NEWS RELEASE 05.02.23: IMPACT FUND MAKES GRANTS OF $180,000 FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

Berkeley, CA 05.02.23 – The Impact Fund has made recoverable grants totaling $180,000 in its spring cycle to fund lawsuits brought on behalf of communities threatened by uncaring corporate interests and small-minded government.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to reaffirm our dedication to empowering and supporting communities in their pursuit of economic and environmental justice,” said Impact Fund Executive Director, Jocelyn Larkin.

The Impact Fund provided funding to Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability to underwrite a multi-plaintiff environmental racism case challenging Caltrans’ approval of a highway interchange expansion project. They allege that would increase truck traffic and industrial development in some of California’s most environmentally burdened communities. The case aims to support South Fresno residents’ long-standing goal of preventing further industrial development in their communities next to parks, homes, schools, daycares, and places of worship, and thus protect and improve environmental quality and public health in South Fresno communities. At the same time, the case enforces Caltrans’ duties under civil rights laws as well as recent commitments to prioritizing racial equity in their processes and actions. 

Another grant recipient, Greenfire Law PC, is bringing a health justice case against Amazon for allowing the sale of skin lightening creams containing toxic levels of mercury to California consumers.  Despite the products’ extreme toxicity, Amazon continues to allow third party vendors to sell these creams to California consumers without warning them about mercury toxicity, in violation of California's Proposition 65. This case seeks to protect people of color from Amazon's decision to profit from the sale of these creams in violation of state and federal law and without regard to the severe harm caused by the use of these creams on users, their family members, and our water.

Legal Aid Services of Oregon also received support for a multi-plaintiff civil rights case against the Oregon Employment Department for due process violations resulting from their efforts to collect unemployment benefit overpayments from low-income individuals. During the pandemic, the Department determined it overpaid benefits to tens of thousands of Oregonians—either by paying benefits to a claimant later decided to be ineligible, or by paying a claimant the wrong amount. Because of delays and backlogs, claimants would often first learn about these alleged overpayments months or years after they received the supposed overpayments. The consequences of this delay are severe: the overpayment debt may grow to tens of thousands of dollars. The goal of this litigation is to compel the agency to establish new policies and procedures that will result in practices for establishment, collection, and waiver of overpayments consistent with the principles of due process.

In another funded case, Our Children’s Trust is bringing a constitutional climate case on behalf of 16 Montana youth who are suing the state for supporting and promoting an energy system that violates their state constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment. The Youth Plaintiffs allege that Montana has created and implemented a fossil-fuel based energy system that results in dangerous levels of greenhouse gas pollution, contributes to the climate crisis, and violates their fundamental constitutional rights to a clean and healthful environment. This challenge will be the first constitutional climate case to come to trial anywhere in the United States.

A grant was made to WaterLegacy for an environmental justice case to advocate for a denial of a mining permit for the planned PolyMet mine in Northern Minnesota in order to prevent contamination of Lake Superior watersheds and harm to Native and non-Native communities. The PolyMet copper-nickel mine is the first sulfide mine to reach the permitting stage in Minnesota, but other sulfide mines have already been proposed and are in various stages of feasibility analysis and environmental review. The PolyMet mine threatens pollution and ecosystem destruction, and undermines environmental justice. If successful, the case could improve regulatory accountability and environmental protection of surface and ground water and prevent harm to Native and non-Native communities in northern Minnesota.

Helen Kang, Chair of the Impact Fund’s Grant Advisory Committee, said: “These grants support cases that ensure that those who are oppressed, regardless of their race, age, or socioeconomic status, have access to a safe and healthy environment and access to due process.”

ENDS

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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 grantmaking organization, the Impact Fund has made 757 grants totaling $8,934,546. 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 2022 Annual Report.  

www.impactfund.org 

What Is Impact Litigation?

Impact Litigation is a lawsuit, often a class action, where the outcome of the case will advance economic, environmental, racial and/or social justice for a community or a large group, which may not have access to the courts on its own.