Thanks to strong community support, this week MRG is awarding $225,000 to 20 amazing grassroots groups working throughout Oregon. These groups are on the front lines of working for environmental protection, human rights and economic justice. They are developing progressive leaders across the state and bringing people together to create change in communities from Grants Pass to Bend to Portland.

Take a look at the groups that we awarded grants to this week:

Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon, Portland, $7,000
APANO mobilizes the social, cultural, and political strengths of the Asian and Pacific Islander communities in Oregon.  APANO weaves together a multi-generational, Pan-Asian movement to build the collective power of Asian, Pacific Islander and broader immigrant communities.

Bark, Portland, $17,000
Bark protects the Mt Hood National Forest by monitoring logging projects, providing public education and engagement, direct legal challenges to destructive logging projects, and developing volunteer leaders.

Cascadia Wildlands Project, Eugene, $15,000
CWP works with local communities to protect threatened forests and create sustainable forestry jobs in struggling rural areas. In one key campaign, they fought the federal government's proposal to log 1.7 million acres of public old-growth forests and streamside reserves in Western Oregon. CWP is organizing, advocating and agitating to protect Oregon’s irreplaceable forests and rivers.

Center for Intercultural Organizing, Portland, $20,000
The "War on Terror" has had a very real and human impact on immigrant families, communities and lives. Founded by Portland-area immigrants and refugees, CIO protects and expands immigrant and refugee rights through education, civic engagement, community organizing and intergenerational leadership development.

Community Alliance of Tenants, Portland, $20,000
Oregon's only grassroots, tenant-controlled, tenant-rights organization, CAT educates, organizes and develops the leadership of low-income tenants to directly challenge unjust housing policies and practices.

Eugene-Springfield NAACP, Eugene $9,500
The Eugene-Springfield NAACP combats racism in the Eugene/Springfield area. Their Back to School/Stay in School project is working to eliminate the racial achievement gap in local schools by establishing an effective tutoring program for African American students and increasing parent involvement in the education system.

Friends of Living Oregon Waters, Grants Pass, $7,000
FLOW protects Oregon’s vulnerable water systems through legal oversight and community education. They work to stay one step ahead of developers and industries to prevent harmful proposals from even being considered. Currently, their main focus is on liquefied natural gas pipelines and terminals in Oregon.

Human Dignity Coalition, Bend, $10,000
Human Dignity Coalition is the hub for progressive activism in Central Oregon.  HDC brings together diverse voices to create a grassroots movement for social change in central Oregon. They are an influential player in central Oregon and effectively organize to prevent discrimination, oppression and hate.

Oregon Fair Trade Campaign, Portland, $9,000
Free trade policies like NAFTA set the rules for economic globalization that put corporate profits ahead of healthy communities. Oregon Fair Trade Campaign organizes those most directly affected by free trade to support fair trade policies that promote health, labor rights, local jobs and a future for Oregon’s family farmers.

Oregon New Sanctuary Movement, Portland, $7,000
Oregon New Sanctuary Movement - a coalition of over 20 different faith communities - lifts up the voices of immigrants while working for just and humane immigration reform. They also seek to transform the social and economic systems that perpetuate the poverty in immigrants’ home countries and drive much of the migration to the United States.

Oregon Student Association, Portland, $11,000
OSA is a statewide student advocacy organization. They formed the Oregon Student Equal Rights Alliance to ensure that LGBTQ students have access to affordable, quality, safe college education.

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays Oregon State Council, Portland, $5,000
The PFLAG Oregon State Council serves as a resource for Oregon's 12 chapters. PFLAG is currently working with community partners to establish an African-American PFLAG chapter in Portland. This new chapter will engage, support and mobilize African-American parents, families and friends of the LGBTQ community.

Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN), Woodburn, $12,500
PCUN is Oregon’s union of farmworkers, nursery and reforestation workers.  PCUN is transforming the agricultural labor system to one that institutionalizes better working and living conditions, redresses the power imbalance between growers and workers, and establishes respect, fairness and dignity as the bases for employment relationship.

Portland Central America Solidarity Committee, Portland, $9,000
PCASC educates and mobilizes people to support social and economic justice in Latin America and immigrant rights here in the US. By developing cross border relationships between social justice movements, PCASC is directly challenging US foreign, military and trade policies that perpetuate injustice.

PPS Parent Union, Portland, $6,000
Race and income are key indicators of student achievement.  PPS Parent Union is organizing poor families and families of color to advocate for policy changes in Portland Public Schools that will address persistent gaps in achievement and opportunity between white students and students of color and lead to greater educational success for all students.

Salem/Keizer Coalition for Equality, Salem, $15,000
Students of color lag far behind white students in every indicator of academic achievement. The Salem-Keizer Coalition for Equality is a multi-racial community organization that promotes equality in the education system. They have organized hundreds of mostly Spanish-speaking parents to be strong community leaders for education reform in order to eliminate the student achievement gap.

Ten Rivers Food Web, Corvallis, $8,000
TRFW wants to increase locally grown food from the current rate of 2% to 30% in Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties. They organize at all levels of food production from processors to retailers to consumers. Success will mean people of all income levels will have access to healthy local food.

Unete, Medford, $10,000
Through community education, cultural presentations and advocacy, Unete is creating a movement of farm workers and immigrants in Southern Oregon who have the power to defend their rights while also developing and implementing programs that directly benefit the community.

Voz Hispana Causa Chavista, Woodburn, $9,500
Latinos in Oregon are marginalized in most mainstream institutions.  This is particularly clear in Oregon’s K-12 education system.  VHCC is creating a strong political base of Latinos in Woodburn. They are currently developing the leadership of Latino children to understand their history, to think critically, to speak out and to take leadership in their community for social justice.

VOZ Workers' Rights Education Project, Portland, $17,500
VOZ empowers day laborers to gain control over their working conditions and to exercise their power to address the social and economic injustice that immigrant workers face. VOZ also educates the community about the complex forces that have pushed immigrants to come to the United States.

If you want to support these and many other progressive groups around the state, make your gift to MRG Foundation today!

Questions about making your gift to support MRG's grantmaking program? Contact Sheryl [at] mrgfoundation [dot] org

Questions about applying for a grant in our spring cycle? Check out our Apply for a Grant page