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2007 NONPROFIT
AWARDS
Honoring Exemplary Minnesota Nonprofits
 Nonprofit
Mission Award for ADVOCACY
This award recognizes advocacy as one of the most effective and unique roles of nonprofit organizations.
The winner of this category should
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have
an effective advocacy strategy,
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demonstrate
success in advocacy efforts, and
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have
a significant impact on the organization's constituency.
And
the finalists are . . .
view a list of
previous Mission Award recipients
Finalist
Profiles
Immigrant
Law Center of Minnesota
The past year has provided dynamic moments for the immigration debate in America, and comprehensive immigration reform has been a central topic in
discussions across the social spheres. The Immigrant Law Center of
Minnesota (ILCM) strives to be a voice of reason, practicality and
humanity for the rights of immigrants and the national need for
comprehensive immigration reform and is
the only legal program in
Minnesota
to provide free comprehensive immigration services to low-income
persons of all nationalities who are ineligible for federally-funded
legal services programs.
 ILCM has helped place a human face on the immigration issue in the midst of
visible devastation due to the current system.
Following the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid
of the Swift & Co. meat packing plant in Worthington
that left over 230 immigrant detained and deported, ILCM quickly
mobilized to address the crisis on hand and share the severity of
the incident with the general public.
While addressing the legal needs of Worthington’s immigrant community immediately following the incident, ILCM
used the event as an opportunity to express the critical need for
humane and practical comprehensive immigration reform.
It is the hope that even a tragic event like the raids in Worthington
can help usher in positive long-term change.
ILCM has strategically targeted the media as a way of sharing the
pro-immigration message and combating the hostile attacks against
immigrants and immigration. Along
with serving as a knowledgeable resource on immigration issues, ILCM
has connected journalists with past and present clients to capture
the intriguing faces and stories of
Minnesota’s immigrant communities.
In the aftermath of the Worthington
raids, the opportunity was prime to speak out for immigrant rights
and the need for comprehensive immigration reform.
ILCM’s legal expertise, years of collective immigration
experience, and direct involvement in the raid response has helped
makes it a reliable source in the issue of immigration law and
enforcement. The
greatest outcome of ILCM is that, thanks to its legal services, more
and more immigrants are empowered to pursue their dreams in this
country and become active voices for sensible, human immigration
reform. As long as ILCM
continues to bolster Minnesota
’s immigrant families with the stability of legal status, it will
strengthen immigration advocacy efforts.
Immigrant
Law Center Website: www.immigrantlawcentermn.org
Minnesota
Center
for
Environmental Advocacy
 The
Minnesota
Center
for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA) protects and defends Minnesota’s natural environment, its wildlife, and the health of its people
from environmental degradation and pollution.
One recent example of MCEA’s successful advocacy was the passage of the
Tracking Toxins bill during the 2007 legislative session.
The law provides $2 million over two years to establish an
environmental health tracking and biomonitoring program in Minnesota. It will begin
statewide environmental health tracking to assess the correlation
between environmental pollutants and chronic diseases such as
cancer, asthma, reproductive problems, childhood developmental
disorders, and nervous system diseases.
The biomonitoring component will fund pilot projects for the
state laboratory to assess exposure to arsenic, mercury, and
perfluorochemicals among volunteers from communities with likely
exposures to those chemicals. MCEA also identified the need for environmental health
tracking and biomonitoring in
Minnesota, and used its knowledge of national and international environmental
health issues and contacts in other states to develop a plan
uniquely suited to Minnesota.
By early 2007, MCEA had drafted a legislative bill and gained the support
of many partners. Some of the most enthusiastic legislative
supporters were those whose constituents had been informed that
their drinking water supplies were contaminated with
perfluorochemicals formerly manufactured by 3M Corporation.
This unfortunate scenario enabled legislators, the public,
and the local press to quickly understand the need for the type of
environmental health policy that MCEA proposed.
The bill faced stiff opposition at every stage of the
legislative session, primarily from lobbyists and scientists from
chemical manufacturing companies.
MCEA and its partners were able to overcome this opposition
with a strong idea based on convincing science that is
overwhelmingly favored by the public and by non-corporate
scientists.
The environmental health tracking and biomonitoring legislation has become
law, yet MCEA’s work on this is far from over. MCEA will remain
highly involved as
Minnesota’s fledgling environmental health tracking and biomonitoring
programs take shape to ensure that they are useful and responsive to
the people of
Minnesota. MCEA will advocate for scientific investigation of environmental
pollutant exposure scenarios throughout
Minnesota
and work to reverse the situation in which government agencies are
unable to take serious action on environmental health risks due to
uncertainty and lack of data. The
organization’s specialized legal and scientific experts are often
the only independent players on environmental policy issues that
otherwise would be addressed exclusively by government agency
personnel and corporate representatives.
MCEA website: www.mncenter.org
NARAL
Pro-Choice
Minnesota
 During research conducted over the the past seven years, NARAL Pro-Choice
Minnesota found that both religious and secular hospitals did not
consistently ensure rape victims access to a simple pregnancy
prevention measure that is recognized as being the standard of care
by the medical community. For
six years, NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota and its allies had worked to
pass legislation to remedy this, but faced legislative roadblocks.
Regardless, NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota pushed forward by
collecting thousands of constituent signatures by knocking on doors
in
Minnesota
communities and through a dedicated website about emergency
contraception in Minnesota. In 2007, facing a new Legislature, NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota
amassed a broader coalition of allies.
It reached out to traditional opponents at the Capitol and
sought support in all corners. NARAL
Pro-Choice Minnesota activists contacted their legislators and the
governor, asking them to support it.
On May 4, 2007, Governor Pawlenty signed the Compassionate Care for
Sexual Assault Victims Act. The measure was passed with an
overwhelming display of bipartisan support from the Minnesota House
and Senate. When the law
goes into effect August 1, 2007,
Minnesota
will join ten other states that ensure sexual assault victims get
access to timely emergency contraception to prevent pregnancy after
a rape. The bill also
ensures both female and male sexual assault victims receive timely
treatment for sexually-transmitted diseases and infection.
While NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota took the initiative, it worked closely
with allies in the sexual assault service community in the crafting
of the Compassionate Care for Sexual Assault Victims Act. In
addition, this measure had been opposed by the state’s hospital
association and Catholic hospitals.
NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota reached out and persuaded the
Minnesota Hospital Association to not only drop their opposition,
but to affirmatively support it.
We had a dialogue with the Catholic hospitals about the
Catholic doctrine that permits the use of pregnancy prevention
measures in the case of a rape.
As a result, the Catholic hospitals dropped their opposition
and become neutral on the bill.
The Minnesota Medical Association also supported the bill.
Most directly, the passage of the Compassionate Care for Sexual Assault
Victims Act will ensure that every rape victim who goes to a
hospital in Minnesota
will receive the standard of care in regards to pregnancy prevention
and STD/STI treatment and testing.
Previously, victims had to rely on the luck of the draw
regarding the individual hospital or the on-duty physician.
Each year, scores of Minnesota
women do become pregnant as a result of rape.
Not all women who have been raped go to an emergency room
within the 72-hours required for emergency contraception to be
effective. This law
will, however, help the large number of rape victims who do go to
the ER during this critical window.
The law will reduce the number of pregnancies from rape in Minnesota
and presumably the number of abortions.
NARAL
Pro-Choice Minnesota website: www.prochoiceminnesota.org
If
you have not already done so, you
are also encouraged to view the finalists and vote for the Nonprofit
Mission Awards in the areas of:
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to About the Nonprofit Mission Awards
  
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