount: $22,500
Evenson-Childs et al. v. Ravalli County et al.
Economic justice class action against Ravalli County, Montana, for creating a modern-day debtors' prison by imposing excessive pre-trial fees and incarcerating people who have not yet been convicted of a crime but are unable to pay
Amount: $25,000
Tina-Pacific Residents Association et al. v. City of Stanton et al.
Multi-plaintiff tenants’ rights case against the city of Stanton, California, for displacing low-income tenants, failing to maintain safe living conditions in affordable housing units, and violating state law by not helping residents relocate
Amount: $15,000
Scott et al. v. City of Daytona Beach
Multi-plaintiff civil rights case against the city of Daytona Beach for violating the First Amendment by banning unhoused people from requesting charity from their fellow citizens
Amount: $25,000
Randall et al. v. Montana et al.
Multi-plaintiff gender equity case challenging a Montana law that permits insurance companies to discriminate on the basis of sex and marital status in ratemaking decisions
Amount: $50,000
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Jocylin Bolina et al. v. Assurecare Adult Home, LLC et al.
Multi-plaintiff case to end the unconstitutional exclusion of live-in caregivers from basic wage-and-hour protections under Washington law
Amount: $40,000
Casillas et al. v. Gerstenfeld
Multi-plaintiff civil rights case against the Oregon Employment Department for due process violations in their efforts to collect unemployment benefit overpayments from low-income Oregonians
Amount: $15,000
Barker v. Rokosz
Individual Afro-Caribbean Brooklyn homeowner lawsuit against a hard-money lender engaged in a pattern of predatory practices in neighborhoods of color, with broad implications for combatting similar deed theft schemes in New York City
Amount: $30,000
Worker Justice Center of New York
Yeend v. Akima Global Services
Class action against private contractor Akima Global Services, who runs Batavia Federal Detention Facility, challenging its dollar-a-day work program for detainees as violating the state of New York's minimum wage and federal anti-trafficking laws
Amount: $11,500
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Berry v. Hennepin County
Class action lawsuit against Hennepin County, the City of Minneapolis, and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board for the destruction of property belonging to homeless people, as well as forced evictions from public spaces
Amount: $17,500
National Homelessness Law Center
Bloom v. City of San Diego
Class action against the City of San Diego challenging the existence and application of vehicle ordinances that target homeless vehicle owners, even when no adequate housing alternative exists
Amount: $22,000
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Legal Services of Greater Miami
Miami Beach Community Development Corp. v. AmRisc LLC
Fair housing case against insurance companies for discriminating against a nonprofit community development corporation renting to tenants with Section 8 rental subsidies
Amount: $15,000