Peggy Browning Virtual Awards Program - New York 2020

In our 24th year, the Peggy Browning Fund (PBF) pays tribute to our inspiration, Peggy Browning, and to exceptional leaders who have made major contributions to the cause of workers’ rights. Peggy was a very special person – a Member of the National Labor Relations Board; an extraordinary labor lawyer; a skilled ice skater; a hiker; a loving wife and mother; a caring friend and true supporter of the collective bar- gaining process. PBF was established in 1997 by her friends and family to continue her life’s work – helping workers. We thank everyone whose support helped us become the preeminent organization in the country for encouraging and recruiting new lawyers for the labor movement. Our central program is a 10-week summer fellowship in which law students are matched with the needs of a pool of 70 mentoring organizations, including unions, worker centers, and union-side law firms. As everyone is experiencing, 2020 has become a very challenging year for the Peggy Browning Fund and for working people. When everyone received stay-at- home orders in their states due to the pandemic, we had already awarded 91 Summer Fellowships to first and second-year law students. Thanks to a lot of outreach and creativity from PBF staff and our mentors, we’re very happy to report that most of our mentor organizations were able to transition these fellowships to either work from home or another reasonable solution. We were also able to find an alternative mentor for students whose mentors were not able to transition their fellowships. Our thanks go out to all of our mentors and students for their patience during this transition and their willingness to help make this summer a productive and memorable experience for all.