IMPACT FUND TO HONOR SOCIAL JUSTICE HEROES AT VIRTUAL GALA
IMPACT FUND TO HONOR SOCIAL JUSTICE HEROES AT VIRTUAL GALA
Berkeley, CA 09.02.20 – The Impact Fund is grateful to acknowledge not one, but three organizations at its upcoming virtual gala on October 21.
“While COVID-19 prevents us from meeting in person, we cannot press the pause button when it comes to social justice,” says Impact Fund Executive Director, Jocelyn D. Larkin, continuing: “recent history has shown how vital our courts are in protecting the lives of communities, particularly communities of color, and we are honored to recognize three of our grantees for holding the powerful to account.”
The first to be honored is Children’s Rights for its work in M.B. v Corsi, a case that protected the rights of thousands of foster children in Missouri.
“Children’s Rights is truly honored to be recognized by the Impact Fund. For nearly 30 years this remarkable organization has made it possible for civil rights advocates to get to the very root of injustice and create transformative social change,” says Executive Director, Sandy Santana, continuing: “The Impact Fund’s early support was pivotal to our groundbreaking victory in Missouri, which will improve the health and safety of 13,000 children in the foster care system and raise the bar of accountability for child welfare systems nationwide.”
Echoing Santana, is Julia Olson, Executive Director and Chief Legal Counsel for Our Children’s Trust, the second of the honorees:
"The Impact Fund’s generous support of Our Children's Trust has helped provide critical scientific analysis essential to the constitutional climate recovery lawsuit, Juliana v. United States. Saving our planet is the most economical pathway forward! It should be encouraging to everyone right now, that in the face of one public health crisis which is deeply hurting our economy, planning for and stopping the public health crisis resulting from fossil fuels and climate destabilization will actually improve our economy overall and save energy consumers money. Thank you, Impact Fund!"
The third honoree, in another David v. Goliath struggle, is Texas RioGrande Legal Aid which took serial polluter, Formosa Plastics, to court and won. Says Attorney and Community Development Team Manager Erin Gaines:
“We are grateful for the litigation support we received at a crucial time that helped us bring a strong, and eventually successful, Clean Water Act case against Formosa Plastics on behalf of an all-volunteer grassroots group and Diane Wilson, a retired shrimper who has fought against the plant’s pollution for three decades.”
The grantees will be honored together with keynote speaker, Jill Wine-Banks, at the Zoom Event on October 21. Sponsorships are available and a donation of any amount earns a ticket to the event.
ENDS
For more information and photography, contact:
Teddy Basham-Witherington 415.845.1206 / twitherington@impactfund.org
About The Impact Fund
The Impact Fund was founded in December 1992 to help advance economic, environmental, racial, and social justice through the courts. Originally envisioned as a purely grant making organization, the Impact Fund has made 701 grants totaling just over $7.7M. Click here for Grant Criteria and information about Grant Deadlines.
Since its inception, the Impact Fund has grown to include both advocacy and education in its range of services. Today, the Impact Fund litigates a small number of cases directly, authors amicus briefs, provides a substantial amount of pro-bono consulting and presents an annual conference for plaintiff-side class action practitioners, a training institute for budding public interest class action practitioners, and numerous seminars and webinars. Click here for the 2019 Annual Report.