by Daniel McGee, NLG Foundation Managing Director
The NLG Foundation (NLGF) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2019 Guild Grants! Now in its fifth year, the Guild Grants Program continues to support NLG chapters, committees and projects by providing small grants up to $5,000 each. These grants help build the Guild by funding innovative projects that will lead to an increase in membership while also strengthening programmatic work and enhancing coordination across the Guild as a whole.
In the latest grant cycle, eight projects received small grants. These projects were selected from a total of 19 requests for funding. The NLGF Grants Selection Committee reviewed the applications and prioritized projects that could serve as a template or example for other chapters and committees, those that would encourage membership growth especially in under-resourced areas, as well as the project’s ability to raise matching funds and to carry out and promote the proposed work.
We are excited about the depth of programming that is being proposed across the country. So many chapters and projects are collaborating with community partners to provide critical resources to the broader community while creating opportunities for members to deepen their involvement with the Guild.
The NLGF is proud to support the work of the following projects, committees, and chapters through this small grants program.
Guild Grants Recipients:
- Labor & Employment Committee to hold a training program to prepare unions and labor organizers for workplace immigration raids and I-9 audits.
- Delaware-New Jersey NLG Chapter Prisoners Legal Advocacy Network (PLAN) to publicize the collection and analysis of data tracking prisoner reports of unconstitutional conditions of confinement.
- District of Columbia NLG Chapter in collaboration with the Maryland NLG Chapter and the Black Identity Extremism Abolition Collective (BIEAC) to conduct community-based education and strategy sessions to decrease the federal, state and local governments’ surveillance programs that target black and brown activists.
- St. Louis NLG Chapter Pro Se Asylum Clinic Project to help preserve the rights of immigrants in Immigration Court through legal clinics, court observation, and accompaniment.
- Notre Dame Law School NLG Chapter to provide immigration-focused volunteer opportunities for NLG law students in collaboration with La Casa de Amistad, a local nonprofit.
- Massachusetts NLG Chapter Street Law Clinic Project to update Street Law Clinic booklets, train more lawyers and students, increase the number of workshops offered and to share materials across the NLG.
- Georgia State University College of Law NLG Chapter to launch the “Freedom is Sweet” speaker series on Prison Abolition.
- Southern Florida NLG Chapter to create a pro/low bono project for immigrants and low-income community members while also providing trainings and resources for volunteer attorneys.
Above: Black and Brown Activism Defense Collective strategy session in Baltimore with NLG DC and Maryland Chapters.