Californians for Justice Education Fund

The organization has advocated that California should remove police from schools and instead direct money to counselors and programs that empower minority students. ²

In the wake of the death of George Floyd, the Napa Valley Community Foundation urged donors to give to “organizations that advance racial justice in the Bay Area” and listed Californians for Justice as a “statewide youth-powered organization fighting for racial justice” worthy of funding. ³

Staff

Taryn Ishida is the executive director of Californians for Justice. ⁴ From 2008 to 2013, Ishida was employed as a program coordinator at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, a major grantmaking foundation that supports environmentalist causes and population-control programs. Before that from 2006 to 2008, she worked at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a left-of-center grantmaking organization that funds a variety of political and charitable causes. ⁵

Saa’un Bell is the strategy director of CFJ. ⁴ Bell is also an associate and trainer for the Center for Story-based Strategy, an organization that provides campaign-building services to left-of-center activist and advocacy groups. ⁶

CFJ board members include a number of high school and college students; representatives from the Learning Policy Institute, a left-leaning education policy research organization; and representatives of the Advancement Project, a left-wing agitation group that organizes opposition to voter identification laws. ⁷

Issues and Advocacy

Californians for Justice opposes school budget cuts and advocates for increased public-school funding. The organization also supports so-called “community schools” which integrate academics with health, social services, and youth and community development. ⁸

In advance of the 2020 California Democratic Primary, CFJ, in conjunction with the San Jose chapter of the gun control group March for Our Lives, held a voter registration drive. ⁹

In 2018, CFJ lobbied the California Assembly on a number of bills, including Assembly Bill 2657 which put restrictions on the ability of school staff to restrain or isolate disruptive or violent students. ¹⁰

In 2018, CFJ advocated on two ballot measures that voters rejected. The first was Santa Clara County Measure G on the June ballot, which would have implemented a parcel tax to raise funds for school improvements. The second was California Proposition 10 which would have allowed counties and cities to adopt rent control ordinances to regulate how much landlords could charge tenants. ¹⁰

For the 2018 midterm elections, CFJ made voter contacts, distributed a voter guide, and held a ballot party. ¹⁰

In March 2024, it was reported that the CFJ would begin paying high school students within the Long Beach Unified School District in California roughly $1,400 per person to teach and advocate on “how to fight for social and racial justice.” ¹¹ In addition, the group would begin organizing after-school clubs and programs to teach students “in the way of the social justice warrior.” ¹¹ Parents of the school district heavily criticized the new program, calling it a, “horrible propaganda strategy.” ¹¹ At least one professor in the school district said the CFJ’s efforts will create the opposite effect of helping express their opinion, rather it is, “giving them a scripted voice that’s not their own.” ¹¹

Grantmaking

In 2018, CFJ gave $10,000 alliance participation grants to multiple left-progressive racial-activism and economic advocacy groups, including Fathers & Families of San Joaquin, Khmer Girls in Action, and the Orange County Congregation Community. ¹⁰

Youth Organize! California lists CFJ as a fiscal sponsor. ¹²

Funding

Over the years, CFJ has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, a private foundation that provides grants primarily to left-of-center activist groups that focus on supporting liberal expansionist immigration policy, LGBT interests, education, and organizations in the San Francisco Bay area. ¹³

CFJ has received thousands of dollars from Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, one of the nation’s largest philanthropic organizations which funds groups with left-leaning social-change missions related to race, the environment, and gender. ¹⁴

Between 2020 and 2018, CFJ has received $300,000 from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a controversial left-of-center grantmaking organization. ¹⁵

In 2020, CFJ received money to support a student-led education advocacy campaign from the Stuart Foundation, a private foundation located in San Francisco that funds education initiatives. ¹⁶

In 2019, CFJ received a $125,000 from the Weingart Foundation, a grantmaking organization that supports left-of-center advocacy groups. ¹⁷

In 2018, CFJ received a $25,000 grant from the Liberty Hill Foundation, a left-wing grantmaking foundation. ¹⁸

In 2017, CFJ received a $300,000 grant from the Satterberg Foundation, a private foundation supporting left-of-center organizations principally in the Pacific Northwest region. ¹⁹

In 2016, CFJ received a $450,000 grant from the Marguerite Casey Foundation, a left-of-center private foundation that funds community organizing groups. ²⁰

In 2015, CFJ received a $25,000 grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, a foundation that supports environmentalist causes and population control programs. ²¹ Also in 2015, CFJ received a $225,000 grant from the California Wellness Foundation, an organization that funds numerous California-focused left-of-center groups. ²²

In both 2012 and 2013, CFJ received $30,000 in grants from the Edward W. Hazen Foundation, a left-leaning public welfare and social policy grantmaker. ²³

CFJ has also been granted between $50,000 to $100,000 from the Akonadi Foundation, a left-leaning racial equality and illegal immigration advocacy organization. ²⁴

The organization has also received $40,000 from Funders’ Collaborative on Youth Organizing, a racial-interest policy organization. ²⁵