By Robin Carton, RESIST, Inc. June 25, 2009

Courage to Resist, working on peace/anti-militarism issues and located in Oakland, California, has just been awarded $3,000 by RESIST, Inc., a national progressive foundation located in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Courage to Resist received funding to bring together community members, veterans and military families in support of GI resistance and counter-recruitment efforts. “We are very excited to have received this grant from RESIST,” noted Courage to Resist project director Jeff Paterson. “These types of grants make up less than 20% of our budget, yet are extremely important—especially as our base of 2,500 national individual supporters continue to feel the brunt of the unfolding economic meltdown.”

RESIST began in 1967 in support of draft resistance and in opposition to the Vietnam War. As the funder of the first resort for hundreds of organizations, RESIST’s small but timely grants and loans are made to grassroots groups engaged in activist organizing and educational work for social change. RESIST defines organizing as collective action to challenge the status quo, demand changes in policy and practice, and educate communities about root causes and just solutions. RESIST recognizes that there are a variety of stages and strategies that lead to community organizing. Therefore, they support strategies that build community, encourage collaborations with other organizations, increase skills and/or access to resources, and produce leadership from the constituency being most directly affected. In fiscal year 2008 RESIST gave over $265,000 to 138 organizations across the country.

“Each year, RESIST funds groups like Courage to Resist, because our mission is to support people who take a stand about the issues that matter today, whether it’s to resist corporate globalization, promote a woman’s right to choose, or develop activist leaders,” says Board Chair Kay Mathew. “And we believe it’s especially important to help grassroots organizations that might be too small or too local—or too radical—for mainstream foundations.”