Public Welfare Foundation

Our kids are watching as we create the world that we’ll leave behind for them. They are watchful onlookers whose internal world is defined by how loving their external world is.

PWF works to fund ideas that replace cruel, punitive and dehumanizing systems with restorative, humane, and loving systems that offer a bright, abundant future.

By supporting work that reimagines the current system, elevates leadership of those most impacted, and shifts power and resources from systems to communities, Public Welfare Foundation proudly joins the effort to seed in communities across the nation.

doesn’t exist in a vacuum. One person or organization can’t take on the mountain of work needed to rebuild our criminal justice system into a restorative, humane, ethical, and racially-just system. Our work takes a village – that's why we don’t just fund individual organizations but entire ecosystems that work in tandem with one another.

The heroes of our stories are the neighbors who knock on the door of the overwhelmed new mom to provide her with support. They’re the pastors, imams, and rabbis who open faith homes for mutual aid. They’re the formerly incarcerated community leaders who provide advice and counsel to returning citizens to get back on their feet. They’re the advocates who fight for affordable housing, better food options, and more green spaces for families to enjoy.

Our heroes are all around us, and they aren’t waiting for permission to restore and transform. Let’s not wait for permission to invest in them.

Earlier this year, we had the opportunity to gather with some of our Colorado partners. These partners represent Colorado’s ecosystem, building real community safety through their tireless work.

Amid an incredibly unmooring news cycle, our partners provide us and their communities with the innovation, excitement, joy, and gratitude to propel us into a transformative, community-based, and racially just future.

It’s no secret that while the United States celebrated its independence in 1776, the transatlantic slave trade – a horrific practice that transported between 10-12 million enslaved African people to the Americas – was underway.

Today, nearly 2 million people – many of whom are Black and brown descendants of the transatlantic slave trade – are sitting in jails and prisons nationwide.

The work of true liberation is not done – not even close. Today is not a placating celebration of freedom but a reminder of the winding road ahead.

Our work is best done with no misgivings, false narratives, or buried history. The devastating truth about our nation’s criminal justice system is evident in prisons across the country, in over-policed neighborhoods, and in households debilitated by incarceration. The beautiful truth about what’s waiting for us on the other side of our broken criminal justice system is also evident in thriving communities, loved and uplifted youth, and system-impacted people restored by the support and encouragement of their neighbors.

Last month, the PWF team visited the Whitney Plantation in Edgard, Louisiana. The non-profit museum educates its visitors on the experiences of enslaved people living on the Whitney Plantation, which operated from 1752 to 1975.

The plantation’s history and legacy bleeds into our current carceral system, shaping its tragic and horrific manifestations across the state. The visit was a staunch reminder of why we invest in Louisiana as one of our jurisdictions: the duality of deep pain and profound resilience that permeated the history of the plantation is woven into the fabric of the fight to transform the state’s abominable criminal justice system.

We proudly support that fight and are incredibly grateful to our partners for welcoming us to their state to learn from their tireless, brilliant work.

Research shows there is virtually no relationship between incarceration and crime rates. By contrast, studies reinforce that local interventions have positive impacts on people and improve community safety. That’s where our investment should be.

We don’t have to repeat the harm of the past. There are people and coalitions in neighborhoods and communities across the country poised and ready to create something new – we just have to believe and invest in them.

Building safer communities means we are accountable to one another, leaving no one behind because of fear or apathy. We hold each other close, giving each other the gift of empathy, grace, and redemption.

As we enter a month that celebrates and honors the lives and contributions of the LGBTQ+ community, as well as houses the commemoration of the end of enslavement in Texas, we’re reminded that the veneer of change is not enough. True, lasting change requires transformative approaches that dig deep into the muck and mire of systemic oppression, pulling it up from its roots.

With tilled ground, we can plant something new, beautiful, and lasting.

