Alliance for Justice
| Alliance for Justice | |
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| Motto | Fighting for a Fair America |
| Formation | 1979 |
| President | Nan Aron |
| Website | www.AllianceforJustice.org |
Alliance for Justice (AFJ) is a national association of environmental, civil rights, mental health, women's, children's and consumer advocacy organizations in the USA.
In 1979, 20 advocacy organizations joined to form the Alliance for Justice under its founder, Nan Aron. Since its inception, Alliance for Justice has worked to advance the cause of justice for all Americans, to strengthen the public interest community's ability to influence public policy, and to foster the next generation of advocates. Today, AFJ has almost 80 member organizations.
In 2004, AJF expanded with the launch of its West Coast office. This office expanded West Coast operations by more than 50%.[1]
Alliance for Justice focuses on four main areas of advocacy, representing Judicial, Foundation, Nonprofit, and Student interests.
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[edit] Judicial advocacy
AFJ launched the Judicial Selection Project (JSP) in 1985 “to expose and combat the Reagan administration’s plans to pack the federal judiciary with hard-line conservative jurists.”[2] Through the JSP, AFJ monitors and investigates judicial nominations at all levels of the federal branch, and encourages public participation in the confirmation process. They played a role in the defeat of Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1987. They supported the nomination of Roger Gregory, the first African American judge in the Fourth Circuit in 2001. They played a role in efforts to support ten Senate filibusters against President George W. Bush's judicial nominees.
[edit] Nonprofit and foundation advocacy
For more than a decade, Alliance for Justice's Nonprofit Advocacy Project and companion Foundation Advocacy Initiative have developed cutting-edge resources, and implemented broadly based initiatives to help build and strengthen the capacity of the nonprofit and foundation communities to take their rightful seat at the policy table. Often, these organizations are the only entities working to provide a voice for individuals too vulnerable or too underrepresented to compete with powerful corporate and special interests that dominate policymaking decisions.
As more nonprofits recognize the need to engage in advocacy, lobbying, election-related activities and other public policy work in order to best serve their constituencies, there is an increased demand for information on how to do so within the confines of current tax and election laws and regulations. As a result, the demand for AFJ’s services is growing rapidly each year. Through a series of in-person and web-based workshops, ongoing direct legal technical assistance, plain language publications, public education and the development and expansion of state-specific resources, AFJ’s Nonprofit Advocacy Project and Foundation Advocacy Initiative provide leaders and organizations with the information they need to navigate these rules and create an open dialogue on public policy.
With its staff of attorney-trainers, AFJ works to translate these rules into easy-to-understand language, and address questions about the permissibility of specific activities while protecting and expanding the rights of nonprofits to participate actively in public policy development in pursuit of their charitable missions. AFJ is a recognized leader in promoting nonprofit participation in public policy by offering extensive support to nonprofit organizations on the laws and regulations governing nonprofit advocacy work.
[edit] Student advocacy
One of Alliance for Justice’s primary goals is to provide educational resources to support the next generation of advocates.
Every year on the first Monday in October, the opening of the Supreme Court's session, Student Action Campaign unites student activists on college, university, and law school campuses nationwide to fight for social justice. For more than a decade, AFJ’s First Monday program has produced award-winning documentary films and programs designed to educate the public about important social justice issues and to expose students to careers in public interest advocacy. In 2006, SAC produced the documentary Quiet Revolution in response to the alleged right wing take over of the federal court system. Quiet Revolution has since been distributed to more than 25,000 viewers across the nation, and SAC has gone on to produce Supreme Injustices and Access Denied?, released in 2007 and 2008, respectively.
Student Action Campaign is a campus-based program designed to raise awareness about vital social justice issues. Past campaigns have explored issues such as housing and homelessness, the death penalty, gun violence, and post-9/11 civil liberties.
