August 2021
De Colores Rapid Response Fund -
Funding Now Available!
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, PDF increased grantmaking through the De Colores Rapid Response Fund, distributing grants to organizations across the country that were organizing for housing security, safety measures for incarcerated people, education reform in the remote context, and economic protection for immigrant communities.

After a brief pause, PDF is excited to share that funding is again available from the De Colores Rapid Response Fund! Is your organization responding to a "Movement Moment" and in need of rapid response funding to help you take action?
Recent De Colores grant recipients include Who Speaks for Me, Texas Prisons Community Advocates, and Justice 4 Housing, a grassroots organization based in Boston that's committed to ending housing discrimination and homelessness for justice-involved individuals.

Leslie Credle, Founder of Justice 4 Housing, said of the PDF grant, "We are thrilled to use this funding to further our efforts to end housing discrimination and homelessness among formerly incarcerated individuals. Your generosity ensures that we can continue to serve our most vulnerable community members to keep them safe from Covid-19 and expand housing opportunities in communities that are over-policed and under-resourced."

While the CDC's eviction moratorium has been extended for two months in most parts of the country, there remains a serious nationwide housing crisis. It's critical to continue to support grassroots organizations like Justice 4 Housing who are mobilizing to create affordable housing solutions for our most vulnerable community members.
PDF's Partners On the Frontlines of
Sex Worker Organizing
Sex workers have a long and prolific community organizing and social movement history. Despite little recognition from the mainstream, across the United States there exists a vibrant ecosystem of sex worker-led organizations advocating for decriminalization, harm reduction measures, other labor protections, and creating cultural projects aimed at destigmatizing the industry.

PDF is proud to be supporting two, BIPOC-led sex worker organizations through our Fiscal Sponsorship Program, The Black Sex Worker Collective and The BIPOC Adult Industry Collective, which utilize mutual aid to empower their communities and advocacy to push for policy changes. Since the oppression and discrimination their members face are multi-faceted, both organizations bring an intersectional, multi-issue approach to their organizing.
One of PDF's 2021 Community Organizing Grant partners, the Haymarket Pole Collective, is a group of sex workers in the Portland, OR, area who "Share a vision of our labor liberated from racism, patriarchy, ableism, and other oppressive structures."

Cat Hollis, Founder of Haymarket Pole Collective, says, "Haymarket Pole's current programs include culturally specific therapy services, COVID testing and communal health resilience programs, legal liaison services for personal, housing, and work issues, and direct financial assistance to sex workers of color. PDF's grant has allowed us to expand our therapy program as well as the administrative support services needed to keep our programming accessible and functional."
The Struggle for Environmental Justice
The climate crisis is here, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide have not been this high in at least 2 million years and the last decade is likely the hottest in the last 125,000 years. Wildfires engulf California, floods cripple parts of Germany and China, and record-breaking heatwaves persist around the world.

A hotter future is inevitable, but there remains a small window for action to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
 Dixie Wildfire, the largest fire in California history
(AP Photo/Noah Berger)
We have to act upon what organizers have long been advocating, that the transition away from an extractive, fossil-fuel dominated economy toward a sustainable economy must involve listening to and following the leadership of frontline, marginalized communities.

Several of PDF's 2021 Community Organizing Grant partners organize for environmental justice, like Coal River Mountain Watch. Based in Naoma, West Virginia, CRMW has been in this struggle since 1998 and continues to monitor and protest mountaintop removal coal mining which threatens their community's health and waterways and contributes significant greenhouse emissions to the atmosphere.

In New Mexico, Communities for Clean Water (CCW) organizes to safeguard the Rio Grande watershed. Rachel Conn of CCW says, "CCW amplifies community voices and empowers collective action in order to stop toxic discharges from polluting the waters of tribal communities and other downstream water users. As part of our work, CCW also prepares young people to become leaders and champions for clean water. PDF's funding has supported our work to convene cross-generational healing circles to provide a forum for youth to share their perspectives and feelings surrounding living in the shadow of historic and current toxic discharges from Los Alamos National Laboratory."

In Seattle, the Transit Riders Union continues to advocate for affordable and sustainable public transit and is part of coalitions that have been successful in securing millions in COVID-19 relief and Green New Deal investments.

Thank you for your support.