This fall we awarded 69 grants totaling $178,566, bringing the total for our 20th Anniversary year to $350,000. Four are new awards and 65 are renewals. One $10,000 grant will help cover some of the costs of the 2011 Carry It Forward Gathering, which will bring up to 30 current and past beneficiaries together to create community, learn from each other, make new friends, and deepen past bonds. (For more about the reinstatement of the Gathering program, see article here.)

NEW GRANTS

1. Clinton E. Jencks Memorial Fund*. $1500 for educational support for the 17-year-old son whose mother educated her co-workers about their union rights. Management retaliated against her for leading the battle to obtain missing benefits by isolating her from co-workers, increasing her case load and eventually firing her. MA (*See www.rfc.org/namedfunds to learn more.)

2. Anti-Racist Activism Costs Mother. $4000 for childcare and educational support for the four and six-year-old daughters whose mother was targeted for advocating for graduate students’ rights. She was labeled a “trouble maker” and dismissed from her graduate program. As a result, she lost her job teaching at the university, was unable to finish her doctorate and cannot find full-time employment in her field. GA

3. Grandmother, Mother Fight for Activists. $1200 for Aikido and piano lessons for the 10-year-old daughter whose mother and grandmother were arrested, detained and tortured for protesting students’ human rights violations in their North African home country, and ultimately fled to the U.S. IL

4. Family Faces Lynch Mob. A $600 Carry It Forward (CIF) award* for the 23-year-old son whose mother, the lead organizer of a campaign for Black and Hispanic youths’ educational and civil rights in her rural southern community, faced a lynch mob after her sons defended themselves from an assault by a racist white man. Their attacker, who had strong ties to local law enforcement, was never questioned. But when the mother refused to talk to police at her place of employment, she was fired and charged with hindering a prosecution, and now has been blacklisted and incurred staggering legal fees. NC

(*CIF awards of $600 are given to 18 to 24-year-olds to help pay for the cost associated with college or similar programs designed to prepare them for adult life.)

RENEWALS

5. Herman Warsh Memorial Fund. $2900 for transportation to school, math tutoring, and piano lessons for the 12-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son whose mother worked to assist civilians in Baghdad shortly after the 2003 U.S. invasion. She was kidnapped, interrogated, beaten and forced to flee. Since coming to the U.S. in 2008, she has continued her efforts on behalf of Iraqis, starting a mutual aid society for recent immigrants. IL

6-12. Parents, Children Fight for Better Environment, Racial Equality. $28,000 for a broad range of programs for 16 children, aged two to 13, from seven families. Three mothers and a father were beaten and arrested while marching against environmental racism, others were attacked and/or imprisoned for their community organizing work. CA, GA, NY

13-14. Anti-War Muslim Activists Targeted. $11,950 for educational support and an Attica Fund Prison Visit grant* for the eight children, aged five to 17, of two Muslim men convicted of terrorist-related money laundering after an FBI sting targeted them for their public anti-war activities and support for a local mosque. NY

(*Attica Fund Prison Visit grants enable the children and grandchildren of political prisoners to visit their jailed loved ones.)

15-19. Intergenerational Activist Communities Work for Peace. $11,629 for a variety of cultural, educational and recreational programs for nine children, aged five to 18, from five families who are members of several radical pacifist communities. Parents and teenage children have engaged in peaceful anti-war protests and many of the parents have been imprisoned for civil disobedience. ME, NY, NJ, VA

20. Son of Political Prisoner Also Targeted. $7500 for school tuition for the five children, aged four to 15, whose father, himself the son of a political prisoner, was fired for giving a lecture supporting political prisoners. GA

21. Daughters Assaulted. $6000 for school tuition for the eight and 13-year-old daughters and 16-year-old son whose mother, an anti-female genital mutilation activist, was forced to flee Guinea with her children after two of her daughters were attacked in retaliation for her work. NY

22. Family Threatened by KKK. $5699 for school tuition, sports programs and orthodontia for four children, aged six to 12, of an activist who received death threats from the Klan for her efforts to desegregate a public housing complex. OR

