Public Justice Foundation

Students' civil rights project - students' civil rights project combines high-impact litigation with other advocacy tools to combat harassment and other forms of discrimination in schools. We strive to create systemic change so all students can learn and thrive, and to secure justice for students who are denied educational opportunities based on their race, national origin, ethnicity, or sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.

Debtors' prison project - the debtors' prison project is dedicated to fighting the criminalization of poverty nationwide at every stage of the criminal legal process: from arrest through the imposition and collection of fines and fees. Working with allies and impacted communities, we use strategic litigation, advocacy, and education to ensure no one is jailed simply because they can't pay and to stop governments and for-profit corporations from treating people impacted by the system as a revenue source to exploit.

Communications - our communications work grows out of our legal work, focusing and amplifying our on-going efforts at changing unjust laws, doctrines, rules, and practices. We focus on changing public narratives that seek to preserve and justify social and economic injustice and use strategic communications campaigns to build relationships with communities and coalition partners, elevate our vision of a just and equitable society and advocate for structural change.

Environmental enforcement project - the environmental enforcement project goes to court to fight climate change, secure environmental justice, and make polluters pay. It utilizes the most powerful tools available to citizens by enforcing our nation's environmental laws in state and federal court, and holding polluters to account by requiring corporations to pay millions of dollars to fund projects that clean our land, air, and water.

Other programs