Group Category: Economic Justice

FINCA International was founded in 1984 on the radical notion that giving small loans to the poor has the power to transform entire communities in a sustainable way. After impacting tens of millions of lives with responsible financial services, the organization widened its focus to catalyze further economic growth and alleviate poverty in underserved markets around the world.

New York Communities Organizing Fund, Inc. (NYCOFI) is a community-based nonprofit organization that seeks to empower low- and moderate-income New Yorkers to help themselves. Through public education, advocacy, research, and direct services, NYCOFI works to improve the economic security and well-being of low-income and people of color communities throughout New York State. NYCOFI was founded in 2010 and is part of a family of organizations that includes New York Communities for Change, one of the premier community organizing institutions in New York State.

The Lambi Fund of Haiti is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to assist the popular, democratic movement in Haiti. Its goal is to help strengthen civil society as a necessary foundation of democracy and development. The fund channels financial and other resources to community-based organizations that promote the social and economic empowerment of the Haitian people.

For more than forty years, the Barefoot College has designed new ways to nurture and support a journey to empowerment, one village at a time, one woman at a time. It demystifies and decentralizes technology, putting new tools in the hands of the rural poor with a singular objective of spreading self-sufficiency and sustainability. With a geographic focus on the least-developed countries, the organization trains women worldwide as solar engineers, innovators, and educators, who then return to their villages to bring light and learning to their community.

For thirty-seven years, North Star Fund has helped make democracy happen in New York City. The organization has built a diverse network of donor-activists to support the grassroots leaders that move New York forward. It helps activists organize, gain visibility and influence, and pursue solutions to the greatest problems facing the city. By putting resources into the hands of those directly impacted by injustice and providing long-term support, North Star Fund helps causes to become social movements.

The Center for the Working Poor combines services for the poor, running an intentional community, community organizing, and training and support for mass protest movements. It acts as a consultant and trainer for a variety of groups in the labor, immigrant rights, climate justice, and anti-mass incarceration movements. In 2013, it co-founded the Momentum Training Program in order to provide accessible training around the theory and practice of new social movements. In a short amount of time, the trainings exploded as thousands of organizers and activists reported on their positive impact.

Make the Road New York (MRNY) builds the power of Latino and working-class communities to achieve dignity and justice through organizing, policy innovation, transformative education, and survival services. MRNY has centers in Bushwick, Brooklyn; Jackson Heights, Queens; Port Richmond, Staten Island; and Brentwood, Long Island. With a membership of over 15,000 from over forty-one different countries, MRNY tackles the critical issues facing immigrant families, including housing, education, workplace justice, youth, and LGBTQ issues.

The Quixote Center is a multi-issue social justice organization that was founded in 1977. It works alongside partner organizations to bring about lasting systemic change. The Center stands in solidarity and friendship with those who seek to improve the lives of the very poor. It provides guidance, technical assistance, and funding to support the work of these groups and allow their movements and programs to mature. To accomplish this, it relies on the support of likeminded people who recognize the need for structural changes in an increasingly unequal global society.

The mission of the Movement Mastery Institute is to support leaders within the social justice field. It seeks to transform its own leadership, share movement and organizational strategies, and teach the necessary skills leaders need to organize their communities. It is a hub for learning and supporting people who want to make change, especially through creating strong relationships and shared understanding across movements and communities.

The Organization for Black Struggle (OBS) was founded in 1980 by activists, students, union organizers, and other community members in order to fill a vacuum left by the assaults on the Black Power Movement. Its vision is to contribute to the creation of a society free of all forms of exploitation and oppression. OBS aims to build a movement that fights for political empowerment, economic justice, and the cultural dignity of the African-American community, especially the Black working class.