Newsroom
Public Welfare Foundation Adds Two Program Officers (05/05/2008)
Robert Shull, the former Deputy Director of Public Citizen, has been named Program Officer for Workers' Rights, and Ria Pugeda, former Senior Program Associate with the Foundation, is now a program officer.

CHANGE THIS (04/14/2008)
That’s the message of the new Public Welfare Foundation annual report for 2007. Read about “Making Change Happen,” including in-depth stories about the people behind our programs and a list of grants made in 2007. Find the link to the digital (PDF) version on our About Us page or

Second Chance Act May Speed Broader Justice Reform (04/11/2008)
Advocates believe the unusual bipartisan coalition that has formed around the Second Chance Act, a bill to help former prisoners re-enter society, may mark a trend toward more enlightened criminal justice policies.

Congress Passes Second Chance Act to Ease Ex-Inmate Reentry (03/13/2008)
Washington, D.C.–Justice reform advocates hail passage of the federal Second Chance Act as a major advance to help nearly 700,000 people released from American prisons every year break the cycle of crime and incarceration and build productive lives.

D.C. Council Passes Nation's Second Paid Sick Days Act (03/07/2008)
Washington, D.C. is poised to become the second jurisdiction in the nation to require employers to provide paid sick days to their employees. Advocates estimate that more than 210,000 workers in the nation’s capitol will benefit, once the measure goes into effect.

Foundation Funds Certification Plan for Low-Wage Service Workers (02/05/2008)
The Public Welfare Foundation has made a $125,000 grant for the Workplace Investment Partnership, an initiative spearheaded by the National Employment Law Project to monitor and enforce workplace standards for contract service workers such as janitors, security guards, groundskeepers, food service personnel and parking attendants. Certification under the Workplace Investment Partnership is designed to become a "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval" for companies that hire low-wage contract employees.

Public Welfare Foundation Awards $10.8 million to 48 organizations (02/01/2008)
The Public Welfare Foundation has made $10.8 million in grants to 48 organizations across the U.S. At a meeting Feb. 1 in Washington, the Board of Directors of the Public Welfare Foundation approved $9.5 million in grants representing the first series of awards made under the Foundation’s new programs for 2008: Criminal and Juvenile Justice, Health Reform and Workers’ Rights. Another $250,000 in grants were made under the Foundation’s Special Opportunities program in response to the HIV/AIDs crisis in Washington, D.C.

Foundation Boosts Support for Health Reform Across South (02/01/2008)
The Public Welfare Foundation has launched a $4.9 million initiative to build support for broad-scale health reform across the South. At its Feb. 1 meeting, the Board of Directors of the Public Welfare Foundation approved health reform grants to 17 organizations in Southern states

Sentencing Commission Narrows Crack/Cocaine Disparity (12/12/2007)
Washington, D.C. – In a move widely hailed by advocates for justice reform, the U.S. Sentencing Commission unanimously voted Tuesday to reduce retroactively lengthy sentences meted out to thousands of people convicted of crack cocaine-related offenses over the past two decades.

Terri Langston To Receive Health Philanthropy's Top Award (11/30/2007)
Washington, D.C. -- Terri Langston, the Public Welfare Foundation’s Senior Program Officer for Health Reform, has been named to receive the Grantmakers in Health Terrance Keenan Leadership Award in Health Philanthropy, the highest honor conferred by the health philanthropy community each year.

Seema Gajwani New Director of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Program (10/24/2007)
Washington, D.C.--Seema Gajwani, 31, formerly a staff attorney with the Public Defender Service of the District of Columbia, has joined the Public Welfare Foundation as program officer for its Criminal and Juvenile Justice Program.

New Appalachian Alliance receives $225,000 grant (10/24/2007)
Washington, D.C. --The Public Welfare Foundation has awarded a two-year, $225,000 grant to the Appalachian Mountaintop Removal Alliance, a cooperative effort launched by 13 advocacy groups in Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.