U.S. Panel Grants 2006-2007

U.S. Panel Grants are grants issued to U.S.-based lesbian, trans and LGBTI social change organizations and projects, including cultural and film/video projects. U.S. Panel Grants are determined by a diverse and committed activist Community Funding Panel.

NORTHEAST/MID-ATLANTIC

Anderson Gold Films (Brooklyn, NY) to support Puzzles, a documentary about a hate crime at a gay bar in a small Massachusetts town. The film links anti-LGBTI violence with the way in which hate/supremacist movements influence youth through violent imagery. $8,000 http://www.andersongoldfilms.com

Audre Lorde Project (Brooklyn, NY) for organizational development and organizing programs of the nation's only lesbian, gay, bisexual, two-spirit, transgender, gender-non-conforming people of color center for community organizing. $10,000 http://www.alp.org

Casa Atabex Aché (Bronx, NY) to support the Healing the Rainbow initiative fostering sustainable activism, healing and affirming spiritual practices in queer women of color communities. $7,000 http://www.casaatabexache.org

Different Avenues (Washington, DC) for leadership development of its members, who are LBT women working in the sex industry, to engage in social change efforts. $4,000 http://www.differentavenues.org

Lieutenant Films (Brooklyn, NY) for post-production costs of Freeheld, a documentary about a terminally-ill high-ranking New Jersey police officer, and her struggle to secure pension benefits for her surviving female partner. $6,000 http://www.freeheld.com

Outright Vermont (Burlington, VT) to support statewide transgender and queer youth activism and leadership, as well as anti-racism organizing. $6,000 http://www.outrightvt.org

Providence Youth Student Movement (Providence, RI) to hire two young women organizers for this social justice youth organization's Southeast Asian Queers United for Empowerment and Leadership program. $5,000 http://www.prysm.us

Queers for Economic Justice (New York, NY) for staffing of the Welfare Organizing Project, which organizes low-income LGBTI and gender non-conforming people to make changes to the welfare system. $10,000 http://www.queersforeconomicjustice.org

Sylvia Rivera Law Project (New York, NY) to expand their policy and collaborative work focused on foster youth, and to expand their community organizing support work for transgender, transsexual, intersex, and other gender non-conforming low-income people and people of color. $10,000 http://www.srlp.org

MIDWEST

Affinity Community Services (Chicago, IL) to support this African-American lesbian and bisexual women's organization in its programming to challenge racist, sexist and homophobic attitudes and policies throughout the Chicago area. $10,000 http://www.affinity95.org

Amigas Latinas (Chicago, IL) for expansion of community organizing efforts by and for lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LBTQ) Latinas in Chicago, based on data from its community-wide survey. $7,000 http://www.amigaslatinas.org

Center for Artistic Revolution (North Little Rock, AR) to fight pervasive racism, homophobia, fundamentalism, and poverty in Arkansas via grassroots organizing and coalition-building. $10,000 http://www.artisticrevolution.org

District 202 (Minneapolis, MN) for the initial phase of the Transgender Youth Support Network, a multi-agency project to help develop trans-inclusive and affirming policies throughout the Twin Cities areaand eventually statewide. $5,000 http://www.dist202.org

LGBT Resource Center of the 7 Rivers Region (La Crosse, WI) for this volunteer service organization to develop a speakers' bureau, expand their drop-in center services, and develop a strategy to publicly respond to hate crimes. $5,000 http://www.7riverslgbt.org

None on Record (Chicago, IL) for the audio documentary series, Stories of Queer Africa, showcasing the lives and struggles of LGBT people from the African continent and within diasporic communities. $10,000 http://www.noneonrecord.com

Young Women's Empowerment Project (Chicago, IL) to support this group by and for girls and young women impacted by the sex trade and street economies, to build their collective power for social change. $8,000 http://www.youarepriceless.org

NORTHWEST

Basic Rights Education Fund (Portland, OR) for this statewide LGBT organization's anti-racism program to transform its internal practices, develop leadership, and carry out racial justice organizing. $7,000 http://www.basicrights.org

Colorado Anti-Violence Program (Denver, CO) will redefine the meaning of "anti-violence LGBT work" by helping to hire a full-time organizer to build an LGBTI statewide base to organize against community and state violence and embrace multi-issue social change work. $9,000 http://www.cavp.org

Fresh Meat Productions (San Francisco, CA) for the production of Fresh Meat 2008, a series of San Francisco-based performances exploring gender, race, and class from a transgender perspective. $7,000 http://www.freshmeatproductions.org

Purple Moon Dance Project (San Francisco, CA) to support program expansion during this queer women of color organization's year-long 15th anniversary celebration in 2007. $6,000 This grant was made possible by Astraea's NEWMR Fund for the Promotion of Women's Music and Culture http://www.purplemoondance.org

Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project (San Francisco, CA) to support program expansion of the nation's only organization dedicated to creating and promoting social justice filmmaking among queer women of color communities. $10,000 http://www.qwocmap.org

Tenth Muse Productions (San Francisco, CA) to support artists' stipends for the 2008 production of Juana, an Opera in Development, about a feminist nun in colonial México.The production aims to counter religious fundamentalism within Latina/o and other communities. $5,000 http://www.tenthmuse.us

Two Spirit Society of Denver (Denver, CO) for outreach to Native lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex people in Colorado and other states, and to host a Two Spirit gathering. $7,000 http://www.denvertwospirit.com

Utah Progressive Network (Salt Lake City, UT) to support campaign and base-building work connecting immigrant rights and queer rights. This year the group will also convene a youth activism summit, organize for comprehensive sexuality education, and fight against an anti-LGBT adoption ban. $6,000 http://www.upnet.org

SOUTH

ALLGO (Austin, TX) to support a reproductive rights action team and a queer women of color artistic production at the nation's only statewide queer multi-racial people of color organization. $10,000 http://www.allgo.org

This grant was made possible by the Lynn Campbell Memorial Fund, established at Astraea to honor Lynn's leadership and activism in the women's, labor, and LGBTI political movements.Each year a grant that reflects Lynn's activism and commitment to social justice is designated by Astraea's U.S. Fund Panel.

Appalachian Women's Alliance (Floyd, VA) for a lesbian organizer position to support movement-building work among LBTQ women in rural Appalachian communities. $8,000 http://www.appalachianwomen.org

Charis Circle (Atlanta, GA) for educational and cultural programs of this organization, which provide a critical progressive space for feminists, young women, queer communities and activists in the South. $4,000 http://www.chariscircle.org