Suggested Reading
USA for UNHCR
The United States Association for UNHCR (USA for UNHCR) supports the UN Refugee Agency's humanitarian work to protect and assist refugees around the world. We strive to meet the needs of the world's most vulnerable people, building support and awareness in the United States for UNHCR's life-saving relief programs.
The UN Refugee Agency - a two-time Nobel Peace Prize winner - provides protection, shelter, emergency food, water, medical care and other life-saving assistance to more than 36 million people worldwide, who have been forced to flee their homes due to war and persecution. When possible, UNHCR helps refugees and other displaced people return to their homes voluntarily, safely, and with dignity.Since its formation by the United Nations General Assembly on December 14, 1950, UNHCR has helped an estimated 50 million refugees restart their lives. Today, with a staff of more than 6,650 people, the agency is the lead humanitarian organization on the scene in 126 countries around the world.
www.unrefugees.org

The Human Rights Campaign
As the largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, the Human Rights Campaign represents a grassroots force of over 750,000 members and supporters nationwide — all committed to making HRC’s vision a reality.
Founded in 1980, the Human Rights Campaign advocates on behalf of LGBT Americans, mobilizes grassroots actions in diverse communities, invests strategically to elect fair-minded individuals to office and educates the public about LGBT issues.
www.hrc.org/

   
War Child
War Child International is a network of independent organizations, working across the world to help children affected by war. War Child was founded upon a fundamental goal: to advance the cause of peace through investing hope in the lives of children caught up in the horrors of war
War Child works in many different conflict areas around the world, helping hundreds of thousands of children every year. Our two offices have developed different focus and specialties in their aid work through both short-term emergency relief and long term rehabilitation programs to improve the living conditions and mental health of war affected children. In the last ten years, War Child has achieved a lot. Hundreds of thousands of children have been reached with War Child programs in more than twenty different warzones around the world.
www.warchild.org/

The International Rescue Committee
The International Rescue Committee responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster.
At work today in over 40 countries and in 22 U.S. cities, the IRC restores safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.
www.theirc.org/

   
Safe Horizon
Safe Horizon is the largest victims’ services agency in the United States, with more than 60 locations serving more than 250,000 children, adults, and families affected by crime and abuse throughout New York City each year. Since 1978, Safe Horizon has provided victims of domestic violence, child abuse, human trafficking, rape and sexual assault, as well as homeless youth and families of homicide victims, with a wide range of comprehensive support. Our programs also partner with governmental and other community agencies so we can offer additional assistance, including finding resources for those living outside New York City.
In addition to our direct services, Safe Horizon also advocates for policies on a local, state, and national level on behalf of those affected by violence and abuse.
www.safehorizon.org/

Equality Now
Equality Now was founded in 1992 to work for the protection and promotion of the human rights of women around the world. Working with national human rights organizations and individual activists, Equality Now documents violence and discrimination against women and mobilizes international action to support their efforts to stop these human rights abuses. The Women’s Action Network is committed to voicing a worldwide call for justice and equality for women. Issues of urgent concern to Equality Now include rape, domestic violence, reproductive rights, trafficking of women, female genital mutilation, and the denial of equal access to economic opportunity and political participation.
www.equalitynow.org/

   
Polaris Project
Modern day slavery is the second largest criminal industry in the world. Over 12 million people worldwide are trafficked for forced labor or sexual exploitation. Polaris Project's vision is for a world without slavery. Named after the North Star that guided slaves towards freedom along the Underground Railroad, Polaris Project has been providing a comprehensive approach to combating human trafficking and modern-day slavery since 2002. Polaris Project is one of the few organizations working on all forms of trafficking and serving both citizen and foreign national victims of human trafficking. Polaris Project conducts direct outreach and victim identification, provides social services and transitional housing to victims, operates the National Human Trafficking Resource Center and advocates for stronger state and Federal anti-trafficking legislation, and engages community members in local and national grassroots efforts.
www.polarisproject.org/

