Self-Development of People announces November grant recipients

More than half million dollars awarded

By Mindy Marchal

November 20, 2006
For more information contact:
Margaret Mwale
Associate for Community Relations, SDOP
(888) 728-7228, x5792

The National Committee on the Self-Development of People (SDOP) has announced the recipients for its November 2006 grants totaling $564,787. A total of 33 grants were awarded, 14 within the United States and 19 internationally. The Self-Development of People grants are funded through the One Great Hour of Sharing offering. The mission of SDOP is to “participate in the empowerment of economically poor, oppressed and disadvantaged people seeking to change the structures that perpetuate poverty, oppression and injustice.”

The projects range in scope from marketing products for sustaining and improving the health of Minnesota Native American Elders to education and organizational training for low-income residents dealing with neighborhood environmental pollution to creating a source for clean water in the community of Kampala, Uganda.

The November 2006 recipients include:

Baker County Commercial Kitchen and Business Incubator, Newton, Ga. - $61,000
Movement for Justice in the Neighborhood, New York, N.Y. - $20,000
Wisdom Steps, Marshall, Minn. – $20,000
The Urban Teen Magazine Project, Chicago, Ill. - $20,000
Low-Income Workers Support and Organizing Project, Oakland, Calif. - $20,000
Community in Action, Comunidad en Movimiento, Los Angeles, Calif. - $20,000
Acquire Health Care for Uninsured Lupus Patients, Inglewood, Calif. - $20,000
Portland Organizing to Win Economic Rights, Portland, Maine - $20,000
Haitian Community Development Project, Niverville, N.Y. - $20,000
The People’s Downtown Master Plan, Lewiston, Maine - $20,000
Families Actively Coming Together, Gainesville, Fla. - $20,000
MMWMC Institute of Second Chance and God Given Talent, Atlanta, Ga. - $20,000
Kentucky Care Professional House Cleaning, Lexington, Ky. - $20,000
Griffin Park Environmental Health Project, Bangor, Maine - $25,000
Women’s Development Federation of Guerra, Santo Domingo, Guerra, Dominican Republic - $20,000
Women’s Federation Marcelina de los Santos, San Jose de los Llanos, Dominican Republic - $20,000
Granja Intergral Koinonia-Koinonia Sustainable Farm, Barranquilla, Columbia - $20,000
Civil Society Las Abejas, Chiapas, Mexico - $5,000
Marginalized Women in Development, Kampala, Uganda - $9,735
Tamarind Processing and Broom Producing, Andhra Pradesh, India - $2,214
Rural Women’s Development, Vellore District, Tamilnadu, India - $4,330
Young People Achieving Their Dreams, Managua, Nicaragua - $10,000
Upland Cavite People’s Organization for Development, Cavite, Philippines - $14,200
Kichwa Indian Artists Association KuryPachamana, Otavalo, Ecuador - $20,000
Mary Matha Mahila Podhupu Sangham, Andhra Prodesh, India - $19,567
Fraternity Cocoa Farmers Association, Wassa Akropong, Ghana - $7,000
Women of Victory Capacity Building Group, Sare-Awendo, Kenya - $15,000
Angwalusek Group, Kumi, Uganda - $15,000
Community Initiative Programme, Freetown, Sierra Leone - $12,821
Boma Rural Youth Development Association, Boma Village, Sierra Leone - $7,920
Radienya Widows Group, Mirogi, Kenya - $6,000
Development Association ADESOGUA, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala - $15,000

There are eight different criteria groups must meet in order to apply and receive a grant. The project must be presented, owned and controlled by the group of people who will benefit directly from it. The project must address long-term correction of conditions that keep people bound by poverty and oppression.

The project presented for funding must describe, in detail, its goal, its objectives, and the way the direct beneficiaries will be involved in all stages of the project and the methods to be used to achieve the goal and objectives. The project must be sensitive to the environment while accomplishing its goal and objectives.

The project must not advocate violence as a means of accomplishing its goal and objectives. The project presented for funding must describe fully the resources known to be available for its support. A project presented for funding will contain a balanced income and expenditure budget. A financial plan showing expected income and expenditures over the funding term of the project must be included.

A project presented for funding must specify how progress toward the stated goal and objectives will be evaluated by the group, and when the evaluation will be made.