Friday, June 05, 2009
Public Welfare Foundation Announces New Grants
The Public Welfare Foundation Board of Directors has approved more than $5 million in grants designed to create more fairness in the criminal and juvenile justice system; more dignity for workers, particularly low-wage workers; and meaningful reform of the health care system. Among the projects approved today:
- The Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) received a $500,000 grant – the largest in the Foundation’s history – to improve job and pay conditions for truckers who operate at large ports, as well as set higher environmental quality standards that will benefit truckers and residents of surrounding port communities. The wages of these short-haul truckers are shortchanged by about 40 prcent, LAANE has found, because they are often misclassified as independent contractors rather than employees of the companies they work with every day. LAANE and its allies will expand their work already underway at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports and begin to transform the industry nationwide by seeking reforms at eight of the nine largest seaports in the country. Those ports, which handle about 70 percent of annual containerized shipping in the U.S., include Oakland, CA; the Seattle-Tacoma port in Washington; and major ports in New York, New Jersey and Norfolk, VA.
- The Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia, PA received a $100,000 grant to help advance reforms of Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system in the wake of a far-reaching corruption scandal in which two Luzerne County, PA juvenile court judges received money to incarcerate youth in certain detention centers. The Juvenile Law Center uncovered an arrangement between the two judges and a for-profit youth correctional facility operator that resulted in thousands of non-violent, first-time youth offenders serving long sentences while the corrupt judges collected more than $2.6 million in kickbacks. The scandal has drawn international media coverage and positioned the Center to lead efforts to bring about substantive, system-wide changes, such as rules to prevent juveniles from waiving their right to counsel and provisions to ensure post-conviction appellate rights for youth. With a $30,000 grant from the Foundation, the Mental Health Association in Pennsylvania will engage juvenile victims of the scandal and their families in advocating for juvenile justice reform and help them obtain mental health treatment and educational assistance that never materialized.
- A $100,000 grant to the National Physicians Alliance Foundation will help its efforts to bring the voices of doctors who are working for more equity, access and patient-centered focus in the health care system as reform is debated at the national and state levels.
About 40 organizations received funding. More than $1.5 million in grants will be awarded through the Foundation’s Criminal and Juvenile Justice Program, more than $1 million through its Health Reform Program, and more than $1.6 million through its Workers’ Rights Program. Under the Special Opportunities Program $850,000 in grants will be distributed.
A complete list of the grants approved at the meeting follows:
Workers’ Rights
9to5 National Association of Working Women – Milwaukee, WI($80,000 – 1 year)
Support for work to educate people about the need for paid sick days as a worker’s right in California, Wisconsin, and at the federal level.
Brave New Foundation – Culver City, CA($175,000 – 1 year)
Support to develop new media strategies to engage the public in reforming workplace health and safety policy.
Demos: A Network for Ideas and Action – New York, NY($75,000 – 1 year)
Support to raise awareness of the need for sensible and pragmatic regulation, emphasizing areas of opportunity to improve the economic well-being of poor and working class Americans.
Family Values @ Work: A Multi-State Consortium – Milwaukee, WI($100,000 – 1 year)
Support for work to educate people about the need for paid sick days as a worker’s right in California, Maine, Massachusetts, and New York.
Los Angeles Alliance for A New Economy – Los Angeles, CA($500,000 – 1 year)
Support for a coordinated national campaign to improve conditions for short-haul truckers at eight of the nation's nine largest seaports.
National Council for Occupational Safety and Health – Chapel Hill, NC($200,000 – 1 year)
General support.
National Public Radio – Washington, DC($100,000 – 1 year)
Support for coverage of workers’ rights issues.
Restaurant Opportunities Centers United – New York, NY($150,000 – 1 year)
Support for research and advocacy for health and safety policies and paid sick days for restaurant workers.
University of Massachusetts Lowell– Lowell, MA($128,000 – 1 year)
Support for an initiative to advocate for more prevention-focused workplace health and safety policy.
WorkSafe – Oakland, CA($100,000 – 1 year)
General support.
Criminal and Juvenile Justice
Arkansas Department of Human Services – Little Rock, AR($155,000 – 1 year)
Support for juvenile justice reform in Arkansas.
Campaign for Youth Justice – Washington, DC($250,000 – 1 year)
General support.
