PWDF Update

A Holiday Message from PWDF

Hello Friends and Colleagues:

We hope this message finds you healthy and in good spirits. While this has been a difficult year, we continue to work at our mission. As an essential non-profit agency, we are still here at 50% capacity, providing legal services to some of the most vulnerable in our community. This year when you make decisions about where your contributions can make the biggest difference, we ask that you put us at the top of your list and assist us in continuing with this very important work. Help us to begin 2021 in a position to do even more to ensure the most vulnerable among us get the assistance they so desperately need.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW

People With Disabilities Foundation (PWDF) is one of the few organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area aimed at helping individuals with psychiatric and/or developmental disabilities through legal representation and educating the public. PWDF considers substance addiction to be a disability because it is involuntary and uncontrollable behavior, and will represent clients based on that as well. (The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) estimates that in 2019, 51.5 million adults aged 18 or older in the U.S., or 20.6%, had a mental illness, an increase from 17.7% in 2008, with 13.1 million estimated to have a serious mental illness.¹

As a 501(c)(3) public operating nonprofit organization, PWDF can only continue to do its important work with the help and support of individuals like you. PWDF promotes social change to guarantee that individuals with psychiatric, intellectual, and/or developmental disabilities can achieve equal opportunities in all aspects of life. In addition, PWDF continues our pilot grant-giving program to organizations that share our mission to support this population. With the help of your tax-deductible contributions, PWDF can continue to provide legal assistance and public education to help individuals with psychiatric, intellectual, and/or developmental disabilities by accepting clients’ cases so long as they have merit and sufficient evidence, with a sliding scale for attorney fees starting at $00.00 for those who cannot afford it.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW

PWDF invites you to join us in our mission to ensure that individuals with psychiatric, intellectual, and/or developmental disabilities receive the assistance they need. PWDF relies on the tax-deductible contributions of generous individuals such as you. We invite you to become a part of PWDF’s goodwill journey by making a donation today via mail or online.

We thank you for your continued support and wish you and yours a happy and safe holiday season.

April Banerjee

Executive Director

PWDF Profile

Who We Are

People With Disabilities Foundation is an operating 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California, which focuses on the rights of the mentally and developmentally disabled.

Services

Advocacy: PWDF advocates for Social Security claimant’s disability benefits in eight Bay Area counties. We also provide services in disability rights, on issues regarding returning to work, and in ADA consultations, including areas of employment, health care, and education, among others. There is representation before all levels of federal court and Administrative Law Judges. No one is declined due to their inability to pay, and we offer a sliding scale for attorney’s fees.

Education/Public Awareness: To help eliminate the stigma against people with mental disabilities in society, PWDF’s educational program organizes workshops and public seminars, provides guest speakers with backgrounds in mental health, and produces educational materials such as videos.

Continuing Education Provider: State Bar of California MCLE and Commission of Rehabilitation Counselor Certification.