This fall the RFC awarded over $165,000 to 62 families to aid 131 children, plus two group grants supporting dozens of additional families and youth. Six are new awards, the remaining 58 are renewal grants to current RFC beneficiaries. This brings the total granted in 2013 to more than $365,000, pushing us over $5.1 million granted in the history of the RFC! As activists continue to struggle for a better world for all our children, we remain committed to providing continued support for their children and for targeted activist youth.
NEW GRANTS
1. Herman Warsh Memorial Fund. $3500 for a group grant to support a music class as part of a child and family strengthening program for the children of torture survivors. The fathers in each family were pro-democracy activists in African countries who were all detained and tortured before seeking asylum in the U.S. IL (Learn more about this support program in News from Our Community and more on the named fund at www.rfc.org/namedfunds.)
2. Family Targeted for Decades. $2000 for school tuition for the six-year-old son whose father, a third generation human rights activist, struggles with PTSD. He and his family have been followed and targeted his entire life for their organizing. GA
3. Antopol Fund*: Young Activist Endures Assault and Arson. $1900 for a computer and a Carry it Forward award** for the 18-year-old environmental, animal, and equal rights targeted activist youth whose family faced gunfire and arson at their home. After relocating to a new state, she was threatened again when she fought against the privatization of her high school. CA (See New Named Fund Celebrates Parents' Activism for more details.)
(**CIF awards of $600 are given to 18 to 24-year-olds to help pay for the cost associated with college or similar programs designed to prepare them for adult life.)
4. Young Blogger Under Death Threat. $1600 for a CIF award and a Development grant* for a computer and counseling for the 21-year-old targeted activist youth who was ostracized from her community and threatened for her advocacy for women’s rights and gender equality in her home country. NY
(*Development grants of up to $1000 enable targeted activist youth to further their education, support their emotional needs or develop their organizing skills.)
5. Grand Jury Resister Imprisoned. $1000 Development grant for therapeutic services for the recently released 23-year-old targeted activist youth who was incarcerated after refusing to testify in front of a grand jury investigating activists. WA
6. Antopol Fund: Labor Organizer Tortured. $600 for a CIF award for the 21-year-old daughter whose activist father was a union leader in Haiti. He was arrested, detained, and tortured after organizing a national strike against the military. Since receiving asylum in the U.S. he has continued his activism and maintained his commitment to the Haitian community. NY
RENEWALS
7. Clinton E. Jencks Memorial Fund. $1850 for sports programs for three sons, ages 10 to 17, whose mother was threatened with prison for trying to address the needs of low-income families. TX (The Jencks Fund will cover part of this grant. Learn more about this named fund here.)
8-12. Parents Fight for Environmental Justice, Racial Equality. $20,500 for a broad range of programs for 14 children, ages two to 16, from five families. Three mothers and a father were beaten and arrested while marching against environmental racism; others were attacked and/or imprisoned for their community organizing work. GA, NY
13-17. Children and Parents Working Together for Peace. $10,124 for a variety of cultural and educational programs and two CIF awards for nine children, ages two to 20, from five families who are members of several pacifist communities. Parents and teenaged children have engaged in peaceful anti-war protests and many of the parents have been imprisoned for civil disobedience. ME, NJ, NY, VA
18. Antopol Fund: Mother Gives Birth Behind Bars. $9500 for childcare and an Attica Fund Prison Visit grant* for the four children, ages two to 11, whose mother (an Iraq War resister) fled to Canada with her family. After five years she was deported to the U.S. where she served eight months in the brig. She was released several weeks after giving birth to a baby boy. TX (For more about this family, see News From Our Community.)
(*Attica Fund Prison Visit grants enable the children and grandchildren of political prisoners to visit their jailed loved ones.)
