MRG Foundation just awarded $225,000 to twenty-one amazing groups across Oregon. Including five emerging groups who just received their first MRG Foundation grant! Both established and emerging groups are working throughout Oregon on a wide variety of intersecting issues and they each have tremendous potential to create long-term systemic change in their communities. See a photo album with all of the grantees here. And check out the groups that are on the front lines of building a just and joyful Oregon:

Amigos Multicultural Services Center, Eugene: $10,000 AMSC promotes respect for Latin American immigrants whose dignity and livelihood have been challenged by poverty, discrimination, and social exclusion. A key component of their work is their Juventud FACETA youth group, which develops Latino youth to be community leaders for immigrant rights.

Community Alliance of Lane County, Eugene: $9,000 CALC educates and mobilizes for peace, human dignity, and social, racial and economic justice. CALC fights discrimination against the LGBTQ community and people of color. CALC provides young people with accurate information about military service, offers conscientious objector counseling, and advocates for international cooperation and diplomatic efforts to bring about world peace.

Community Rights Lane County, Eugene: $5,000  Community Rights Lane County challenges the root causes of corporate domination by harnessing the power of community rights to protect our local food system from GMOs, pesticides, and other environmental threats. CRLC empowers local communities to challenge and replace existing unjust laws with relevant and just Community Rights laws.

Confederated Tribes of the Lower Rogue, Coos Bay: $8,500 The Confederated Tribes of the Lower Rogue was founded in 1996 to reclaim local Native people’s history, language, culture, and sovereignty. Since then they have revived the Tututni Language, begun the long process to regain tribal recognition from the federal government, and established the annual Gathering of the People, which is held each September in Southern Oregon.

Friends of Family Farmers, Molalla: $15,000  Friends of Family Farmers is building a strong, united voice for Oregon’s independent family farmers and food advocates. They are fostering an approach to agriculture that respects the land, treats animals humanely, sustains local communities, and provides a viable livelihood for family farmers.

Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice, Portland: $7,000 Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice is an interfaith coalition of religious leaders, individuals, and congregations working for just and humane immigration reform. IMIrJ also seeks to transform the unjust social and economic policies that drive migration to the United States.

Kitchen Commons, Portland: $4,000 Kitchen Commons uses the power of cooking and shared meals to build a diverse community of people committed to building a just food system. Kitchen Commons brings people together to develop the confidence, skills, and resources needed to be effective food justice advocates and leaders.

Komemma Cultural Protection Association, Yoncalla: $8,500 KCPA preserves the culture, history, and traditions of the Kalapuya Indians of Western Oregon. They promote Kalapuya culture and engage American Indian youth in leadership opportunities while dismantling entrenched anti-Indian beliefs, attitudes, and practices in Douglas County.

Lakota Oyate Ki, Salem: $8,000 Lakota Oyate Ki is a Native American culture club located within the walls of the Oregon State Penitentiary. The Lakota Club is led by Native inmates and through their organizing the Lakota Club is preserving, restoring, and sustaining their Indian heritage and connection with the broader Native community.

Momentum Alliance, Portland: $16,000 Momentum Alliance is a youth-led organization that inspires young people to realize their individual and collective power to create social change. Momentum Alliance was among the groups that successfully advocated for tuition equity for undocumented students and they continue to fight prejudice and build a regional network of young leaders working for social justice.

Mujeres Luchadoras Progresistas, Woodburn: $10,000 Mujeres Luchadoras Progresistas is a group of women farmworkers who are organizing to promote long-term social change by fostering women farmworker’s skills and self-confidence. MLP organizes to overcome exploitation and injustice and improve living and working conditions for all farmworkers.

Northwest Workers’ Justice Project, Portland: $14,000 The Northwest Workers’ Justice Project believes that all workers share a fundamental human right to live and labor with dignity, safety, and hope. NWJP provides legal and strategic support to low-wage workers and their organizations to protect the right to organize, secure the rights of contingent workers and immigrants, and mitigate the negative effects of free trade policies.

Oregon Action, Medford and Portland: $15,000 Oregon Action is a multi-racial organization dedicated to advancing economic justice in Oregon. Their Rogue Valley chapter has a history of victories on health equity, immigrant and workers’ rights, and civic engagement. Oregon Action continues to advance social and economic justice in Southern Oregon through leadership development, coalition building, and grassroots organizing.

Oregon Rural Action, La Grande: $20,000 Based in Eastern Oregon, Oregon Rural Action organizes a wide range of people including immigrants, farmers, ranchers, and loggers to unite around issues such as toxic pesticide exposure in Ontario, food insecurity in Malheur County, and renewable energy development in Union County.

Portland Central America Solidarity Committee, Portland: $5,000 PCASC educates and mobilizes people to support social and economic justice in Latin America as well as immigrant rights here in the US. PCASC directly challenges U.S. foreign, military, and trade policies that perpetuate injustice by developing cross-border relationships between social justice movements.

Right 2 Dream Too, Portland: $6,000 If you’re sleep deprived or worried about where you’re going to rest your head tonight, it becomes much harder to organize and advocate for your rights. This is why Right 2 Dream Too provides a safe place where unhoused people can rest and build community without being under the constant threat of violence from police and private security.

Right 2 Survive, Portland: $8,000  Right 2 Survive is an organization powered by unhoused people, the formerly unhoused, and their allies. Right 2 Survive advocates for the safety and dignity of unhoused people and confronts the root causes of homelessness. They work to ensure that everyone has the right to sleep, the right to shelter, the right to safety, and the right to survive.

Rogue Climate, Ashland: $8,000 Rogue Climate is a Millennial-led organization that envisions a bold and diverse climate movement that empowers those most affected by environmental degradation. They’re developing emerging leaders, building collective power, and working to advance creative solutions to climate change and dismantle exploitative energy systems in Southern Oregon.

Street Roots, Portland: $20,000  Street Roots is a nonprofit newspaper published by people experiencing poverty and houselessness in Portland. Street Roots educates people about social justice issues and homelessness while empowering those living on the streets to be active leaders in the larger movement to end poverty.

Unidos Bridging Community, McMinnville: $8,000 Unidos is the leading community organizing group focused on Latino and immigrant issues in rural Yamhill County. An intentionally multi-racial organization, Unidos is composed of both Latino and non-Latino leaders working to build bridges of support and understanding through education, policy advocacy, solidarity, and civic engagement.

Voz Workers’ Rights Education Project, Portland: $20,000  Voz empowers day laborers to gain control over their working conditions and to exercise their power to address the social and economic injustices that immigrant workers face. VOZ also educates the community about complex forces that have pushed immigrants to come to the U.S. and the need to overcome anti-immigrant sentiment.

MRG Foundation raises the money we give out! Make a gift to MRG today to support Oregon’s social justice movements.

Questions about applying for a grant from MRG? Check out our How to Apply page.