Local leadership – those affected by poverty and injustice should be leaders in efforts to transform our community.

Mutual learning – ECM seeks to foster our own learning, learning by constituent parishes and by grantee organizations about social needs and paths to social transformation. 

People  
Dr. Ruy Costa, Executive Director
(617) 482-4826 x.208 or rcosta@diomass.org

Proposals are reviewed and funding recommendations are made by the Burgess Urban Fund Committee. Final funding decisions for grants are made by the Executive Committee of the Episcopal City Mission.

• Engaging constituents in identifying shared concerns and setting goals for social change.
• Developing new leaders, especially among those affected by social inequality.
• Undertaking projects that are likely to result in concrete results for the core constituency
• Articulating both the immediate and root causes of the problems addressed and work to change the unequal relationships and social patterns that underlie the problem

The Fund prefers local organizing initiatives that have the potential to link to regional or statewide organizations.

A preference will also be given to projects in which immigrants and/or individuals from low-income communities are part of the leadership.

Priority areas: Housing, Workers’ Rights, Access to Employment

Priority grant projects must address one of the issues listed below. Examples are provided, but not intended to limit the kinds of projects eligible.

• Affordable housing
• Supporting affordable housing development and preservation
• Improving the quality of existing affordable housing for low-income residents
• Workers’ rights
• Improving workplace conditions and job safety
• Securing a living wage or benefits for workers
• Protecting the right to organize
  Access to employment and reducing barriers to employment
• Improving transportation, language access, and other resources to support workers
• Addressing the use of criminal record information and other barriers to employment

Applicants must be non-profit 501(c)3 organizations or religious institutions. Congregations involved in community organizing are encouraged to apply.

Each year, the Burgess Urban Fund also supports a limited number of special projects that support organizing in ECM's priority areas but are not, strictly speaking, organizing efforts, or organizing projects that mobilize and empower a grassroots constituency but not limited to ECM ’s priority areas. Application for a special grant is by invitation only. The Episcopal City Mission expects to review and update priority areas every 3 to 5 years.

How to apply
Grant-seekers may send a letter of intent (no more than two pages) describing the organizing initiative for which funding is sought and how the project relates to the BUF guidelines for community organizing and the priority areas. The Burgess Urban Fund Committee will review letters of intent and request full proposals from a small number of prospective grantees.


2007 Priority Grantees ($20,000)

Boston Workers Alliance
Contact: Aaron Tanaka, Coordinator
51 Roxbury St., Roxbury, MA 02119

The BWA is a member-led organization of under- and unemployed workers fighting for employment rights. They have united to end CORI (criminal record) discrimination and the crisis of joblessness in their communities. They fight for economic and racial justice by demanding decent jobs for all people who want to work.

Centro Presente
Contact: Maria Elena Letona, Executive Director
54 Essex St. 2nd floor, Cambridge, MA 02139

Centro Presente is a statewide member driven organization of the Latino immigrant community of Massachusetts. Their purpose is to achieve self-determination. They struggle for immigrant rights and for economic and social justice. Through the integration of community organizing, leadership development and basic services, Centro Presente strives to give their members a voice and build community power.

Community Economic Development Center of SE Massachusetts
Contact: Corinn Williams, Executive Director
181 Hillman St. Bldg. 9, Room 203, New Bedford, MA 02740

The CEDC seeks to create a more just local economy by building bridges to resources, network, and cooperative action for low-income members of our community. The Work of the CEDC is created and directed by the people who will benefit most from its success. Grant funding will support a new half-time position for a CEDC Worker Center organizer, who will work through organizing and advocacy for safe, stable employment for immigrant workers.

