For Immediate Release: October 9, 2008

THE IMPACT FUND AWARDS $75,000 IN PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION GRANTS IN CIVIL RIGHTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE CASES ACROSS THE COUNTRY

Contact: Brad Seligman (510) 845-3473 ext. 304

Impact Fund, the nation’s only foundation devoted to funding complex public interest impact litigation, has awarded $75,000 in new grants to non-profit organizations and public interest law firms across the nation. Impact Fund, now in its fifteenth year, has granted over $4.6 million since its inception.

The new awards, which cover expenses of the litigation, are:

Human & Civil Rights

$15,000 to Law Offices of Joaquin G. Avila of Shoreline, WA, for a California Voting Rights action against Tulare Healthcare District.

Avitia v. Tulare Healthcare District

$10,000 to Ohio Justice and Policy Center of Cincinnati, OH, for its proposed action on behalf of mentally ill prisoners discharged from Ohio State Prison with inadequate mental health discharge planning.

Case Not Yet Filed

$7,000 to Disability Law Center of Salt Lake City, UT, for its action to investigate possible abuses at a youth residential treatment facility.

Disability Law Center v. United States District Court, District of Utah

$8,000 to National Prison Project of the ACLU Foundation of Washington, DC, for its class action against Maricopa County jail in Arizona charging mental and physical health problems are exacerbated by inhumane conditions.

Graves v. Arpaio

$13,000 to Reprieve of London, England, for its action to seek review of incarceration of prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Razul II v. Bush

$12,000 to Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project of Philadelphia, PA, for its action challenging unconstitutional conditions of confinement for prisoners in the Philadelphia Prison system.

Williams v. City of Philadelphia

Environmental Justice

$10,000 to Environmental Law Foundation of Oakland, CA, for its challenge to the validity of a general waste discharge permit for dairys in California Central Valley, alleging inadequate groundwater protection

Environmental Law Foundation and AGUA v. Central Valley Regional Water Quality

Cont Control Board

 

Impact Fund provides grants, technical support and counsel nationwide. Grants are made quarterly. Its most recent annual report and other information may be accessed at its web site: http://www.impactfund.org.