Peace First
Peace First began as a response to the sky-rocketing youth homicide rates in the early 1990s, as an approach to look at children as problem-solvers, rather than witnesses, or victims of their surroundings. We now operate in Boston, Los Angeles, and New York, and receive requests for our work from all over the world. Peace First has taught over 40,000 students critical conflict resolution skills; created over 2,500 peacemaker projects that improved communities and instilled a sense of civic engagement in students; recruited over 4,000 volunteers who provided 400,000 hours of volunteer teaching service; and trained 2,500 teachers in conflict resolution and classroom management skills
www.peacefirst.org

   
Green Peace
Greenpeace is the leading independent campaigning organization that uses peaceful direct action and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and to promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.
www.greenpeace.org/usa/

The Environmental Defense Fund
Environmental Defense Fund is dedicated to protecting the environmental rights of all people, including future generations. Among these rights are access to clean air and water, healthy and nourishing food, and flourishing ecosystems. Environmental Defense Fund believes that a sustainable environment will require economic and social systems that are equitable and just. We affirm our commitment to the environmental rights of the poor and people of color. As an American organization, Environmental Defense Fund will always pay special attention to American environmental problems and to America's role in both causing and solving global environmental problems.
www.edf.org

   
Feeding America
Feeding America is the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief charity. Our mission is to feed America's hungry through a nationwide network of member food banks and engage our country in the fight to end hunger.
Each year, the Feeding America network provides food to more than 37 million low-income people facing hunger in the United States, including 14 children and nearly 3 million seniors. Our network of more than 200 food banks serves all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, securing and distributing more than 2.5 billion pounds of food and grocery products annually. Those member food banks support approximately 61,000 local charitable agencies and 70,000 programs, which provide food directly to individuals and families in need.
feedingamerica.org

Coalition For The Homeless
Coalition for the Homeless is the nation's oldest advocacy and direct service organization helping homeless men, women, and children. We are dedicated to the principle that affordable housing, sufficient food, and the chance to work for a living wage are fundamental rights in a civilized society. Since our inception in 1981, the Coalition has worked through litigation, public education, and direct services to ensure that these goals are realized. For more than 25 years, the Coalition for the Homeless has developed and implemented humane, cost-effective strategies to end mass homelessness in New York City. Our model programs represent solutions that can dramatically reduce the homeless population and prevent homelessness among those most at risk.
www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/

   
ONE
ONE is a grassroots campaign and advocacy organization backed by more than 2 million people who are committed to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa. Cofounded by Bono and other campaigners, ONE is nonpartisan and works closely with African policy makers and activists. At ONE, we achieve change through advocacy. We hold world leaders to account for the commitments they've made to fight extreme poverty, and we campaign for better development policies, more effective aid and trade reform. We also support greater democracy, accountability and transparency to ensure policies to beat poverty are implemented effectively. At ONE, we believe the fight against poverty is not about charity, but about justice and equality.
www.one.org

Reform Immigration For America
The Campaign to Reform Immigration for America is a united national effort that brings together individuals and grassroots organizations with the mission to build support for workable comprehensive immigration reform. Our vision of reform includes immigrants and native-born U.S. citizens working shoulder to shoulder to achieve better wages, working conditions, and labor protections—making sure everyone is playing by the same set of rules so that it is harder for employers to cheat immigrants and therefore harder for everyone to be cheated. We need to build faith in our immigration system so that people respect the process and so that the process respects them. That’s our vision for a stronger America.
reformimmigrationforamerica.org/

   
Make It Right
More than 4,000 homes in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Two years later, when actor Brad Pitt toured the city, the neighborhood was still deserted and devastated. Pitt promised the families he met there, that he would help make it right. He founded Make It Right to build 150 affordable, green storm resistant homes for families living in the Lower 9th Ward when the storm hit.
www.makeitrightnola.org/