Today would’ve been Breonna Taylor’s 31st birthday. The horrific circumstances surrounding her death illustrates the absolute devastation that over-policing and militarized tactics can wrought on communities.

Breonna's death doesn’t just implicate individual actors, but a system designed to treat her precious life as expendable in the often-fruitless pursuit of a mangled vision of justice.

In the face of profound grief, we are called to build a world in which Breonna would’ve slept through the night, peacefully, and been here to celebrate her birthday with loved ones. That’s true justice.

There are no misgivings among those working to transform our criminal justice system: fatigue from the tug and pull of steps forward and steps back is inevitable. Even a deep passion for the work can’t stave it off – our grantees know this better than many.

As comes to a close, we thank them for their work and call for continued investment that allows them preservation, persistence, and perhaps most importantly, rest.

We tell our young people what we believe about them through what we offer them. Their sense of self-worth and value is defined by the world they inherit from us.

Our investment has the power to breathe life into our young people. With that responsibility, our question should always be: is it a life of stability and safety or is it a life of compounded trauma and hardship? Are we warehousing them in violent, cruel and uncaring systems? Or are we offering them restorative community-based interventions that connect them with the tools they need to succeed?

(Image: Women On The Rise)

Transformative justice is guided by the ethos that people are profoundly changed by love and community. It is in those spaces that people begin to heal and grow, pulling others up as they go.

The impact of neglect, dehumanizing rhetoric, and underinvestment permeates every aspect of our children’s lives, including their self-perception and emotional health. Instead of demanding they adhere to systems that enforce their oppression, our partners are building communities that cover, protect, and encourage them, every step of the way.

The movement to transform our criminal justice system isn't just punctuated by grief and struggle; laughter, connection, and abiding friendship keeps us afloat. (Image: Nation Outside)

This movement is not a lonely one. We don’t have to march in siloes and build on islands. We need each other, both for survival and revival. Systems that foster our mental health and fortitude will be built around our collective obligation to one another.

As we enter , we’re reminded there is no replacement for systems that foster a healthy mind. As we invest in transformative systems to replace those that oppress and harm, we are seeing models of communities that prioritize emotional health, safety, and wellbeing take root in the jurisdictions where we work.

Today, on his birthday, we celebrate the prolific jazz pianist, composer and bandleader Duke Ellington. Ellington, a D.C. native, held one his earliest performances at True Reformer Hall – the same building Public Welfare Foundation (PWF) now occupies and proudly displays his portrait to onlookers.

During Ellington’s rise, the True Reformer Building – the first building in the United States to be designed, financed, built, and owned by the African American community after Reconstruction – was a staple in the community, hosting numerous community organizations, musical groups, and societies for events, celebrations, and concerts.

Today, PWF is committed to keeping the spirit alive by hosting various events, convenings, and celebrations. The building, currently under renovation to preserve its intended purpose, will reopen this Fall to continue hosting nonprofits who are looking for an event space free of charge.

Why does the United States see punishment as the main response to social harm, and what are the alternatives?

"Excessive Punishment: How the Justice System Creates Mass Incarceration" explores the harms of our nation’s punitive approach and raise alternatives.

The book includes powerful essays from Public Welfare Foundation's Board Chair Kim Taylor-Thompson and Program Director Carlton Miller. Kim’s piece urges readers to treat all kids as kids, while Carlton’s essay focuses on countering excessive punishment with chances for redemption.

Learn more:

Excessive Punishment | Columbia University Press The United States has by far the world’s largest population of incarcerated people. More than a million Americans are imprisoned; hundreds of thousands mor... | CUP

Without these three principles, we’re spinning the wheel on old, draconian, and ineffective answers to profound problems surrounding crime, punishment, and public safety.

Learn more about the work PWF does to support communities as they build a better world: https://www.publicwelfare.org/our-work/

You are worthy. You are valuable. You are loved. Those are core ethos in an alternative vision of justice that is rooted in communities. And that’s what PWF is investing in.