Sharifa Diaz

Public Welfare Foundation

The Public Welfare Foundation supports efforts to advance justice and opportunity for people in need. These efforts honor the Foundation's core values of racial equity, economic well-being and fundamental fairness for all. The Foundation looks for strategic points where its funds can make a significant difference and improve lives through policy and system reform that results in transformative change. In its 70-year history, the Foundation has distributed more than $570 million in grants to more than 4,800 organizations. With current assets of more than $480 million, Public Welfare makes grants nationwide and focuses its grant making in some difficult, and often overlooked, social justice areas where it believes it can serve as a catalyst for reform. Its main programs are Criminal Justice, Youth Justice, and Workers' Rights, with a special initiative on Civil Legal Aid for the poor.