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Category: Human Rights

Angie Junck Elected to GCIR’s Board of Directors

Angie Junck, director of the Foundation’s Human Rights program, has been elected to the board of directors of Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR).

Update From the Foundation’s Human Rights Program

It has been over 10 months since I joined the Heising-Simons Foundation as its first Human Rights Program Director. Over that time, I have had the chance to meet movement leaders, who have broadened my perspectives of the work to combat mass criminalization, and I have also deepened my existing relationships with those I have …

Grantee Borealis Philanthropy Launches Spark Justice Fund

Earlier this month, Borealis Philanthropy announced the official launch of the Spark Justice Fund (SJF), a new donor collaborative awarding $1,745,000 to eight organizations to end money bail, advance pretrial justice reform, and build power in communities most impacted by incarceration.

Supporting Undocumented College Students and Their Families in California

Undocumented young people and their families are integral to the social, economic, and cultural fabric of California. The state is home to roughly 3 million undocumented residents, with an estimated 72,000 undocumented youth attending California’s public institutions of higher education. Today, the Heising-Simons Foundation is thrilled to be one of the inaugural funders of the California Campus Catalyst Fund (the Catalyst Fund), a three-year, $10 million initiative designed to expand and create programs in the higher education system to support undocumented students and their families.

Introducing Our New Director of Human Rights

I’m delighted to announce that Angie Junck will join the Heising-Simons Foundation as our new, and first ever, director of Human Rights. Angie comes to us with expertise in immigration and criminal law and policy, as well as deep nonprofit experience, most recently serving as the supervising attorney and director of immigrant defense programs at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), one of our grantee partners and an organization she has been with for more than 13 years.

Grantee Civil Rights Corps Wins Court Challenge for Low Income People in Tennessee

A federal judge has struck down Tennessee’s policy of suspending driver’s licenses of people who cannot afford to pay court costs or traffic fines, the first such ruling of its kind in the United States and a significant step toward decriminalizing people for being poor.

Supporting Immigrants Affected by Domestic Zero-Tolerance Policy

America is a nation enriched by immigrants, many of whom traveled a difficult path to come to the United States. Many were forced to leave friends and family members behind. Such separations are tragic. The trauma they inflict scar those affected as well as the generations that follow. Usually, such rending is the product of war or upheaval somewhere else in the world. But today, separations are the product of U.S. government policy.

Essie Justice Group Releases National Report On Women Impacted by Mass Incarceration

The context is stark: At least 1 in 4 women in the United States has a family member who is incarcerated. Moreover, women are being incarcerated more frequently today than ever before.

Equal Justice Initiative’s New Memorial Featured on “60 Minutes”

On April 26, 2018, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) will open the United States’ first memorial dedicated to the thousands of African-Americans lynched over a seven-decade period following the Civil War, and a new museum dedicated to slavery and its legacy today. EJI is supported by the Foundation’s Human Rights program.