Wanna make a difference in the world? TAKE ACTION and GET INVOLVED. Here we feature some organizations we feel are taking activism, social justice, art, music, community building and more to the next level. We encourage you to contribute to these organizations - directly thru their websites below.
Over the last 15 years, Climbing PoeTree has inspired thousands through their award-winning multimedia performances, soul-stirring spoken, conscious hip hop, world music, visionary artistry, sustainable touring, and community organizing. Co-creators Alixa Garcia and Naima Penniman have independently organized more than 30 national and international tours, taking their work from South Africa to Cuba, the Scotland to Mexico, England to India, and throughout the U.S. including 11,000 miles toured on a bus converted to run on recycled vegetable oil. Climbing PoeTree has stirred crowds at diverse venues from the United Nations to the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Harvard University to Rikers Island Prison. They have been featured alongside powerhouses such as Alicia Keys, Janelle Monáe, Erykah Badu, Little Dragon, Talib Kweli, Maxwell, Madonna, Rising Appalachia, Alice Walker, Danny Glover, Cornel West, Naomi Klein, and Angela Davis, who remarked: “Each time I have the pleasure of attending a performance by Climbing PoeTree, I feelenriched, renewed, and inspired. Alixa and Naima insist that poetry can change the world—and it is true that the urgency, power and beauty of their words impel us to keep striving for the radical futures toward which they gesture."
HipHopForChange, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit that uses grassroots activism to educate people about socio-economic injustices and advocate solutions through hip hop culture. We raise funds for local causes that enrich marginalized and historically oppressed communities.
.:Justice for Salladin Barton:.
Salladin Barton was 36 years old when he died. He was mentally ill, a kind hearted man, and arrested for non-violent crimes and served 19 months with no proper legal rights granted or representation. His life ended too soon from a tragic death, caused by violence from the guards in the Broom County Jail, in Binghamton, NY. They are denying everything, even though, there are testimonials revealing and affirming the abuse put on this kind hearted man, Sal B. This death could have and should have been prevented. The mental health system failed him, as did the judiciary system. Broome County Jail, and the faculty there, wants the story Sal B to be forgotten. This cannot and must not happen. His family deserves justice and closure, as do the families of the other four men whose lives the jail claimed. Salladin was not the first man to die in the Broome County jail and unless systemic and drastic changes are made, he won't be the last.
.:Puente Human Rights Movement:.
The Puente Human Rights Movement is a grassroots migrant justice organization based in Phoenix, Arizona. We develop, educate, and empower migrant communities to protect and defend our families and ourselves.
"In California, 242,339 young people have received DACA status between 2012 and March, 2017, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Officials estimate that 72,300 undocumented students are enrolled at the state’s public colleges and universities (60,000 at community colleges, 8,300 at Cal State and 4,000 at UC) and that half probably have DACA protection now. Nationwide, about 800,000 young people have received DACA status."
"UltraViolet is a powerful and rapidly growing community of people mobilized to fight sexism and create a more inclusive world that accurately represents all women, from politics and government to media and pop culture. We work on a range of issues—reproductive rights, healthcare, economic security, violence, and racial justice—and we center the voices of all women, especially women of color, immigrants, and LGBTQ women. UltraViolet exists to create a cost for sexism and to achieve full equity for all women through culture and policy change. … We demand accountability from individuals, the media, and institutions that perpetuate sexist narratives or seek to limit the rights, safety, and economic security of women. We leverage culture, politics, the news, and our rapid-response model to mobilize millions of people, quickly."
.:The National Organization for Women:.
"The National Organization for Women is dedicated to its multi-issue and multi-strategy approach to women's rights, and is the largest organization of feminist grassroots activists in the United States. NOW has hundreds of chapters and hundreds of thousands of members and activists in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Since our founding in 1966, NOW's purpose is to take action through intersectional grassroots activism to promote feminist ideals, lead societal change, eliminate discrimination, and achieve and protect the equal rights of all women and girls in all aspects of social, political, and economic life."
.:American Civil Liberties Union:.
"The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) works in the courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States. … The ACLU takes up the toughest civil liberties cases and issues to defend all people from government abuse and overreach."