The following groups received grants of up to $5000 to support their incredible work in 2024 and beyond.
230 Fightback
230 Fightback was founded in the fall of 2022 to continue to fight for vital social housing at 214-230 Sherbourne. Remaining vacant for decades, the site has been a focal point at the epicentre of the housing crisis. After ongoing struggles to urge the City to expropriate the properties, the City put in a bid to purchase the properties in 2022, only to be outbid by KingSett Capital. After targeting the developer to stop their proposed condo development on the contested site, 230 Fightback has since been notified that KingSett Capital has agreed to sell the properties to the city for the amount they paid during the bidding war.
The city has since indicated their willingness to negotiate, but has rejected this initial offer. 230 Fightback will continue confronting both the city and the developer to come to an agreement in which the city will acquire the site and build vital social housing in the area. 230 Fightback is expanding our network of allies across Toronto and supporting organizations in the city against greedy developers and growing gentrification that pushes out residents and contributes to the deepening housing crisis in the city.
Abortion Support Collective
The Abortion Supportive Collective (ASC) is primarily made up of abortion doulas as well as like-minded abortion support practitioners who are unified by the belief that abortion care should be accessible to everyone. The collective is based out of Victoria, BC, located on unceded ləkʷəŋən territory, home of the Songhees and Esquimalt peoples. Here, the collective offers in-person accompaniment and support to folks accessing abortion care in our area. We offer virtual support to folks on the Island and those located in wider British Columbia. We will also act as a receiving site for folks accessing care in our area from across Canada. Currently, we are creating a care package program for low touch engagement, and are hoping to launch a volunteer-run warm line in the near future. If you're in need of support, consider #askingASC. We're here for you.
Anakbayan Canada
Anakbayan (Tagalog for "youth of the nation"), based in the Philippines with numerous overseas chapters, is the largest and most comprehensive organization of Filipino youth and students for National Democracy in the Philippines with around 40,000 members. We strive for genuine freedom, peace, and democracy in the Philippines. Anakbayan Canada has local chapters in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, and BC.
Anishinaabeg + Palestinian Alliance
The Anishinaabeg + Palestinian Alliance includes Indigenous and Palestinian organizers, community workers, scholars, and artists who are committed to holding space for their communities to slow down, connect, and deepen their relations to collectively sustain Indigenous and Palestinian communities and liberation movements.
To date, the collective has been involved in organizing teach-ins and learning circles, tatreez and beading workshops, art-builds and community gatherings and meals in Tkaronto and surrounding areas. In June 2024, our Anishinaabeg members are organizing a Palestinian delegation to visit their homelands on Treaty 3 and participate in ceremony to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the occupation of Anicinabe Park. This work is both a mobilization in response to the ongoing settler colonial violence in Gaza, as well as a desire to sustainably build relations between Indigenous and Palestinian communities on Turtle Island.
Anti-Imperialist Alliance
We are a group of people united in opposition and resistance to Canadian and US imperialism on Turtle Island and Internationally. Currently our main focus is building the anti-military and anti-war campaign, strengthening solidarity with Palestine, the Philippines and any countries and territories impacted by Canadian Imperialism, and building a People's Assembly on Housing.
Butterflies in Spirit
Founded in 2012, Butterflies in Spirit is a dance group consisting of family members of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG). With a mission to raise awareness of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and lgbtqqia+ Butterflies in Spirit has performed at numerous gatherings and events throughout Canada, the US, Colombia and Mexico. On stage, members of the group wear shirts depicting images of their missing and murdered loved ones.
Caribbean Solidarity Network
The Caribbean Solidarity Network, CSN, is an organization committed to the principles of Caribbean Liberation and Unity across the region as well as throughout the Diaspora. CSN's platform is rooted in a feminist, anti-imperialist, anti-colonial struggle. Our objectives are:
1) To build community power and through the development of public education and outreach in Toronto.
