PIP provides resources, expertise, and an experienced staff; manages culturally sensitive and strategic collaborative funds and initiatives; allies partners with similar goals on the national, regional, and local levels; and offers projects, affinity groups, and organizations with financial sponsorships and various other services.
One of the projects PIP is involved in is the Four Freedoms Fund, which was launched in 2003 to support American democracy and immigration at the state and local level. Founded by Carnegie Corporation, the Open Society Institute, the Ford Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, the fund combines the funds of these national institutes that had been working individually for immigrants and develops a cohesive strategy to work on behalf of immigrant rights.
''It was a way to be more responsive and strategic, and most importantly, to get more bang for the buck,'' says Geri Mannion, Carnegie Corporation program director. ''We had to respond quickly and efficiently in a challenging and constantly changing political environment, where the needs of the grantees were great and growing, which meant we had to come up with a way of doing things differently.''
A charter donor of the Four Freedoms Fund, the American Dream Fund is an immigrant-integration initiative of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and supports grassroots organizations that help immigrants become active, naturalized citizens. The ADF gives $20,000 to $25,000 grants to organizations that work towards cultivating civic participation and naturalization among immigrants. The fund sponsors such activities as helping with naturalization applications and screenings, promoting community outreach and referrals to citizenship services to encourage naturalization, offering English-language classes and citizen-preparedness workshops, and working toward eliminating obstacles to naturalization.
Another project PIP is involved in is Communities for Public Education Reform: A Fund for Education Organizing, which is a partnership of national and local foundations that work toward improving educational opportunities for students in low-income areas. As of May, CPER had invested $4.5 million in technical assistance and grants to 27 education-organizing organizations in New Jersey, Denver, Philadelphia, and Chicago.
PIP is also involved in the Fulfilling the Dream Fund, which supports affirmative action and the promotion of women in society through eliminating obstacles to opportunity in employment, education, and contracting. Established in 2004, the Dream Fund has invested more than $6 million in grants to 43 organizations throughout the country.
Another public interest project is the Racial Justice Collaborative, which funds partnerships of community organizations and lawyers to achieve equity and justice in racially or ethnically marginalized communities.
''RJC funding has supported such work as legal advocacy to advance equitable educational policies that assure quality education for all North Carolina children regardless of race or class status, and efforts in Louisiana to address the disparate impact of the juvenile justice system on youths of color,'' according to PIP’s website.
