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Emmy Lefson Fund
for Peace, Social Justice and Human Rights History In 1995, Leon Lefson established the Emmy Lefson Fund for Peace, Social Justice and Human Rights as a memorial to his wife who was his loyal partner during many years of a long and fruitful relationship. The fund makes small grants to non-profit organizations in California concerned with peace, social justice and human rights. These are some of the highlights: The Fund made its first grant in 1996 to People Organizing to Demand Environmental Rights (PODER!), for its organizing efforts for social, economic, environmental and racial justice in the Mission District of San Francisco. In 1998, Project Hearts and Minds received a grant from the Fund to demonstrate how former combatants and victims of a secret American air war could become friends. In 2000, the Third Eye Movement of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights received a grant for organizers of the “Education, Not Incarceration” project. These organizers ran “Know Your Rights” training in high schools, producing a CD compilation of local artists, and coordinating “The Prop Stops Here,” a presentation about the potential impact of Proposition 21. In 2002, SolCity received a grant to purchase a large passenger van to transport participants to youth empowerment and leadership development retreats and workshops. And in the fall of 2003, the San Francisco Living Wage Coalition received a grant from the Fund in order to hold 10 political education neighborhood meetings in different supervisorial districts as part of their grassroots movement of low-wage workers and their allies fighting for economic justice. |
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