19. Special Group Grant Helps Targeted Activist Arts Organization Rebuild. $7500 for the community group for young people, ages 17 to 24, that provides political education and Hip Hop workshops. The collective was founded by young musicians, several of whom are the children of Chilean refugee activists tortured during the Pinochet dictatorship. Their community space was raided and the group evicted. This grant will help them replace equipment and continue programming. NY
20. Two Generations Targeted. $7500 for school tuition for the five children, ages eight to 18, whose father, himself the son of a political prisoner, was fired for giving a lecture supporting political prisoners. GA
21-22. Muslim Peace Activists Targeted. $6425 for school tuition and two CIF awards for the seven children, ages eight to 20, from two families whose fathers were convicted of terrorist-related money laundering after an FBI sting targeting them for their public anti-war activities and support for a local Mosque. NY
23. Father Charged for Protesting with his Children. $5268 for swimming, theater and piano lessons for five children, ages eight to 17, whose father was arrested at a peaceful demonstration with his kids. He faced additional charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor for bringing his children with him to the event. NC
24. Mayor Targets Mother. $4600 for music and dance lessons for the three children, ages five to 13, whose mother, an anti-environmental racism activist, was harassed for requesting to know a city council member’s position on locating a soil processing plant in her low-income, predominantly minority community. PA
25. Daughters Assaulted. $4600 for school tuition and a CIF award for the seven-year-old son and 11 and 22-year-old daughters whose mother, an anti-female genital mutilation activist, was forced to flee her home country with her children after two of her daughters were attacked in retaliation for her work. NY
26. Mother Continues Family Legacy of Activism. $4510 for music lessons, orthodontia, and childcare for the four children, ages one to 13, whose mother, herself the daughter of a targeted activist, has worked for children’s, women’s and impoverished people’s rights and against racism. She has been arrested, beaten, and jailed for her activism. OR
27. Journalist Harassed. $4500 for educational programs for the three children, ages five to 11, whose father, an independent, activist reporter, was questioned by the FBI and subpoenaed after writing stories on police brutality and racial profiling at protests. TX
28. Activist Mother Forced to Find Another Job. $4395 for dance and sports programs, school tuition, and a CIF award for the four children, ages eight to 18, whose mother’s support for an arrested Muslim caused her boss to pressure her to find a job where she’d “feel more at home.” GA
29. Sports Programs for Children of Pacifist. $4100 for a range of activities for three children, ages three to 17, whose father faced fines and jail time for his anti-missile shield action. OK
30. Family Threatened by KKK. $3900 for sports programs, school tuition and orthodontia for five children, ages nine to 18, whose mother received death threats from the Klan for her efforts to desegregate a public housing complex. OR
31. Iraqi Refugee Children. $3500 for for piano lessons and a computer for the 15-year-old daughter and 17-year-old son whose mother assisted civilians in Baghdad shortly after the U.S. invasion. She was kidnapped, interrogated, beaten and forced to flee, eventually settling in the U.S. IL
32. 65 Years in Prison for Peace Efforts. $2600 for a CIF award and an Attica Fund Prison Visit grant for the two sisters, ages 13 and 19, whose father was convicted of providing material support to terrorist organizations for aiding groups working for peace in the Middle East. TX
33. Grandfather Jailed for Over 32 Years. $2600 for a CIF award and an Attica Fund Prison Visit grant for the 22-year-old young woman whose grandmother is a former Puerto Rican political prisoner and whose grandfather is one of the longest-held political prisoners in the history of Puerto Rico. IL
34. Mother Threatened with Loss of Son. $2500 for childcare and educational support for the five-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son whose mother, an LGBTQ community activist, was threatened by the state with the removal of her son because of her activism. OR
35. Daughter of Activist Loses Job, Keeps Fighting for Others. $2100 for school tuition and a CIF award for the two-year-old granddaughter and 19-year-old daughter whose guardian/mother, the daughter of a political prisoner, experienced police harassment as a child but still organizes on behalf of her father and other political prisoners despite continued targeting. GA
36. Antopol Fund: Mother’s Truck Set on Fire. $2000 for arts programs for the two girls, ages five and seven, whose mother was fired from her job and her truck burned for helping to organize a protest against the Trayvon Martin verdict. CA
37. Teacher Fired for Advocating for her Students. $2000 for childcare and educational support for the two children, ages five and 18, whose mother, a public school teacher, lost her job because of her efforts on behalf of her students. GA
