Social Justice Fund Northwest (SJFNW), a change project, and the Center for Creative Change - how do these fit together? This winter a graduate student from Antioch University made the connection. Elise Lufkin is doing her required change project with SJFNW, working with Executive Director Bookda Gheisar to give major gifts fundraising a shot in the arm. Specifically, Elise and Bookda are working together to revitalize donor advised funds and planned giving.

"Progressive communities come from a critical mass of people. There is no magic formula; it just takes hard work." This comment by Sarah Gorin, who became a Social Justice Fund NW member in 2005, sums up her nearly thirty years of activism in Wyoming. She came to Wyoming fresh out of college in Missouri, to work for the Powder River Basin Resource Council, an agricultural and conservation group which had organized around the impact of coal mining on the land.

The Crow Indian Reservation is located in southeastern Montana, in one of the poorest counties in the state. Nearly 60% of the Crow population falls below the poverty line, and most tribal members have experienced hunger and cold at some point in their lives. The Reservation is plagued by inequity and injustices, stemming from the historical misdeeds of the U.S. government and from years of internal strife within the Tribe. Crow Indians have long struggled to maintain their traditional way of life, enduring oppressive forces at every level of government.

Here's your chance to meet with activists on the front lines of social justice struggles in our region. We are conducting 13 site visits to finalists for our 2006 Three-Year Support and Three-Year Capacity Building grants. These multi-year grants are designed to provide stable funding for some of the most effective social justice organizations in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.