Children and Family Justice Center– Chicago, IL($150,000 – 1 year)
Support for the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth.
Children’s Law Center– Covington, KY($75,000 – 1 year)
Support for the Ohio Juvenile Justice Reform Initiative.
Drug Policy Alliance– New York, NY($150,000 – 1 year)
Support to advocate for criminal justice drug policy reforms in Alabama, New Jersey and New Mexico.
Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama– Montgomery, AL ($100,000 – 1 year)
Support to advocate for parole reform in Alabama as well as efforts to address racial bias in jury selection in Alabama and four other southern states.
Families & Allies of Virginia’s Youth – Arlington, VA($30,000 – 1 year)
Support to engage communities in advocacy to end the transfer of youths from juvenile to adult courts.
Families Against Mandatory Minimums – Washington, DC($100,000 – 1 year)
Support to build grassroots and policymaker support for reform of prescription drug mandatory minimum sentencing laws in Florida.
Justice Policy Institute – Washington, DC($150,000 – 1 year)
General support.
Juvenile Law Center – Philadelphia, PA($100,000 – 1 year)
Support for juvenile justice reform in Pennsylvania and litigation to end the transfer of youths from juvenile to adult courts nationwide.
Mental Health Association in Pennsylvania– Harrisburg, PA($30,000 – 1 year)
Support to advocate for juvenile justice system reform in Pennsylvania.
Southern Center for Human Rights – Atlanta, GA($150,000 – 1 year)
Support for litigation-based campaigns to reduce rates of incarceration in Georgia and Alabama.
W. Haywood Burns Institute – San Francisco, CA($100,000 – 1 year)
General support.
Health Reform
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law – Washington, DC($100,000 – 1 year)
Support for the development of policy recommendations to integrate mental health services with physical health as part of national health care reform.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities – Washington, DC($50,000 – 1 year)
Support for the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, which provides budget analyses and advocacy for policies addressing the needs of low-income people in the District of Columbia.
Consumer Health Coalition – Pittsburgh, PA($50,000 – 1 year)
General support.
Consumers for Affordable Health Care Foundation – Augusta, ME($100,000 – 1 year)
General support.
Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations – Baton Rouge, LA($75,000 – 1 year)
Support for the Louisiana Budget Project, which researches and analyzes the state budget and its impact on low-income families.
National Physicians Alliance Foundation – Reston, VA($100,000 – 1 year)
General support.
New Hampshire Voices for Health – Boston, MA($67,500 – 1 year)
Support for a project of the Public Policy Institute to establish a New Hampshire-based health advocacy network that joins advocates, consumers, and small businesses into a strong force for reforms related to quality and cost in the health system.
Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute – Bronx, NY($50,000 – 1 year)
Support for organizing health care workers and their employers as well as educational and advocacy activities on health care reform in Pennsylvania.
Primary Care Coalition of Montgomery County Maryland– Silver Spring, MD($50,000 – 1 year)
Support to change the way health care is delivered by focusing on the individual’s experience, by improving the health of the general population, and by reducing the cost of care.
Small Business Majority – Sausalito, CA($200,000 – 1 year)
Support to further develop and prepare a network of small business voices to influence federal and state health reform.
South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce – Columbia, SC($75,000 – 1 year)
Support to represent small businesses and help them find solutions to the health care crisis for their employees.
Utah Health Policy Project – Salt Lake City, UT($100,000 – 1 year)
General support.
Special Opportunities
Campaign for Youth Justice – Washington, DC($100,000 – 1 year)
General support.
Center for Media and Democracy – Madison, WI($150,000 – 1 year)
Support for the Real Economy Project, which will use new media strategies to advance progressive reforms for re-regulation of Wall Street and economic stimulus for Main Street.
Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama– Montgomery, AL($100,000 – 1 year)
General support.
Families Against Mandatory Minimums – Washington, DC($100,000 – 1 year)
General support.
Human Impact Partners – Oakland, CA($100,000 – 1 year)
General support.
Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund – Los Angeles, CA($200,000 – 1 year)
Support for the 2010 National Census Outreach project.
New America Foundation – Washington, DC($100,000 – 1 year)
Support for the development of policies and communications strategies to provide access to health care for immigrants through federal health care reform.
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