38. Five Years for Demonstrating. $2000 for school tuition for the 15-year-old daughter whose father was imprisoned for protesting the Navy’s use of Vieques as a bombing range. PR
39. Antopol Fund: Family’s Home Bulldozed. $2000 for orthodontia for the 15-year-old son whose mother, a Native American activist and traditionalist, had her nation standing stripped and home destroyed because of her opposition to the Bureau of Indian Affairs-appointed leader of their nation. NY
40. Mother Fights to End Torture. $2000 for piano and ice skating lessons for the nine-year-old daughter whose mother provided advocacy and assistance to women whose rights had been violated in her home country. She was detained and arrested before seeking refuge in the U.S. IL
41. Son Separated from Father. $2000 for sports lessons and after-school programs for the 10-year-old son whose father, a trade unionist, was the co-founder of an immigrants’ rights collective and was arrested on politically motivated charges. FL
42. Father Refuses to be Silenced Despite Torture. $1980 for tennis and piano lessons for the 13-year-old daughter whose father survived a year in a concentration camp in Bosnia. He testified against his captors despite receiving numerous death threats. IL
43. Parents Face Threat of Deadly Force. $1968 for music lessons for the 12-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter whose parents, members of a pacifist community, have participated in numerous protests despite a declaration from officials allowing the use of “deadly force” against protestors if they “infiltrate the military complex in a time of war.” CA
44. Antopol Fund: Father Fired for Reporting the Truth. $1900 for sports programs for the 14-year-old son whose father, an independent journalist, was fired and blacklisted for expressing progressive views and covering controversial topics. MN
45. Two Generations Fight for Activists. $1625 for swim lessons for the 13-year-old daughter whose mother and grandmother were detained and tortured for protesting students’ human rights violations in their North African home country, and ultimately fled to the U.S. IL
46. Iraq War Resister. $1600 for educational support for the 10 and 11-year-old daughters whose soldier father served a four-month sentence for refusing to return to Iraq. CO
47. Vieques Activist. $1600 for educational support and a CIF award for the 17-year-old son and 18-year-old daughter of a formerly incarcerated Vieques activist. PR
48. Mother Beaten, Arrested. $1550 for educational support for the 17-year-old son whose mother, an animal rights activist, suffered numerous beatings, arrests, and a miscarriage at the hands of the police. PA
49. Father Jailed, Tortured. $1500 for recreational activities for the 11-year-old daughter whose father was a leader in the fight against human rights violations under the repressive dictatorship in his West African home country. He was imprisoned and tortured before escaping to the U.S. IL
50. Child of Imprisoned Native American Environmental Activist. $1500 for counseling and extra-curricular programs for the 10-year-old daughter whose father served an eight-month sentence for destroying traps set for mountain lions, and was re-imprisoned for accepting a Facebook friend request. MI
51. Father Fought for Indigenous Rights. $1500 for educational support and orthodontia for the 15-year-old son of a deceased Native American prisoners’ rights activist. NM
52. Anti-Globalization Political Prisoner. $1500 for recreational activities for the 17-year-old whose father was incarcerated for more than seven years because of his organizing. OR
53. Mother Disabled by Beating. $1495 for a cello and bow after years of lessons for the 14-year-old daughter whose mother was attacked during a Republican National Convention. WA
54. Music Lessons for Sons. $1344 for trumpet and flute lessons for the 14 and 16-year-old sons of a formerly incarcerated prisoners’ rights activist. VT
55. Antopol Fund: Educational Support for Daughters of War Resister. $1200 for two CIF awards for the 18-year-old twin daughters of a formerly incarcerated conscientious objector. CA
56. Father Resisted Grand Jury Witch Hunt. $1000 for dance and sports programs for the eight-year-old daughter whose father, part of a peace and international solidarity group, refused to testify before grand juries investigating other members of that organization. IL
57. Family’s Home Raided. $1000 for music lessons for the 15-year-old daughter whose father was harassed by the police for his role in organizing demonstrations against corporations that produce genetically modified foods. MN
58. Jailers Threaten to Burn Children. $750 for cultural programs and a CIF award for the 14-year-old son and 21-year-old daughter of a refugee women’s rights activist who was tortured and whose children were threatened by her Iranian captors. OK
CIF AWARDS
59-63. $4,800 for six beneficiaries, ages 18 to 22, from five families. CA, CT, MI, NJ, PR
ATTICA PRISON VISIT PROGRAM GRANT
64. Grandchildren of Political Prisoner. $2000 for an Attica Fund Prison Visit grant for the eight and 12-year-old sisters whose grandfather is a former Black Panther and a long-term political prisoner. CA