This is the second in a series of four blog posts celebrating the work of the 2014 NCRP Impact Awards winners. Stay tuned for the next installments, plus an upcoming video recap of the awards ceremony.
On June 9, Vermont’s Ben & Jerry’s Foundation received the 2014 NCRP Impact Award for Corporate Foundation. Ben & Jerry’s embodies the belief that lasting change occurs when the people most affected by a problem are put in positions of power to solve it. Organizer Danilo Lopez is one man who has become a partner to the foundation, effecting change in both his own life and his community.
In 2011, Danilo, a migrant worker, was a passenger in a car pulled over by Vermont State Police. He was racially profiled and was handed off to federal immigration authorities. This event motivated him to get involved with Migrant Justice, a Ben & Jerry’s grantee that brings farm workers and community partners together to create systemic change. Lopez became a leader in Migrant Justice’s initiatives, serving as a spokesperson to advocate for legislative changes around the problems faced by farm workers.
In their three short years of existence, Migrant Justice has succeeded in gaining a bias-free policing policy for both state and local law enforcement agencies, and in coalition with fellow Ben & Jerry’s grantee the Vermont Workers Center, defeated a poison amendment to Vermont’s landmark Universal Health Care legislation that would have excluded undocumented workers from health care benefits.
The Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, which funds grassroots organizing around the country, has supported Migrant Justice since its beginning and contributed to its success. Further, since its own founding in 1985, the Foundation has worked to advance social and environmental justice and encourage safe and sustainable food systems. By funding grassroots organizing groups like Migrant Justice, Ben & Jerry’s puts in action the philosophy that grassroots organizing is the most effective strategy for social change.
Migrant Justice demonstrated the power of this belief when its members rallied to prevent Lopez’s deportation last year. The organization collected 4,000 petition signatures and organized a rally at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Center in Vermont, ultimately suspending Lopez’s extradition. Lopez’s experiences, and his willingness to lead grassroots efforts, have helped to bring attention to systems that needed to be changed. Ben & Jerry’s focus on addressing root causes, identifying long-term solutions and achieving policy wins is an important complement to the on-the-ground work partners like Lopez accomplish.
Thank you, Ben & Jerry’s, for the great work you do!
Check out these photos from the 2014 NCRP Impact Awards reception celebrating the work of the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, and that of fellow awardees Liberty Hill Foundation, The California Endowment and Hill-Snowdon Foundation.
Jeanné Isler is field director at the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). Follow NCRP on Twitter (@ncrp).
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