2) To work with and support progressive forces and organizations in the Caribbean.
3) To challenge the Canadian state and corporate policies which seek to keep the Caribbean region and its peoples in a dependent position.
4) To create an internal community and culture of support in order to both carry out this work, and grow together as comrades.
Climate Justice Edmonton
Climate Justice Edmonton (CJE) is a volunteer-run, grassroots collective. Our mission is to build working class power and demand a just transition in Alberta. We educate, energize and mobilize Albertans to push for systemic changes, bold climate solutions and political accountability. We align our work to other local and global struggles for justice as we fight for collective liberation and a liveable future for all.
CJE's vision is that Alberta has a vibrant and interconnected social movement ecosystem fighting for climate and social justice that influences policy, follows Indigenous leadership on the solutions to the climate crisis, and builds working class power to enact a just transition away from fossil fuels. In 2024, Climate Justice Edmonton is establishing an organizing hub in downtown Edmonton to advance climate action in Alberta, and bring intersectional social and climate justice groups together.
Friends of the Attawapiskat River
The Friends of the Attawapiskat River (FAR) are an Indigenous grassroots group based in Treaty 9, in the far north of Ontario, Canada, dedicated to protecting the health of the waters, people, and communities living downstream of the proposed 'Ring of Fire.' As Treaty 9 people, the Friends have a shared responsibility to protect Treaty lands from exploitation and degradation. This means safeguarding the integrity of the boreal and muskeg of the Hudson Bay-James Bay lowlands, its significant contribution to mitigating climate change, and the health of their grandchildren and those not yet born
Migrante Ottawa
Migrante Ottawa is a chapter of Migrante Canada, which in turn is a chapter of Philippine-based Migrante International, a global alliance of over 200 member organizations in 23 countries. Migrante Ottawa is a Filipino mass organization fighting for national democracy in the Philippines and migrants rights and welfare in Ottawa since 2000. We support the struggles of the Filipino people and all migrants to address political, social and economic conditions that lead to forced migration
Naujawan Support Network
Naujawan Support Network (NSN) is a group of international students and immigrant workers based primarily in Brampton, Ontario. We came together to stop the exploitation and abuse we face from employers, landlords, immigration consultants and the government. People in our community have dealt with these issues for years and are suffering financially, emotionally and psychologically as a result. Many are depressed and some have even died by suicide to escape the pain. We do not want to see any more of our people suffer or die. We organized ourselves into a group for this reason.
So far our work has focused on stopping wage theft, though that is not our only aim. We are organizing to end exploitation and abuse of workers in all forms, including ending the sexual harassment faced by so many of our sisters in restaurants, grocery stores, factories and elsewhere. We are fighting for our dignity and self-respect, for our mental health and physical well-being, and for greater collective power in shaping the conditions of our work and lives. By doing this, we are building brighter futures for each other, our children and all working-class immigrants
One Dish Project
The One Dish Project was formed to address food insecurity, especially since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal has always been to build community relationships, preserve language, culture, and traditions, and encourage the following generations to follow the way of our ancestors. In our creation story, foods are a foundation of who we are and culturally we grow these to keep connection with not only our ancestors but all of creation around us.
Using agricultural techniques we will be able to better teach the next generations the best cultural and traditional practices while addressing food insecurity, water toxicity, and climate change. In the summer of 2023, over 3,245 lbs of food were collected and donated to over 20 families including on and off territory community members, elders, and students and staff at the Ohahase Education Centre.
OPIRG Brock
Founded in 1988, OPIRG Brock is one of the eleven chapters of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group. OPIRG Brock works with students, service providers, community members, labour unions, artists and activists to build collaboration, connections, and communities of abundance. OPIRG Brock creates a sustained culture of social, economic and environmental justice by focusing on the ways they can connect people to campus and community activism and resources across Niagara. Following consensus-based decision making and facilitation models, OPIRG Brock's work is moved forward by our volunteer Board of Directors, and supported by our staff and volunteer teams.
