IOBY Now in YOUR Backyard

Ioby, Overbrook grantee and the crowd-sourced online platform for local environmental projects in New York City, is going national. Founded in 2009 by three friends looking to change the world, one city block at a time, ioby has since channeled over $250,000 to projects ranging from community gardens to park cleanups to solar powered film series.

The difference between ioby and other fundraising sites is its scale: $980 is the average amount raised per project. Smaller donations mean more individuals can participate: potential project developers need not worry their project is too small to attract interest, and potential donors know that even $20 will make a measurable difference. Ioby also helps foster a sense of community by focusing on local projects funded by local donors; being able to see the garden grow, literally in your backyard, can deliver a more potent sense of empowerment than contributing to a  global campaign.

Ioby's success in New York City has also allowed it to expand: it recently launched nationwide. Now citizens in Boise as well as the Bronx, Staten Island and Sante Fe, can raise money and contribute to local projects.

You can watch a short video of ioby co-founders Erin Barnes and Brandon Whitney here. And check out ioby's progress (and maybe even fund a project!) here:

On The Media in Mexico

While we will be covering this in more detail in the next week, we wanted to let you all know that On the Media’s Brook Gladstone and Sarah Abdurrahman, and WNYC’s Marianne McCune are in Mexico for a special trip to report on the Mexican press. This is timely moment to cover as the press, social media users and others turn their attention to the upcoming presidential election in Mexico. OTM plans to explore the media's coverage of the election, the power of the #YoSoy132 movement pushing for democracy and media reform, the structure of the Mexican media, and the threats Mexican journalists face for engaging in their work.  

In the weeks leading up to the program, you can follow the OTM team by listening to Brooke’s interview with WNYC’s Brian Lehrer, reading blog updates on the OTM website, or following @onthemedia or the hash tag #otminmexico. Already, the team has reported on their experience in a large political protest in Mexico City. Stay tuned for more updates on the project! This special program will air the weekend of June 23-24 in most locations.*  For those of you in New York, it airs on WNYC on Saturdays at 7 AM and Sundays at 10 AM.  If you miss it in real time, you can also always download the podcast or stream it online at www.onthemedia.org.  

Overbrook is proud to support this trip because of our belief in the importance of the work of Mexican journalists to bring human rights issues to light and the quality analysis of domestic and international media by the On the Media team. We suggest you all tune in this weekend to learn a little bit more about the state of the media for our neighbors to the south!

*An earlier version of this blog post suggested that the program on Mexico would be the June 15, 2012 episode rather than airing the following week.  

Overbrook grantee helps block mega-development near UNESCO-recognized marine park

In a victory for the conservationist community and the fragile marine ecosystem in Cabo Pulma, President Felipe Calderon of Mexico announced last week that a controversial mega-development project in the area would not go forward.

The proposed $2 billion construction project envisioned 490 boat slips, two golf courses, seven hotels with 27,000 guestrooms for tourists and 5,000 worker residences, all within a short distance from the Cabo Pulma marine park. The 17,000+ acre park was designated off-limits to fishing in 1995, and has seen a 460% increase in marine life over the last 10 years.

Environmental organizations, including Pronatura Noroeste, one of Overbrook's grantees, fought vigorously against the proposal, claiming that Hansa Urbana SA, the firm behind the project, could not show that it would not have a significant negative effect on the UNESCO-recognized marine park.

On June 14, President Calderon acknowledged these concerns, as well as the petition signed by over 220,000 Mexican citizens, and withdrew the provisional permits granted to Hansa in 2008. As Patricia Arendar, the head of Greenpeace Mexico, puts it: "canceling Cabo Cortes is a triumph for Mexicans who raised their voice to demand that the president . . . stop favoring the interests of plundering businesses." It's also a triumph for the 20,000 year-old Cabo Pulma marine park, which was recognized by the Scripps Institution as "the world's most robust marine reserve."

Viva los peces!

Human Rights Grants Awarded at The Overbrook Foundation's June Board Meeting

The Overbrook Foundation’s Board of Directors met for the June Board meeting and voted to award eighteen grants through the Foundation’s Human Rights program.  The Board will award a total of $715,000 in grants to a range of legal and policy advocacy, media, and service-providing organizations operating in the US and Latin America.

Four of these grantees will continue their work to strengthen a domestic human rights movement.  Facing History and Ourselves will receive $20,000 grant for the Promoting Human Rights Education in Secondary Schools.  The Innocence Project and The New York Civil Liberties Union will each receive $40,000 grants. In the case of the NYCLU, this grant will be used for the organization’s incorporation of a human rights framework into their efforts to advance civil liberties.  The Innocence Project will continue in its work to exonerate those wrongfully convicted and to use these cases to inform criminal justice reform policy.  As in the past, the Urban Justice Center’s Human Rights Project and Sex Workers Project  will receive grants totaling $55,000.

In 2012, Overbrook will continue to offer grants to Freedom to Marry and Lambda Legal for their work to promote marriage equality in the US.  The organizations will be given grants of $45000 and $70000 respectively.

The Foundation renews its commitment to Reproductive Justice through awarding a grant of $45,000 to Advocates for Youth and $30,000 to Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program.  Additionally, a $25,000 grant will be awarded to Forward Together for the organization’s 2012 Strong Families Summit.

