The Jewish Fund for Justice has announced seven new grants for projects across the country aimed at attacking the circumstances that create poverty in America.
An ongoing agricultural aid project for the Navajo Indians in Arizona’s Painted Desert that the Fund has supported for the past two years is an example of the type of community self-help groups the organization targets for grants.
A youth action project in New York’s East Harlem neighborhood, a project in Iowa to aid small farmers in coping with the economic farm crisis and a Floridabased farmworker’s association striving to bridge ethnic barriers among migrant workers all received $5,000 from the fund.
SEEKS TO ERADICATE CAUSES OF POVERTY
The grant making foundation, created in 1983, represents a Jewish philanthropic network to eradicate the causes of poverty. The grants go to people of all races and religions striving to lift themselves out of a cycle of poverty.
In the past, the Fund has donated funds to Mexican Americans in Colorado, poverty-stricken communities in Tennessee and Mississippi, the elderly in Montana and poor farmers in Minnesota as well as Jewish causes.
All seven of the grants most recently announced will go to “the efforts of community members to improve their own circumstances.”
NAVAJO PROJECT GETS $5,000
The Seventh Generation which sponsors the Navajo/Israeli Intensive Crop Production Project received a $5,000 grant for the second year in a row from the Fund. The project supports the Navajo’s efforts to improve agriculture on Arizona’s Painted Desert.
The Navajos, under the guidance of an Israeli agricultural specialist, have worked to increase crop yields and adapt Israeli drip irrigation systems.
The Youth Action Program in New York’s East Harlem also received $5,000 for its efforts to organize neighborhood youth into improving their surroundings. The youth participate in clean-up, crime watch and other short-term programs.
Prairiefire in Des Moines, Iowa assists small farmers in organizing and dealing with the agricultural crisis in that region. The Fund gave $5,000 to Prairiefire.
OTHER GRANTS
The Florida Farmworkers Association of Apopka works to break down ethnic and racial divisions prevalent among migrant workers in that area. The fund grant will go to improving the migrant workers’ living conditions.
The Greater Bridgeport Interfaith Action of Connecticut is an interfaith effort to combat poverty and improve living conditions for the poor in that city. The Fund gave $3,000 to this group.
The Center for Community Self Help in Durham, N.C. received a $500 grant for its program to develop worker cooperatives and create jobs. The Fund grant was part of a grant from the Ecumenical Review Board, an umbrella organization of interfaith religious philanthropies.
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