Additionally, OPIRG Brock utilizes its Safer Space Policy as the guiding values-based protocol to provide direction and priorities for the organization. In this work, we strive to reduce hierarchies and barriers to access for people looking to get involved and expand their skills and networks. Projects such as the Niagara Free Store, the Anti-Racism Sponsorship Fund, the Harm Reduction Program at Brock, and a range of community publications has allowed OPIRG Brock to expand our communities' access to information and strengthen engagement in local campaigns, fundraisers, mutual aid projects, and networks working towards collective liberation.
Palestine Québec
Palestine Québec is a Québec City-based volunteer collective that aims to mobilize Québec City residents in solidarity with Palestinian liberation. The youth-led group works on three main areas: education, community-building and political action. They have been active since the fall of 2023, coming together in response to the genocide unfolding in Gaza.
Like Huey P. Newton said, power is the ability to understand and transform society. Having power in our “low-income” neighbourhoods means being able to solve the real problems confronting us. It means defending ourselves and our communities from abuse and exploitation, while developing the programs, resources and culture we need to thrive.
People’s Defence
People’s Defence was launched in 2017, in the Markham and Eglinton neighbourhood of East Scarborough. In 2019 we made the move to Crescent Town, where several of our members had grown up. Over the past year we’ve expanded to other areas of East York and Toronto – but we’ve always wanted to see REAL POWER for OUR CLASS (Poor, Immigrant, and Working-Class People) across the City.
Protect the Tract
Protect the Tract is a Haudenosaunee-led project that conducts research, policy development, and develops capacity for civil engagement to exercise sovereignty through the promotion of land stewardship over the Haldimand Tract. The Haudenosaunee Confederacy at Grand River has put in place a moratorium on development in the Tract. No development can proceed along the Haldimand Tract without our consent. We understand that we share these lands with our Allies and we all agree to uphold the agreements between our people to live in peace, friendship and trust. Our vision for the future is self-determined, based in our inherent right to protect our lands for future generations of Haudenosaunee children.
The Haudenosaunee intend to exercise our jurisdiction over our lands and waters in a way that maintains the delicate balance between Creation and humans, focusing on sustainability and responsiveness to climate change to protect waterways and ecologically sensitive areas. The moratorium builds on our Land Rights Statement (2006) to end the exploitation of lands and resources along the Tract and marks a shift on land stewardship within a portion of the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee.
RAGE
RAGE is a non-hierarchical collective of 2SQTBIPOC creative youth that intends to fuse art with social transformation. We highlight the hidden and dismissed stories of our communities by spotlighting them in our zine, social media, and upcoming website. RAGE is informed by Indigenous resistance, disability justice, reproductive justice, anti-capitalism, and fat liberation. We also believe: Black lives matter, Black Trans lives matter, in the abolition of prisons, and that sex work is real work.
S4 COLLECTIVE
Working towards a world in which immigration status is not a barrier to accessing meaningful and equitable education! The Sanctuary Students Solidarity and Support Collective (S4) was formed in the fall of 2018 to address several challenges identified by precarious migrant and newcomer students (Sanctuary Students) at the threshold of post-secondary education in Ontario. Sanctuary Students, for us, are people for whom immigration status and/or settlement stressors act, or have acted, as a barrier to accessing their secondary and post-secondary goals.
Sour Springs Longhouse
Sour Springs Longhouse is a Haudenosaunee ceremonial and community space located at Six Nations of the Grand River Territory.
MPM's direct organizing against police violence and the institution of policing as a whole responds to the direct oppression and harm that impact our people every single day. We know capitalist systems rely on policing and we aim to eventually abolish the police by building a Peel-centered, region-wide defunding campaign to redirect the 40% Peel police budget back into Peel communities.
Groundswell funding will be used to support our organizing and visibility on the streets, including posters, placards, and speaker equipment. It will also support a weekly program for youth to aid with tutoring, socializing, and outdoor activities.
