[News] Freedom Archives on KGO-TV

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Scroll down for mention of the Freedom Archives and view the video 
via the link at the website below.

Local Group Financing Grassroots Organization

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=abc7_focus&id=3796632


ABC7 Focus On Solutions



By Willie Monroe

Jan. 9 - KGO - Their goal is promoting social justice. Their method 
is financing small grassroots organizations. In this ABC7 Focus on 
Solutions, the Agape Foundation has been doing this for more than 30 years.

The People's Grocery needed a truck to distribute fresh produce and 
healthy food to west Oakland which has a shortage of grocery stores.

Families against California Three Strikes needed help with the 
initiative campaign of 2004.

And the Mosaic Project needed help spreading its message of tolerance 
to young people.

They all called on the Agape Foundation.

Karen Topakian, Agape Foundation: "We think it's very important to 
fund those groups that don't have access to traditional resources. We 
want to be a place for those on the edge ideas, and issues of social 
change. We want to provide a place for people to come for funding and 
find support to continue with their issues."

Since it started in 1969, the Agape Foundation has helped fund 700 
different organizations, most with grants of about $2,000 dollars. 
Altogether it's given away nearly $10 million dollars.

Karen Topakian, Agape Foundation: "The objective is to fund 
non-violent social change organizations."

One of its first grants went to the Farm Workers Union.

Groups have to be less than five-years old, based in California and 
have budgets less than $100,000 dollars. They must focus on issues 
like peace, environmental protection and human rights. But the 
foundation is open to innovative ideas.

Karen Topakian, Agape Foundation: "Ah, because we fund alternative 
models. We not only fund the projects that want to stop the 
discriminatory and violent behavior, and we see violence very 
broadly. Denial of people to have health care, and access to a clean 
environment and a safe environment we see just as violent as someone 
pointing a gun to your head."

Agape supports the Freedom Archives, a collection of historical audio 
and visual recordings that document progressive culture and politics 
in the Bay Area.

Claude Marks, Freedom Archives: "Well, we think social justice has 
its roots and so what we do is try to make those connections. Because 
the focus of the work that we have in the archives is in fact the 
social justice work that existed in the 80's or the 70's or even the 60's."

They're preserving that history, and in some cases restoring it as 
old recordings start to deteriorate. They also introduce young people 
to this history and teach them studio production along the way.

Sele Nadel-Hayes, Freedom Archives: "It gives them pride. It gives 
them a sense of history. It gives them a sense of wanting to make a 
change in the world and wanting to make a change in their communities 
which is what is going to lead to really positive things in the future."

The foundation gets its money from individual donors. They're not all 
wealthy. The average donation is $60 dollars. But they share a 
dedication to achieving their vision of a better world.

Contact Information

The Agape Foundation is located at 1095 Market Street, Suite 304, San 
Francisco, CA 94103. Phone number: (415) 701 - 8707. Web site: 
<http://www.agapefdn.org/>www.agapefdn.org. E-mail: 
<mailto:info at agapefdn.org>info at agapefdn.org.


Copyright 2006, ABC7/KGO-TV/DT.


The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
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