23. Activist Mother Loses Job. $5567 for educational support and music and dance lessons for the five-year-old son and seven, nine and 15-year-old daughters whose mother’s support for an arrested Muslim caused her boss to pressure her to find a job where she’d “feel more at home.” GA

24. Iraq War Resister. $4473 for educational support for the four children, aged seven to 16, whose father served a four-month sentence for refusing to return to Iraq. CO

25. Sons Flee with Mother. $4300 for after-school and enrichment programs for three sons, aged seven to 14, whose mother was threatened with prison for trying to address the needs of low-income families. TX

26. Journalist Harassed. $4300 for educational programs for the six-year-old daughter and eight-year-old son whose father, an independent, activist reporter and journalism student, was questioned by the FBI and subpoenaed after reporting on police brutality and racial profiling at protests on his college campus. CA

27. Support for Children of Pacifist. $3500 for gymnastics lessons and educational travel programs for the 12-year-old daughter and 14 and 17-year-old sons whose father faced fines and jail time for his anti-missile-shield action. OK

28. 21 Months in Prison for Cutting a Fence. $3000 for educational and cultural programs for the 11 and 14-year-old daughters and 13-year-old son of a formerly incarcerated Vieques activist. PR

29. Son of COINTELPRO Target Harassed. $3000 for educational support for the twin 12-year-old daughters of a community activist whose own father is a political prisoner, and who was targeted himself for his organizing efforts on behalf of students, the homeless, and low-income communities. GA

30. Family Faced Separation. $3000 for childcare and after-school programs for the two-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son whose mother, a gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-gender community activist, was threatened by the state with the removal of her son because of her activism. OR

31. Second Generation Activist Father. $3000 for cultural programs and an Attica grant for the nine-year-old daughter whose father, himself the son of an African American political prisoner, has been harassed by police for years, both because of his father and for his own efforts on behalf of political prisoners and other human rights issues. PA

32. Another Iraq War Resister. $2938 for driver’s education and recreational programs for the 15-year-old twin daughters of a formerly incarcerated conscientious objector. CA

33. Mother Beaten, Pepper-Sprayed and Harassed. $2800 for tutoring and dance lessons for the 9-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter whose mother, an African American community organizer, was targeted by the local police. GA

34. Fired for Reporting the Truth. $2500 for sports programs, educational support, and a CIF award for the 11-year-old son and 18 and 21-year-old daughters whose father, an independent journalist, was fired and blacklisted for expressing progressive views and covering controversial topics. MN

35. Mayor Targets Mother. $2400 for music lessons and recreational programs for the eight-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter whose mother, an anti-environmental racism activist, was harassed for requesting to know a city council member’s position on locating a soil processing plant in her low-income, predominantly minority community. PA

36. Music Lessons for Sons. $2314 for music lessons and transportation to school for the 11 and 13-year-old sons of a formerly incarcerated prisoners’ rights activist. VT

37. Father Re-incarcerated for Accepting a Friend Request. $2200 for music lessons and an Attica grant for the eight-year-old daughter whose father served an eight-month sentence for destroying traps set for mountain lions and was sent back to prison for violating his parole by accepting a Facebook friend request from another environmental activist. MI

38. Support for Children of Puerto Rican Political Prisoner. $2100 for school tuition for the 15-year-old daughter and a CIF award for the 20-year-old son whose father was jailed for his activism for Puerto Rican independence. PR

39. Father Re-arrested, Finally Cleared. $2000 for dance lessons and educational support for the 14-year old daughter of a former Black Panther accused of killing a police officer in 1971 and tortured into confessing to the crime, but released in 1975 when a judge ruled the confession was inadmissible. In 2007 he was re-arrested for the murder based on the same coerced confession; the charges were not dismissed until August 2009. FL

40. Repeatedly Imprisoned Vieques Activist. $2000 for school tuition for the 15-year-old son of a leader of the struggle to free Vieques. PR

