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.