Network for Strong Communities

Background

Network for Strong Communities (NSC) is a left-of-center organization that provides legal assistance to left-wing protesters that are arrested during demonstrations. The organization, founded in August 2020, also calls for more police accountability, stating it increases “oversight” on police activity, and provides “civilians with the tools they need” to monitor police officers. ²

Activities

Network for Strong Communities has its own bail fund, which it states is used to “provide aid” to those who “cannot afford bail and other legal costs.” NSC also created the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, which has bailed out protesters arrested during events. ^{2 3}

Violent protests outside “Cop City”

In early March 2023, several left-wing protesters were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism after violent protests at the site of a planned police and fire training facility, dubbed “Cop City” by opponents, in Atlanta, Georgia. ⁴

The 23 arrested protesters, all but two from out of state, were accused of leaving a nearby music festival to head to the construction site to “conduct a coordinated attack on construction equipment and police officers.” Authorities stated that the group changed into black clothing and allegedly threw Molotov cocktails, commercial-grade fireworks, bricks, and rocks at police officers in the area. ¹

All but one of the protesters arrested were denied bail. Only one individual, Tom Jurgens, was granted a $5,000 bond. Jurgens is an employee of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a controversial watchdog of extremist groups that has been criticized for its financial practices and for defending left-wing radical movements. ^{4 5}

Atlanta Solidarity Fund labeled those arrested as “festival-goers,” claiming that the authorities committed “indiscriminate police violence,” adding that the “first amendment doesn’t go away” when someone “sets a fire.” The organization continued its statement by claiming the authorities want to arrest every protester for arson when “one person burns a bulldozer,” referencing an example of the violence during protests against the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. ¹

Atlanta Jail Support, a project of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, stated that it was “hard at work tracking down everyone who has been arrested” in relation to the alleged violence at the training center, so the organization could “help them get bailed and advocate for them while they’re in jail.” ¹

A day after the violence occurred at the training center, the Atlanta Solidarity Fund asked for donations to provide “bail assistance and access to legal representation for everyone arrested protesting.” The organization added it was “coordinating a network of lawyers to respond,” before asking for donations and claiming “solidarity means nobody faces repression alone!” ¹

Controversies

ASF Organizers Arrested for Money Laundering and Charity Fraud

In May 2023, 3 organizers with the Atlanta Solidarity Fund were arrested by local police during a raid on an Atlanta household. All three activists were charged with money laundering and charity fraud in connection with efforts by the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, one of NSC’s initiatives, to bail out activists protesting the construction of the Atlanta law enforcement training complex dubbed “Cop City.” According to arrest warrants, the three are accused of, “misleading donors by spending money to support Defend the Atlanta Forest,” ⁶ a local activist group whose members have been accused of violent protest tactics against law enforcement which include throwing rocks, Molotov cocktails, and fireworks at local police. In addition, the warrants show that one of the activists arrested, Marlon Kautz, has NSC as his registered charity and that all three had received reimbursements from NSC for purchases including communications equipment, camping supplies, and a safe bought from Amazon. ⁶ On the day of the arrests, Atlanta Solidary Fund posted a thread on its twitter page stating, ” This morning, three SolFund organizers were arrested in an attempt to cut off protestors from legal aid. We remain unafraid and stand strong in fighting to protect civil liberties. Donate to the National Bail Fund Network to help us back on our feet.” ⁷ In an interview with left-of-center media organization Democracy Now!, Atlanta organizer Kamua Franklin commented that the raid, “has nothing to do with any criminality, which has never taken place with the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, but…another way of destroying and attacking the infrastructure of organizing a movement, particularly against those who have been organizing against Cop City.” ^{8 6}

Financials

Although Network for Strong Communities was founded in August 2020, it has no tax returns available to the public. Exctracted data provided by the IRS states that in the fiscal year ending in December 2020, it received $3,605,992 in contributions, grants, and gifts, and $7,836 in other revenue, giving the organization a total revenue of $3,614,028. ⁹

Network for Strong Communities did not have any notable expenses regarding executive compensation, or professional fundraising fees, however; the organization also had no expenses regarding salaries and wages. In total, NSC’s functional expenses amounted to just $25,410 in 2020. ⁹