41. Children’s Home Raided. $1940 for swimming and music lessons for the 12 and 14-year-old daughters whose father was harassed by the police for his role in organizing demonstrations against corporations that produce genetically modified foods. MN

42. Mother Beaten, Arrested. $1500 for tutoring for the 14-year-old son whose mother, an animal rights activist, suffered numerous beatings, arrests, and a miscarriage at the hands of the police. PA

43. Son Prepares for College. $1500 for a computer for the 17-year-old son whose activist parents have been arrested numerous times for engaging in non-violent civil disobedience in opposition to war, nuclear weapons, and torture. CT

44. Puerto Rican Environmental Hero Attacked. $1500 for educational support for the 16-year-old son of an activist repeatedly incarcerated and fined for his non-violent protests to force the Navy out of Vieques. PR

45. Daughter Loses Job, Keeps Fighting for Others. $1500 for educational support for the 16-year-old daughter whose mother, the daughter of a formerly incarcerated Black Panther, experienced police harassment herself as a child. After receiving a favorable evaluation from an employer, the mother was suddenly fired after helping build a website for political prisoners. GA

46. Father Tortured, Family Flees. $1500 for school tuition for the 17-year-old daughter whose father, a democracy activist, was detained and tortured in Cameroon. OH

47. Son of Exiled COINTELPRO Target. $1500 for tutoring for the 17-year-old son whose recently deceased Black Panther father was forced to flee the country. AL

48. Mother Dies Returning from U.S. Social Forum. A special $1400 grant for grief counseling for the 22-year-old son whose mother, a civil rights and reparations activist as well as a COINTELPRO target, was killed in a car accident.

49. Parents Face Threat of Deadly Force. $1376 for music lessons for the nine-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter whose parents, members of a pacifist community, have been arrested for numerous protests at an Air Force base near their home. CA

50. Mother Fights to End Torture. $1300 for language lessons and ice skating classes for the six-year-old daughter whose mother worked for gender equality in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, providing advocacy and assistance to women whose rights had been violated. She was detained by officials and arrested. Since coming to the U.S., she has been an active member in a torture survivors’ network. IL

51. Enrichment Programs for Daughter. $1216 for after-school programs for the daughter, now 10, whose father was jailed for a year for refusing to fight in Iraq and continues to organize against the war. FL

52. Green Scare Defendant Reunited with Daughter. $1200 for gymnastics classes and counseling for the six-year-old daughter whose environmental activist mother was sentenced to six years in prison under new “domestic terrorism” legislation which allows prosecutors to seek lengthy sentences for property crimes in which no one was injured. CA (See "Great News from Our Community" article here for more information about this family’s recent legal victory.)

53. Violin Lessons for Daughter. $1000 for music lessons for the 12-year-old daughter whose mother suffered permanent injury when she was assaulted during a Republican National Convention. WA

54. Father Disappeared, Mother and Daughter Flee. $1000 for an educational enrichment program for the 15-year-old daughter of an activist father “disappeared” during the Guatemalan civil war for his anti-military regime, pro-student efforts. IL

55. Father Fought for Indigenous Rights. $990 for sports programs for the 13-year-old son of a deceased Native American prisoners’ rights activist. NM

56. Five Years for Demonstrating. $875 for educational support for the 11-year-old daughter whose father was imprisoned for protesting the Navy’s use of Vieques as a bombing range. PR

CIF AWARDS

57-65. CIF Awards. $5400 for nine beneficiaries, aged 17 to 24, from nine families. CA, CT, MA, MO, NJ, NY, PR, OR
 

ATTICA PRISON VISIT PROGRAM GRANTS

66-68. Attica Awards. $5500 for four beneficiaries, aged five to 20, from three families, to visit incarcerated loved ones. CA, PA
 

SPECIAL GRANT

69. RFC Gathering. $10,000 to help cover the cost of the 2011 Carry It Forward Gathering. Read more about the return of the Gathering program here.