At the Tenth Anniversary celebration of the Foundation held at Drinker Biddle’s event space in its Washington, D.C. office, Jerry Hartman, President of the Barbara McDowell Foundation, gave a short presentation about Barbara’s beliefs in social justice and the history of the Foundation.

Prisoner’s Legal Services of Massachusetts, a 2019 grantee, has filed suit in their grant funded case challenging the Massachusetts law, M.G.L. c. 123, § 35, that authorizes the involuntary civil commitment in Department of Correction prisons of men but not women suffering from alcohol and substance use disorders.

The Public Interest Law Center provided an update on their 2018 grant.

As part of its High Impact Litigation Project, the McDowell Foundation, in conjunction with the law firm Drinker Biddle, the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, and New Economy Project, filed a federal class action lawsuit charging the NYC Transit Authority, an arm of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, with systemic due process violations.

All 2019 grantees were contacted in February in accordance with the Foundation’s requirements and reported the following with respect to the progress of their case and hours invested during the first quarter of their grant cycle.

Legal Aid of the District of Columbia where Barbara served as the Director of its Appellate Project prior to her death on January 2, 2009, sent its over 10,000 contacts an email on the tenth anniversary of her death recognizing her social justice work and the efforts of the Foundation to commemorate and continue those efforts.

The Foundation received 53 applicants for 2019 grants.

The Foundation received from the 2018 Grantees their year-end reports.

For 2019 the Foundation made grants at its September 2018 annual meeting to five organizations totaling $150,000.

The Foundation’s 2018 grantees provided case updates.

The Foundation published its first Annual Report detailing its accomplishments over the past year.

Children’s Rights in conjunction with its 2018 grant from the Foundation brought a case, M.B. v. Corsi, in Missouri challenging the treatment of children in foster care.

Drinker Biddle and Disability Rights North Carolina filed a lawsuit on May 24, 2017 to address the failure of the State of North Carolina to provide appropriate behavioral health services to citizens with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (I/DD) so that they do not suffer segregation or institutionalization.

The Foundation, the Ropes and Gray law firm, Children’s Rights, and Disability Rights Iowa filed suit in November 2017 on behalf of boys confined to Iowa’s Boys State Training School who have significant mental illnesses.

The Foundation received from the 2017 Grantees their year-end reports.

The Barbara McDowell and Gerald S. Hartman Foundation has selected four organizations for 2018 grants, each receiving an award of $25,000.

Maggie Menditto has started working as the Administrator for the Foundation as an independent contractor. Maggie, a recent graduate of Oberlin College, will assist the Foundation with respect to its social media contacts and fundraising.

Jerry Hartman, attorneys from Drinker Biddle, and Disability Rights North Carolina filed a lawsuit challenging the State’s practices of segregating and institutionalizing individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities.

The Foundation received from the 2017 Grantees their six-month reports.

Jerry attended his 50th college reunion at Columbia College in New York in June 2016 and a news item written in the alumni magazine, Columbia College Today, published in April 2017 had information about Jerry and the Foundation.