Sudan Solidarity Collective
The Sudan Solidarity Collective was formed in response to the outbreak of a brutal war in Sudan. It seeks to resource grassroots civil society formations at the frontlines of relief efforts in those parts of Sudan that have been hardest hit by militarized state violence. Comprised of a group of Sudanese undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and community members, the collective also aims to develop spaces for the Sudanese community at UofT and beyond to come together in solidarity to facilitate avenues for collaboration around political education, advocacy, collective healing, mutual aid, and community-building.
Toronto Area Solidarity Summer Alliance
Toronto Area Solidarity Summer Alliance (TASSA) supports South Asian and Indo-Caribbean youth and allies to learn and practice skills to organize our friends, peers, families, neighbours, and community members to think about the systems that affect our lives, build solidarities with each other, and take collective action for community liberation.
We accomplish this by 1) hosting summer education and community organizing training events that help youth participants sharpen critical analysis and develop collective leadership and community organizing skills to create change and realize justice with, in, and for our communities; and 2) a year-long youth fellowship that supports youth cohort members to deepen knowledge of issues and skills to build youth power in our movements.
Toronto Underhoused and Homeless Union
Toronto Underhoused and Homeless Union (TUHU) is a union made up of people who are, or who have been, homeless, underhoused people, and allies committed to uplifting homeless voices. Our union fights to end homelessness and for dignified, accessible, affordable, housing for all. We speak out against harassment, criminalization, exploitation, and killing of homeless and underhoused people at the hands of oppressive authorities and systems.
We work strategically for a seat at the table for homeless and underhoused people when decisions are being made that affect us. The primary mission of TUHU is to empower homeless and underhoused people to build unity and community, increase their personal and collective power, learn from and with one another, and come together to change the systems that create homelessness and oppress homeless and underhoused people.
Unmasked Bodies Collective and LGBTQ+ Migrant Sex Worker Project
We are dedicated to "unmasking" the stigma surrounding sex work, migrancy, and queerness. Our community-led initiative aligns with the values of collective power building and member leadership, rooted in abolition principles and liberatory harm reduction aimed at disrupting and ending oppressive systems like policing, carceral injustice and carceral feminism. We strive for collective liberation, fostering learning, connection, labor, and love.
Developing cultural and queer affirming resources for LGBTQ+ sex workers is a priority, as is providing intentional spaces for connection, knowledge building, and mutual aid. We cultivate opportunities for leadership through community-led engagement and creative avenues for collective and individual expression, resistance, and solidarity. Advocating for migrant sex workers' rights, we engage and lead in storytelling art and creative programming to create accessible platforms.
World BEYOND War
Founded in 2014, World BEYOND War (WBW) is a global grassroots nonviolent movement of volunteers, activists, and allied organizations advocating for an end to war and the establishment of a just and sustainable peace. We aim to create awareness and support for ending war and to develop that support by advancing the idea of abolishing the institution of war. In doing so, we strive to replace a culture of war with an alternative global security system based on peace and diplomacy.
We have 32 chapters in 21 countries, and 99 affiliate organizations. World BEYOND War Canada educates, organizes, and mobilizes to demilitarize Canada and resist Canadian militarism in solidarity with everyone in the world harmed by our country and its allies' violence. Through the efforts of our Canadian staff, chapters, allies, affiliates, and coalitions we've held conferences and forums, passed local resolutions, blocked weapons shipments and arms fairs with our bodies, divested funds from war profiteering, and shaped national debates.
Young Seedkeepers
Young Seedkeepers was first formed in 2020 as a small collective of parents and educators of Black, Indigenous and racialized children to create spaces where our families could access land-based learning that is culturally-appropriate and inspires deepened and joyful relationship with the land, water and animals through learning about plants, seeds, trees, fungi, and the soil. We believe in community power and the importance of a “for us, by us” model.