NEWS STATEMENT 07.10.24: Impact Fund Grants $203,650 to Support Public Interest LItigation
One grant funds a case on behalf of Indigenous land defenders from the Wet’suwet’en First Nation in Canada, who have been protesting the construction of a pipeline on their land.
Berkeley, CA 07.10.2024 - The Impact Fund has granted $203,650 in its summer grantmaking cycle to fund nine impact lawsuits. These cases aim to challenge the censorship of books in jails, improve access to transit for people with disabilities, seek accountability for police violence against Indigenous land defenders, prevent the destruction of unhoused peoples’ property, and more.
“These cases demonstrate how far we have to go to establish equal access to information, public spaces, and power. Funding lawsuits that push for greater access benefits all of us because participation in a democratic society should be for all the people, not a privileged few,” said Impact Fund Executive Director Lindsay Nako.
The Impact Fund provided funding to the ACLU of Montana in support of a civil rights case seeking to overturn SB 99, a Montana state law that limits the discussion of reproductive health and LGBTQ+ identities in public schools. Enacted in 2021, SB 99 has had a chilling effect on health providers across the state, preventing them from teaching fact-based, age-appropriate sexual education to students. Moreover, due to its broad language, SB 99 has effectively become a “Don’t Say Gay” bill that has suppressed conversations about gender and sexuality in school. The goal of this case is to ensure that all Montana students can access quality sex education and that LGBTQ+ youth can go to school without feeling like their identity is a taboo subject.
Chantler & Company, a public interest law firm in British Columbia, received a grant to support a lawsuit brought by the Gidimt’en and Likhsilyu Clans of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation. These clans have been involved in a years-long fight against the construction of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline on unceded Wet’suwet’en land. The lawsuit alleges that the Indigenous land defenders resisting the pipeline—including several community elders—have been subjected to targeted harassment, surveillance, and intimidation by the police and the pipeline company. The land defenders seek accountability for the ongoing harm they have suffered, including psychological trauma and property damage. If successful, the case would also have significant value for Indigenous communities in Canada and throughout the world, who will draw strength from and be inspired by the victory to advance similar claims.
A grant was also made to the Elder Law and Disability Rights Center for a class action against the city of Riverside, California, for unlawfully taking and destroying the property of unhoused people. Despite the very limited availability of shelters in the city, Riverside has passed “anti-camping” ordinances banning people from sitting or sleeping in public spaces. While enforcing these ordinances, the city seizes and disposes of unhoused peoples’ possessions, including essential items such as medication and identification. Over 40 percent of the unhoused population in Riverside has a disability, and the seizure of medication can lead to serious health issues. The lawsuit seeks to stop the city’s practice of seizing unhoused peoples’ property and to compensate the people whose possessions were taken.
Florida Legal Services received a grant to support a civil rights lawsuit brought by survivors of sexual violence at the Lowell Correctional Institution, the largest women’s prison in Florida. The case was brought against the prison gynecologist for sexually abusing incarcerated women and also against the prison medical care provider for failing to protect patients from abuse. Women incarcerated at the prison are denied care if they refuse to see this doctor, which has resulted in a number of serious medical conditions that go untreated. There is a widespread culture of tolerance of sexual abuse at the facility—reports have been made about the doctor for years, but he continues to work at the prison with no consequences. The goal of the case is to end the abuse and allow everyone incarcerated at the prison to see another doctor.
Atlanta law firm Mitchell Shapiro Greenamyre & Funt is bringing a First Amendment case against the Gwinnett County Jail in Lawrenceville, Georgia, for restricting the books that incarcerated people are allowed to read. The jail has an “authorized retailer” policy that only allows a few booksellers to supply books to jails and prevents people from mailing books to their loved ones in jail. This policy has made it extremely difficult for incarcerated people to access books. The people at the jail—the majority of whom are Black and low-income—are largely shut off from the outside world, and reading is one of the few means of education and rehabilitative activities available to them. The goal of the lawsuit is to end this policy and prevent censorship of books in the Gwinnett County Jail.
The Impact Fund also provided a grant to British Columbia law firm Ng Ariss Fong, Lawyers, to support a case on behalf of the Unist’ot’en House of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation. This First Nation house has been challenging the construction of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline on its land. Unist’ot’en is making a strategic Aboriginal claim to seek the right of governance in its territories, where Coastal Gaslink has been given permission to build the pipeline from the Canadian government. The lawsuit seeks to establish that Unist’ot’en has the right to regulate third-party activity on its territories, a ruling that could benefit all First Nations across Canada. This novel claim for an Aboriginal right of governance of third-party activities aims to lay the legal groundwork for the further development of Aboriginal self-government rights in Canada.
Northern Justice Project, a civil rights law firm in Alaska, secured funding to support a class action against Alaska’s second largest school district for physically restraining and secluding students with disabilities as a form of discipline. Restraint and seclusion are traumatizing to students, and although their use is only recommended in cases of serious emergency, the district routinely restrains and isolates students who have behavioral challenges due to their disabilities. The district also often does not inform parents that their children have been restrained and isolated at school. According to the lawsuit, these actions violate the district’s own policies, as well as Alaska state law. The case aims to end the use of restraint and seclusion and implement a less restrictive form of discipline in the school district.
A grant was made to Texas RioGrande Legal Aid to support a case on behalf of El Paso nonprofit Annunciation House, which for nearly 50 years has been providing food and shelter to refugees who just crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. In February, the Texas Attorney General demanded that Annunciation House hand over all of its records—including the identifying information of everyone who had ever stayed there—within 24 hours. When Annunciation House asked for more time, Texas threatened to revoke the organization’s nonprofit status, which would essentially force it to shut down. The goal of this case is to protect Annunciation House’s nonprofit status and ensure that it can continue its work without the threat of retaliation.
Public interest law firm Vladeck, Raskin & Clark P.C. is working with New York City residents with disabilities to bring a class action against the city's transportation system for failing to provide adequate transit options. For people who cannot use subways or buses, such as those with mobility issues or intellectual disabilities, New York City offers a “paratransit” system. This system allows people to request a van to pick them up and drop them off at a specific location. However, the paratransit system is inefficient, and it is inaccessible for many. Passengers cannot schedule same-day rides, vehicles often do not arrive on time, and passengers are often sent on unnecessarily long routes into adjoining boroughs. The case is asking New York City to provide a paratransit system for its residents with disabilities that is truly comparable to the subway and bus service, as it is required to do under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Dena Sharp, Chair of the Impact Fund’s Board of Directors, said: “These grants provide resources and support for cases across a spectrum of causes, and will help ensure access to justice for a wide range of communities using the legal system to seek fairness and equality.”
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 789 grants totaling $9,760,129. 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 consulting to civil rights practitioners free of charge, 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 2023 Annual Report.
What Is Impact Litigation?
Impact Litigation is a lawsuit, often a class action, where the outcome of the case may have effects that reach beyond the parties to the case and advance economic, environmental, racial, and/or social justice for a community or a larger group of people who may not have access to the courts on their own.