Because of your support, MRG is giving $225,000 to 21 of Oregon’s most effective grassroots groups to create change in our state. Your gift to MRG means that our latest grantees are out in the community right now, holding rallies and demonstrations, empowering new leaders, educating community members about important issues, and combining forces with other grassroots groups to create social justice in Oregon.
We know that when communities come together to lead and organize for change, the impact is huge. And with MRG’s latest slate of grantees, the impact in communities of color is especially powerful. Take a look at just a few of our newest grants to organizations led by people of color:
Grants Pass Intertribal Powwow: $6,000, Merlin
The work of Grants Pass Intertribal Powwow seamlessly brings together environmental protection, cultural preservation, and community building. The group formed in 1991 to strengthen Native American culture and community through preserving indigenous knowledge and restoring traditional ceremonies. Since then, they’ve restored the Tilomekh Salmon Ceremony (which was outlawed in the mid-1800s) and the annual gathering has had a deep impact: spurring community action to remove dams on the Rogue River and restore native salmon runs; building empowering relationships between Native elders and youth; and bringing together regional tribal members to learn and preserve traditional cultural and environmental practices.
Latinos Unidos Siempre: $10,000, Salem
Latinos Unidos Siempre empowers youth through educational, cultural, social, and political development in Salem. LUS started in 1996 as a student response to injustices Latino youth face daily: the firsthand effects of a broken immigration system, low high-school graduation rates, racist stereotypes, and anti-immigrant proposals in the Oregon State legislature. Since then, LUS has organized and empowered over 1,000 youth to lead campaigns for: respect and equitable treatment in the Salem-Keizer school district; passage of the DREAM Act, which would provide a path to citizenship for young immigrants; and in-state tuition equity for Oregon’s immigrant students attending college in Oregon.
Oregon Action: $17,000, Portland
Oregon Action has been a statewide leader for 30 years and their history includes a legacy of victories in communities of color on issues of healthcare, housing, living wages, school funding, voting rights, and civic engagement. Their advocacy and community leadership has led to greater employment opportunities in Portland for people of color, women, and other historically excluded groups. Over the coming year, Oregon Action will provide intensive leadership development and organize trainings for people of color in Portland to address economic justice issues and hold policymakers accountable for systematic exclusion of African Americans from job creation programs.
We couldn’t do this work without you- every gift you make to MRG helps support grassroots organizations working across Oregon to create a just and joyful world.
Want to learn more about MRG’s grantees? Click here for a full list of our latest grantees and slideshow of their work in action!
