Human Rights
On Blood Equality
Today is the WHO's World Blood Donor Day. This day also coincides with Pride Month and follows some compelling concerns raised from our BBN community recently about blood law, which we feel compelled to address. For over three decades, HIV/AIDS fears fueled a U.S. ban on all donated blood from gay and bisexual men. While…
Read MoreDecolonizing Service
The following blog has been adapted by FBB staff from Wendy Webber's 6/7/19 speech at the American Humanists Association Annual Conference. Decolonizing service is a huge topic. I can only scratch the surface today, so I’m going to focus on what "decolonizing service" means in the context of Ghana, because of Foundation Beyond Belief’s work…
Read MoreEcuadorian Exchange (part 2 of 3): Learning from Tandana Foundation
For a long time this trip was just a dream. Although multiple people at Foundation Beyond Belief had put a lot of hours into its planning, in the end it seemed impossible. International laws and foreign immigration systems made it extremely difficult to get to Ecuador. It didn’t matter that Ecuador is visa-free for 90…
Read MoreBeneficiary guest blog: APOPO— Training Rats to Save Lives
APOPO is a global non-profit with Belgian roots, that researches, develops, and implements scent detection technology to solve global humanitarian issues. For over 20 years APOPO’s scent detection rats, nicknamed HeroRATs, have been detecting landmines and tuberculosis in affected countries around the world. The rats are trained through clicker/reward methods, receiving tasty food treats when…
Read MoreA Tale of Two Storms
Chances are, you read a lot about Hurricane Harvey when it transformed Houston, TX into a disaster zone in 2017. 68 people were directly killed from Harvey's devastation, 30,000 displaced, and 1,000 homes completely destroyed. This spring, disasters of even greater magnitude laid waste to Eastern Africa. In March, tropical Cyclone Idai— one of the worst…
Read MoreEcuadorian Exchange: learning from human rights groups in Quito (part 1 of 3)
When I arrived in Quito I was jet lagged and exhausted from two days of flights filled with lengthy and agonizing layovers. I was also suffering from altitude sickness coming from Ghana where the altitude is around 880 meters (compared to Quito’s 2,850 meters). However, I was excited to be in Ecuador and really looking forward to meeting…
Read More“Letter From a Birmingham Jail” at 56
Written while King was jailed for an unpermitted march against segregation laws, his “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” was composed on newspaper scraps and toilet paper, in a moment when the civil rights movement seemed to verge on collapse. Written to refute white moderate criticism of his methods, today the letter is celebrated as King’s famous…
Read MoreAnnouncing our new quarter two beneficiaries!
April doesn’t just bring showers and tax day. It also brings new Humanist Grants beneficiaries! Each of this quarter’s beneficiaries highly values evidence-driven interventions and includes integrated data collection and evaluation in their program designs. We are proud to support the work they do!
Read MoreCelebrating Imelda: guest post from Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project
FBB is proud to share this post from our partners at the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project. In this Women's History Month, "we at the Florence Project celebrate the strong, resilient women who inspire us every day: our clients who are mothers, daughters, sisters, and survivors. We celebrate Imelda. Imelda grew up in the mountains…
Read MoreGuest post: Defending against ongoing attacks on the right to seek asylum
In 2018, the Florence Project responded to unprecedented attacks on the right of immigrants to seek asylum in the United States – a right guaranteed by both United States and international law. Unlike defendants in criminal court proceedings, who are guaranteed free legal representation, detained immigrants do not have the right to a public defender.…
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