EPOCA (Ex-Prisoners and Prisoners Organizing for Community Advancement)
Contact: Steve O’Neill, Executive Director
4 King St., Worcester, MA 01610

EPOCA is comprised of ex-prisoners and felons, along with allies, family and friends, coming together to create resources and opportunities for those who have served time. The grant will develop leadership and shared power among those directly affected by the criminal justice system, and to lead the movement toward policies that rehabilitate and increase former offenders’ potential to succeed in society, including working to reform the CORI (Criminal Offender Record Information) laws and expanding New Leaf, their program that trains ex-prisoners entering the workforce and supports the employers who hire them.

Homes for Families
Contact: Libby Hayes, Executive Director
14 Beacon St. # 814 Boston, MA 02108

Homes for Families is a collaborative of families who have experienced homelessness, service providers, advocates and other stakeholders who educate, organize, and advocate for improved public policies to address the root causes of family homelessness. With Burgess funding, Homes for Families will be able to increase training and support for parents who have experienced homelessness so that they can better set the organization’s priorities, hold leadership positions within the organization, recruit, teach and mentor more parents.

Merrimack Valley Project
Contact: Loren McArthur, Lead Organizer
1045 Essex St. Lawrence, MA 01841

The Merrimack Valley Project is a regional coalition of member organizations that include churches and synagogues, local labor unions and ethnic community organizations. Funding would support MVP’s work to unite immigrant, faith, and labor communities in the Merrimack Valley to fight for expanded access to education, job training, and citizenship for the region’s more than 115,000 immigrants, and to secure fairness for undocumented immigrants in our region.

Union of Minority Neighborhoods
Contact: Horace Small, Executive Director
83 Highland Ave. Roxbury, MA 02119

The Union of Minority Neighborhoods is a social change organization run by people of color, committed to organizing and inspiring communities of color to mobilize on issues of concern within their communities. Funding will support an ongoing campaign to reform laws and practices relating to the use of criminal records in employment and to address the racial implications associated with criminal background information. UMN aims to pass anti-discrimination resolutions and ordinances in cities and towns throughout the state and carry out an effective statewide legislative reform campaign.

2007 Special Grantees ($15,000)

Brockton Interfaith Community
Contact: Wes Lathrop, Executive Director
65 W. Elm St. Brockton, MA 02301

BIC is a diverse faith-based community organization rooted in local congregations, working to advance immigrant rights in Brockton through expansion of ESOL programs and access to higher education. The special grant from the Burgess Fund will provide hiring and training funds for a multi-lingual organizer, support for these two campaigns, and training for local immigrant leaders.

Coalition Against Poverty
Contact: Melissa Gilbarg, Director
30 Union St. New Bedford, MA 02740

CAP seeks to empower low-income working people, especially single-parent families, through grassroots organizing for economic justice, by developing leaders and organizing campaigns in the New Bedford/Fall River area. Their program consists of a Working Families Agenda, which fights for increased access to housing, health care, education, and jobs, strengthening the safety net, and advocating for fair taxation. They create grassroots power through building a large network of volunteers, holding elected officials accountable, and working in broad coalitions.

Greater Boston Chinese Community Services
Contact: Eric Lee, Program Director
138 Tremont St. Boston, MA 02111

GBCCS and the Quincy Vision Project seek to educate, inform, inspire, and empower people, especially new Asian immigrants in Greater Boston and Quincy. They work through partnerships to connect and mobilize the Asian community to ensure that their voice is heard and their needs addressed by political leaders, and are working to empower Asians to participate in shaping issues that affect their lives and increase awareness of environmental threats to health and community, and promote cultural understanding and appreciation by the broader Quincy population.

ONE Lowell
Contact: Victoria Fahlberg, Executive Director
9 Central Street # 203 Lowell, MA 01852

ONE Lowell is a community-based organization dedicated to increasing the integration and self-sufficiency of Lowell’s many new immigrants by strengthening civic participation, developing leadership, and increasing access to vital services. Funding would support the ONE Lowell Voting Project, which utilizes an organizing model to educate, inform, and empower the immigrant community in Lowell to take action on issues of immigration reform and the need to change the voting system in Lowell in order to increase minority participation.