Supporting media as a means for promoting democratic discourse has also been a priority to the Foundation.  In June, Overbrook will extend this commitment with a $35,000 grant to Mother Jones’ Human Rights Journalism Project and $50,000 grant for NPR's Coverage of the Environment and Human Rights.  WNYC’s On the Media will receive $55,000 for its programs over the next year and in particular the show’s trip to Mexico.

As defenders of human rights defenders, Peace Brigades International will receive a $30,000 grant for protecting Human Rights Defenders in Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia. The Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights – Latin America’s grant for general operating support will also be renewed at $40,000. WITNESS’s programs for Video Advocacy in the Americas will be awarded $45,000 to continue this important work to support human rights defenders’ safety and advocacy campaigns.

The Foundation’s priority to support Reproductive Rights in Latin America will be advanced through three grants. First, the Human Rights Center at University of Chile Law School will receive $50,000 grant for its 2012 International Human Rights Fellowship Program.  Second, a $40,000 grant will be awarded to International Planned Parenthood Federation Western Hemisphere Region.  Finally, Women’s Link Worldwide will receive a grant of $25,000 for its work in Latin America as the organization’s first grant from the Foundation.

We would like to congratulate these organizations on their fine work to advance human rights and we look forward to see the exciting progress they make on these projects over the next year. 

Environmental Grants Awarded

At The Overbrook Foundation’s Summer Board Meeting, our Board of Directors approved eight grants to be awarded through the Foundation’s Environmental Program. 

All eight of these organizations have been previously supported by the Foundation, and with these grants, the Directors have renewed their commitment to the organizations and their missions.

The Overbrook Foundation will award $35,000 to Earthworks for its "No Dirty Gold Campaign." The campaign is a market-based effort aimed at bring responsible practices to the mining industry. Its successes include preventing the opening of a gold mine in Yellowstone National Park and helping to stop oil development in Yosemite National Park.

 

The Environmental Investigations Agency (EIA) will receive $55,000 for its efforts in reporting on, and helping to enforce, the Lacey Act. The Act forbids trade in wildlife, fish, and plants that have been illegally taken, possessed, transported or sold, and allows for civil and criminal prosecution for such violations. EIA will use the grant award primarily to bolster investigations related to illegal wood sourcing in Latin America.

$70,000 will be awarded to Fundacion Cordillera Tropical for its work with Ecuadorian communities in the area near southern Sangay National Park. The Foundation is dedicated to empowering local communities to sustainably manage natural resources, and will use the grant money to develop and implement payment for ecological services in the Dudas watershed region. 

The Rainforest Action Network (RAN) will receive $40,000 for its campaign to convince Cargill - a multinational production and marketing company - to adopt stricter palm oil safeguards by October 2013. RAN hopes that such adoption will convince other companies to follow suit, and thus help reduce the high social and environmental harms of the current palm oil trade, especially in areas of tropical forests.

Clean Production Action (CAP), an entrepreneurial NGO, will use the $60,000 grant from the Overbrook Foundation to scale-up its GreenScreen (GS) and BizNGO programs.  GS is currently the leading application for identifying safer chemicals, and BizNGO is part of a multi-stakeholder effort to increase sustainability and safety in the chemical, plastics, and materials sectors.

$20,000 will be awarded to the Green Press Initiative (GPI), an initiative committed to reducing the environmental impacts of the paper and pulp industries. The award will be spent with a view to reaching the 2012 treatise paper-related benchmarks of 30% recycled/ 20% Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified (the industry is now at 24% and 16%, respectively). GPI will also continue its partnership with the Environmental Paper Network (EPN) to finalize a carbon accounting methodology.

The Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) will receive a $35,000 grant for its "Don't Waste LA" project. This initiative aims to transform the waste and recycling industry in LA and other cities in LA County and create a model for sustainable waste management for the U.S., and is part of LAANE's broader efforts to transform conditions in underserved neighborhoods. The award will also be spent on developing a competitive franchise policy that maximizes recycling and establishes safety, labor and environmental standards for hauling and processing facilities.

Finally, $20,000 will be awarded to the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI) for its efforts to bring together diverse stakeholders in the product stewardship arena and create a more comprehensive and effective set of policies and initiatives.

 

In all, the Overbrook Foundation’s Environmental Program, as directed by the Board, awarded a total of $360,000 in grants.  

As always, you can learn more about these grantees on their websites by clicking on their names in this post. Congratulations to these grantees and we look forward to their work promoting rainforest protection and sustainable consumption in the year to come!

Dialing C for Carbon Offset

The Surui tribe in Brazil recently became the first indigenous community to receive independent authentication of a carbon offset project.Developed over four years in conjunction with Google Earth Outreach, the project employed Android phones to help map the Surui's rainforest lands and measure itscorresponding carbon stocks.

The Surui Chief Almir Naramagoya Surui first contacted Google Earth in 2008, requesting access to available technology to address the rampant logging in the area. With the "Open Data Kit" for Android phones provided by Google Earth, they were then able to both photograph the illegal logging, and collect data on the carbon captured by remaining rainforest stocks. 

They then used this information to apply for carbon credit certification through both the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and the Climate, Community and Biodiversity (CCB) Gold Standard. The tribe will now be able to sell and trade the carbon offsets on the global carbon market, and use the money earned to reinvest in protecting their homeland.

The voluntary carbon market is a slow-growing, but potentially vast market, where organizations, businesses, and even individuals can purchase carbon credits to offset their own emissions. The entrance by the Surui into the carbon market represents an important step in including not just large renewable energy projects and producers, but smaller communities that can protect existing ecosystems from further degradation.