The Phoenix Fund for Workers & Communities

Globalization from Above or Below? As workers and communities around the world confront the realities of globalization, the issue has become: globalization from above, imposed by multinational corporations and free trade agreements—or globalization from below, created by popular demands for fair labor standards and sustainable economies?

Globalization from above has already brought us a widening wealth gap, not just between the global North and South, but within American society. Here and abroad, this enormous divide between rich and poor also compounds inequities of race, gender, and national origin, in what has become a truly vicious circle.

Equally destructive are the growing gaps in political power. In the past two decades, we have seen the shredding of the safety nets and community structures that sustain working families—from Mexico to Malaysia and from Los Angeles to New York. It appears that the battles American workers fought in the 20th century against sweatshops, union busting and child labor will have to be fought again, this time all over the world.

The Phoenix Fund was formed in 1996 as a donor collaborative to support these battles and to nurture a new generation of organizing—one fighting for globalization from below. Through our grantmaking programs in the U.S. and Mexico, along with an initiative for funding across the free trade zones of the Global South, we are investing in the frontline organizations that are building economic justice movements from the bottom up.

We are also investing in the creation of solidarity campaigns and networks that will help activists turn the vicious circle of globalization, which pits one group of workers against another, into a virtuous circle, where working people can come together to raise the floor for all.

The Program Focus

Labor-Community Collaborations The Phoenix Fund supports over 20 collaborative projects in 15 metropolitan areas across the US that are revitalizing civic participation through new organizing and regional economic policy reform. In each project, progressive unions are reconnecting with community organizations and interfaith networks, and reaching new allies among immigrants and students. Building from successful living wage initiatives, these collaborations are now advancing broad policy agendas with a clear goal: to make decent jobs, worker rights, and public accountability the conditions of economic development, not its first casualties.

Immigrant Worker Centers The Fund supports immigrant worker centers in eight states and three national networks, along with programs to develop dialogue between these centers, potential allies and funders. The centers are vital to undocumented workers and their families in challenging sweatshop conditions and creating safe vehicles for civic participation, especially in growing campaigns for labor and immigrant rights. In addition, the centers have brought new voices and greater diversity to global justice activism in the U.S.

Global Worker Justice The Fund currently supports four initiatives in Mexico promoting women's and youth leadership in organizing the maquiladores, the free trade zones where multinational corporations seek exemption from labor and environmental rights. The Fund also supports international solidarity organizations focused on abuses in the global apparel industry, and is building on this experience to develop similar strategies for other industries.

A Fund for Education and Networking

In addition to our grantmaking and technical assistance program in the field, the Phoenix Fund is involved in philanthropic networks that extend funder education and outreach. Our work includes:

The Clearinghouse Listing is a database of over 450 economic justice organizations and coalitions engaged in low-wage worker organizing and policy, primarily in the U.S., posted on our website: http://www.phoenixfund.org.

Workshops & Site Visits are regularly developed in cooperation with grantees and funding colleagues. Two recent workshops include Labor 101: Understanding American Unions in Today's Climate, and Funding Social Movements: the Economic Justice Experience.