NEWS RELEASE 07.25.23: IMPACT FUND MAKES GRANTS OF $111,500 FOR ECONOMIC, ENVIRONMENTAL, RACIAL, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
One grant supports an environmental justice case against a private company for unlawfully discharging animal waste into local waterways and over-applying animal manure in crop fields surrounding the Snake River in Grand View, Idaho, which impacts safe drinking water and threatens native fish populations.
Berkeley, CA 07.25.23 – The Impact Fund has made recoverable grants totaling $111,500 in its summer cycle to fund four lawsuits brought on behalf of incarcerated people denied basic and humane mental health services, BIPOC communities harmed by pollution and financial predation, and immigrants held in detention and subjected to commercially exploitative work programs.
“By supporting litigation that safeguards civil liberties and ensures equitable access to a clean and healthy environment, we pave the path towards a more just and sustainable future where the dignity and rights of all are respected,” said Impact Fund Executive Director Jocelyn Larkin.
The Impact Fund provided funding to Mobilization for Justice to support a lawsuit brought by a Black Brooklyn homeowner against a mortgage lender for allegedly orchestrating a predatory lending scheme intended to transfer title of her home of more than 35 years. This particular scheme is an example of predatory affinity lending, which involves lenders using brokers to market loans to people they know in their community, thereby building trust and setting them up for exploitation. This case seeks to stop the defendant from continuing their practices and to serve as a deterrent to prevent other bad actors from engaging in similar practices.
Snake River Waterkeeper received support for an environmental justice case against Simplot Company for unlawfully discharging animal waste into local waterways and over-applying animal manure in crop fields surrounding the Snake River in Grand View, Idaho. The massive, ongoing pollution from Simplot’s CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation) impacts safe drinking water and threatens native fish populations. Indigenous communities with treaty rights to fish the Snake River can no longer safely consume these fish, removing a critical nutritional staple and commercial resource from their lives. Additionally, the Snake River is the primary water supply for rural communities largely populated by people who live below the poverty line and may not have access to in-home water filtration systems to ensure safe drinking water.
A grant was made to Uptown People's Law Center to fund a class action against the Illinois Department of Corrections and Illinois governor challenging the treatment of prisoners with a mental illness. Approximately one-third of Illinois prisoners are diagnosed with a mental illness severe enough to require treatment, yet the Illinois Department of Corrections fails to provide meaningful treatment to most people in its prisons. Rather, all too often, prisoners with mental illness are punished for their symptoms by being beaten and placed in solitary confinement. As a result, many deteriorate. The goal of this case is to require Illinois to provide individualized assessment and treatment for all people in prison who need mental health care.
In another class action funded, Worker Justice Center of New York is fighting to end the use of detained immigrants’ labor to run the facilities that jail them. This case challenges a federal detention facility’s dollar-a-day work program, which pays detainees $1 in commissary credit for each day of work, regardless of the length of their shift. The conditions of confinement are inherently coercive, inducing people to work in order to buy warm clothing or supplemental food, to avoid the loss of access to phones or outdoor space, or simply to be unlocked from their cells for a little longer each day. Ultimately, this case aims to disrupt the profitability of civil immigration detention as a for-profit business and to reduce the prevalence of civil detention of immigrants in the U.S.
Helen Kang, Chair of the Impact Fund’s Grant Advisory Committee, said: “With these grants, we are increasing access to the courts, advocating for the rights of vulnerable populations, and helping communities confront systemic injustices.”
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 763 grants totaling $9,071,041. 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 2022 Annual Report.
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.