At the RFC we’re always seeking new supporters.  Over the years we’ve gained many contributors at house parties and speaking engagements, at the large public events we’ve staged and through personal contact.   But for over two decades our biggest single source of new donors has come from direct mail outreach.  We’d send letters describing the RFC project to those whose names were on the mailing lists of other progressive organizations, and add those who contributed to us to our list.  We still do this, although not as often as we used to because of sharply increased

 It has been a weird week at work for me.  We sent out the spring issue of our newsletter by surface mail last Friday and emailed our online version on Monday.  By the middle of this week, thousands of RFC community members had received it.  My Executive Director’s report in the newsletter entitled “Goodbye” began: “This is my last report as Executive Director of the Rosenberg Fund for Children.  When our next newsletter is published in September, Jenn Meeropol, my daughter, will be filling this position.” [Read the full report

Late last week two young Grand Jury resisters were released from the Federal Prison near Seattle, Washington.  They had been imprisoned since September for refusing to answer a Grand Jury’s questions.  The Grand Jury’s initial charge was to investigate politically motivated vandalism at demonstrations, but it quickly degenerated into a witch hunt designed to terrorize communities of young anarchists in the Pacific Northwest.  Supporters have maintained steady pressure for the detainees’ release on both the District Attorney and the Judge who were responsible for the resister’

Guest post by Amber Black, RFC Public Relations & Technology Coordinator

Honoring resistance is at the core of what we do here at the RFC.  A lot of our focus right now is on the lead-up to the 60th anniversary this June, of the executions of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg - our namesake and inspiration, and a mighty symbol of resistance.

 In January, Trevor Aaronson, a senior fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University, published The Terror Factor: Inside the FBI’s Manufactured War on Terrorism.