Save Our Gulf
Save Our Gulf is an initiative of Waterkeeper Alliance to support the Gulf Waterkeepers directly impacted by the BP oil disaster. Waterkeeper Alliance provides a way for communities to stand up for their right to clean water and for the wise and equitable use of water resources, both locally and globally. The vision of the Waterkeeper movement is for fishable, swimmable and drinkable waterways worldwide. Our belief is that the best way to achieve this vision is through the Waterkeeper method of grassroots advocacy.
Waterkeeper Alliance aspires to protect every major watershed around the world.
saveourgulf.org/

   
Food Bank of New York
Food Bank For New York City works in partnership with more than 1,000 food programs located throughout the city's five boroughs, to help get food to New Yorkers at risk of going hungry. Their network of programs includes soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters, low-income daycare centers, Kids Cafes, and senior, youth, outreach and rehabilitation centers.

They currently serve food programs in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. Their member agencies work in partnership with the Food Bank to help provide nutritious and balanced meals and groceries to families, elderly, homebound, homeless and the working poor who are at risk of going hungry in these communities.

They urgently need your support, be it food, money or your volunteer services.
www.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=138575

MoveOn
The MoveOn family of organizations brings real Americans back into the political process. With over 3.3 million members across America they work together to realize the progressive vision of our country’s founders. MoveOn is a service – a way for busy but concerned citizens to find their political voice in a system dominated by big money and big media.
www.moveon.org

   
Act Now NY
ACT NOW is one of New York's largest progressive volunteer mobilization organizations. Their mission is to enlist, train, and deploy New Yorkers in grassroots activities designed to effectively influence our nation's most critical elections and issue debates.
www.actnowny.org

American Civil Liberties Union
The ACLU needs your help to defend our most basic freedoms! The Bush Administration is rolling back our rights in the name of homeland security...extremists on the Christian Right have the ear of the White House...and the federal judiciary is increasingly hostile to civil liberties.

The need has never been greater for freedom-loving people to join the ACLU and take a stand against the growing threats to our most cherished Constitutional liberties. Click on the link below to become a card-carrying member of the ACLU. Or, if you're already a member, please consider making an extra contribution to help ensure they have the resources needed to turn back the widespread assaults on liberties that are now underway.
www.aclu.org

   
Music for America
Music for America stands for the belief that our generation is smart enough, and capable enough, and big enough to be the dominant force in American politics. But we have been ignored by politicians and disgusted by politics to the point where many of us just stay away. 50,000 people, mostly 17-24 year-olds, have joined up at shows all across the country. In the last two years they’ve worked with over 200 bands and had well over 2000 shows. 10,000 people have created user accounts on their website, which receives 5 or 6 thousand visits every day. The power to change our country is here.
www.musicforamerica.org

The Democratic Party
For more than 200 years, the Democratic Party has represented the interests of working families, fighting for equal opportunities and justice for all Americans. Today, Democrats continue that fight with a firm commitment to the values that we all share as Americans: a secure nation that leads the world, strong economic growth and new jobs, affordable health care for all Americans, and a better education for our children.
www.dnc.org

   
The National Resources Defense Council
The NRDC is an organization which seeks to educate citizens on issues regarding ecology and the environment. Here you'll find all the tools, tips and information you need to help protect the earth's extraordinary wealth of natural treasures including everything you need to know about clean air & energy, global warming, clean waters & oceans, wildlife & fish, parks, forests & wildlands, health & the environment, nuclear weapons, waste & energy, cities & green living, US laws & policy and international issues.
www.nrdc.org

The Civil Rights Coalition For The 21st Century
Home to socially-concerned, issue-oriented original audio, video, and written programming, civilrights.org is committed to serving as the online nerve center not only for the struggle against discrimination in all its forms, but also to build the public understanding that it is essential for our nation to continue its journey toward social and economic justice.
www.civilrights.org

   
Justice For Immigrants
Since the founding, the United States has received immigrants from around the world who have found opportunity and safe haven in a new land. The labor, values, and beliefs of immigrants from throughout the world have transformed the United States from a loose group of colonies into one of the leading democracies in the world today. From its founding to the present, the United States remains a nation of immigrants grounded in the firm belief that newcomers offer new energy, hope and cultural diversity.
www.justiceforimmigrants.org