Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) are a federation of U.S. and Canadian non-profit organizations that employ grassroots organizing and direct advocacy on issues such as consumer protection, public health and transportation. The PIRGs are closely affiliated with the Fund for the Public Interest, which conducts fundraising and canvassing on their behalf.
Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm uses its internal reserves to satisfy its necessity for cash, while the term financing is used when the firm acquires capital from external sources.
Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG) is a non-profit organization that is one of the largest of the state PIRG organizations. It works on a variety of political activities, including textbook trading on college campuses. They also provide internships and work study jobs for students on Massachusetts college campuses. Along with the Massachusetts Service Alliance, MASSPIRG helped to create Massachusetts Community Water Watch, an organization that works specifically on environmental politics. Student funding of MASSPIRG has been criticized at several schools where students wish to see MASSPIRG funding cut, citing that the mandatory fees do not effectively contribute directly to any cause on campus, and are a complication to students forced to pay "already tedious" tuition fees.
The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) is a non-profit organization founded in 1968 to advance consumer interests through research, education and advocacy.
Maryland Public Interest Research Group (MaryPIRG) is a student activist non-profit organization and one of many State PIRGs. The organization works on a variety of local activist activities, including environmental activism, textbook trading on college campuses, democratic reforms, control of antibiotics in food products, and help for the homeless. They also provide internships and work study jobs for students at the University of Maryland.
The Students Coalition Against War, or SCAW is a Canadian organization with members in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Edmonton, Alberta, Victoria, British Columbia, Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec. SCAW is a grassroots social movement dedicated to creating and fostering progressive social change. SCAW focuses on public education, non-violent activism, organizing, advocacy and reform. They aim to address and propose solutions – in a definitive and comprehensive manner – to the major social, economic and political issues, which induce, promote and sustain contemporary war, in all its forms worldwide.
The Fund for the Public Interest is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization that runs the public fundraising and canvassing operations for politically liberal nonprofit organizations that advocate for issues such as environmental protection, consumer safeguards and public health in the United States. FFPI was set up in 1982 as the fundraising arm of the Public Interest Research Group (PIRGs). The Fund has faced lawsuits and complaints over its labor practices.
Gene Karpinski is the president of the League of Conservation Voters.
Action for a Change. A Student's Manual for Public Interest Organizing is a 1971 book written by consumer advocate Ralph Nader with Donald K. Ross, Brett English, and Joseph Highland. The book serves as a manual for college students establishing Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs), and chronicles the formation of PIRGs in Oregon and Minnesota.
My Princess Academy was a website and same-named attendant virtual princess world that empowers girls to be a "new kind of Princess" by teaching the "4 Pillars" of being a real princess: generosity, intelligence, beauty and confidence. Created for girls ages three to seven, My Princess Academy lets girls create their own princess avatar, princess room, and play games and activities. The brand also teaches girls how to become their own kind of princesses, their best selves, defined not only by physical beauty but by inner beauty.
Environment America is a federation of state-based environmental advocacy organizations in the United States. The organization researches and advocates for environmental policies through lobbying, litigation, and the mobilization of public support. Environment America advocates new laws and policies to address climate change, air pollution and water pollution, and is a proponent of clean energy, while opposing offshore drilling.
Donald Kemp Ross was an American public interest lawyer. Ross proposed the model of Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGS) with Ralph Nader. Ross became the first director of the NYPIRG. He helped to found the Albany law firm of Malkin & Ross, and its associated advocacy organization M+R Strategic Services. He has served on the board of directors of environmental organizations.
Phineas Baxandall is a Senior Analyst at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center where he focuses on transportation and tax policy in Massachusetts state and local government.
Illinois Public Interest Research Group is a non-profit organization that is part of the state PIRG organizations. It works on a variety of political activities, including childhood obesity, reducing the interest on student loans, and closing tax loopholes.
Missouri Public Interest Research Group (MoPIRG) is a non-profit organization that is part of the state PIRG organizations.
Ohio Public Interest Research Group is a non-profit organization that is part of the state PIRG organizations. It works on a variety of political activities.
Public Interest Research Group in Michigan (PIRGIM) is a non-profit organization that is part of the state PIRG organizations.
Green Corps is an environmental organization in the United States that trains recent college graduates in a one-year post-graduate program in grassroots community organizing. During the program, Green Corps organizers learn in the classroom and are deployed in the field to work on campaigns.
In the United States, "defund the police" is a slogan that supports removing funds from police departments and reallocating them to non-policing forms of public safety and community support, such as social services, youth services, housing, education, healthcare and other community resources. Activists who use the phrase may do so with varying intentions; some seek modest reductions, while others argue for full divestment as a step toward the abolition of contemporary police services. Activists who support the defunding of police departments often argue that investing in community programs could provide a better crime deterrent for communities; funds would go toward addressing social issues, like poverty, homelessness, and mental disorders. Police abolitionists call for replacing existing police forces with other systems of public safety, like housing, employment, community health, education, and other programs.
