The Community Cooperation Award (CCA), made possible by an anonymous donor, grants a single award of $500 to one Freethought organization each year to foster cooperation, ethical awareness and positive images of and within the Freethought community. The winner of the first CCA was Atheists and Other Freethinkers of Sacramento.

The object of the CCA is to foster cooperation between atheist/freethought organizations and their larger home communities. Cooperation, ethics, and positive image are the elements that will be considered by the CCA committee during review of the applications. Consideration will be given to the size of the applicant organization relative to its achievements. It is our goal to encourage organizations to employ ethical means to solve problems, controversies or disagreements they may encounter, either within the organization itself or the community at large. Finally, the organization should project a positive image of atheists and freethinkers as individuals and as a community.

Applicant groups must be atheist/freethought organizations listed in the current edition of the Freethought Directory published by AAI. The applicant organization need not be an AAI member group. The award money may be used by the organization for any purpose. To qualify for the CCA, applicant groups must submit a completed entry form, in English, listing examples of positive influence during 2006, signed by three group representatives.

The winner selected by the CCA Committee may be asked to substantiate its application with documentation in the form of:

• Media coverage of community volunteer work
• Evidence of cooperation with civic or religious leaders in the community
• Listing with local United Way or other philanthropic organizations
• Tapes or transcripts from meetings/events
• Relevant articles from the organization's newsletter

Entry form must be submitted via postal mail, postmarked by July 31, 2007. Mail to:

Community Cooperation Award
c/o Atheist Alliance International
PO Box 967
Diamond Springs, CA 95619-0967

The AAI CCA Committee will choose the winner. The decision will be final, and the right will be reserved to withdraw the award after it is announced, but before it is paid, if there is substantial evidence of undesirable behavior on the part of the proposed recipient. A runner-up may also be chosen in case the winner is deemed no longer worthy. The winner will be announced at the 2007 AAI convention, September 28-30 in Arlington, VA.

• CCA 2007 Announcement
• CCA 2007 Application

For more information contact:
Margaret Downey
Atheist Alliance International President
P. O. Box 242, Pocopson, Pennsylvania 19366
Phone: (610) 793-2737 • Fax: (610) 793-2569 • Email:

ATHEIST ALLIANCE INTERNATIONAL
The Democratic Alliance of Autonomous Atheistic Societies
Website: www.atheistalliance.org

Atheist Alliance International (AAI), founded in 1991, is an umbrella organization for local, autonomous, religion-free groups as well as individual members.

It has 54 member societies in the United States and 10 in other countries. AAI is the only fully democratic atheist organization in the United States.

Its purposes are to help establish and strengthen the religion-free community at the grassroots level and to achieve visibility and acceptance for atheists as respected contributors to discussions of public policy.