Workers Defense Project (WDP) is being recognized for its innovative and persistent work organizing Latine immigrant workers across Texas to fight for dignity, safety, and systemic change. Through a powerful combination of legal services, peer-led education, and policy advocacy, WDP has transformed local and national conversations around labor rights — demonstrating that even in the country’s most challenging environments, worker-led movements can drive lasting change.
Economic Opportunity Funders is thrilled to announce the Workers Defense Project as the 2026 recipient of our Law & Social Policy Legacy Award!
“We’re honored to receive this award and grateful for the recognition of the courageous leadership of immigrant workers across Texas. At a time when many of our members face fear and uncertainty, this recognition affirms that their voices, sacrifices, and organizing matter. Our members are the ones leading this work every day — fighting for safer workplaces, fair pay, and dignity for their families and communities. This award belongs to them and strengthens our resolve to continue building power so that Texas can be a place where all workers are respected and protected.”
— Lizeth Chacón, Executive Director, Workers Defense Project
WDF was one of sixteen nominations for the $10,000 award. Nominees were evaluated on three criteria: individual impact, systemic change, and worker-centered approach.
A $10,000 award will be given by EOF with support from Public Welfare Foundation annually until 2030 as a part of their legacy investment into the Workers’ Rights field.
Many thanks to The Hatcher Group for their partnership in producing this video.
2026 Law & Social Policy Legacy Award Nominees
- Beyond the Bars is led by workers with records building worker power in Florida and beyond. We combine lived experience with smart, strategic campaign to raise standards in the temp industry and expand pathways into stable union jobs.
- Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha is a worker-led organization where workers organize, educate, and empower each other to fight for a voice in their workplaces and in their communities.
- For the Many Education Fund is building a grassroots movement of everyday people to transform New York so it works for all of us.
- Freedom United is a recognized nonprofit organization educating and empowering our community on the realities of modern slavery and mobilizing to create systemic change. Our vision is a world free of modern slavery and human trafficking.
- Grassroots Law & Organizing for Workers is a racial and economic justice organization dedicated to shifting the balance of power towards greater equity in our economy and society by leveraging legal strategies and resources to build worker power and enhance the capacity of the low-wage worker movement.
- Legal Aid at Work is a nonprofit legal services organization that has been assisting working families with low-incomes for more than 100 years.
- Make the Road New York builds the power of immigrant and working class communities to achieve dignity and justice.
- National Employment Law Project is a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to building a just and inclusive economy where all workers have expansive rights and thrive in good jobs.
- North Carolina Justice Center is working to eliminate poverty in North Carolina by ensuring that every household in the state has access to the resources, services, and fair treatment it needs to achieve economic security.
- The Maurice & Jane Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice is a national non-profit, public-interest law center dedicated to providing advocacy and support to poor and working people on important societal issues with national impact.
- United for Respect Education Fund is a movement of working people who have fought together for over a decade to build a future where all workers have the power, time, and money to lead full, free, empowered lives.
- Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs has been on the front line of civil rights work for more than 50 years. We deploy the best legal talent to fight discrimination, repair the damage of historic racial inequity and break down barriers to opportunity.
- Worker Justice Center of New York pursues justice for those denied human rights with a focus on agricultural and other low wage workers, through legal representation, community empowerment and advocacy for institutional change.
- WorkLife Law is a national advocacy and research organization that advances gender and racial equity by strengthening legal rights for pregnant people and family caregivers.
- Workplace Justice Project works on behalf of workers who earn low wages. Our work is rooted in improving economic outcomes through education, direct representation, and policy work which promote access to systems of redress, build economic opportunity, and increase fairness and equity.
Know an organization that works tirelessly to defend and advocate for low-wage workers’ rights?
Nominate them to receive $10,000 through the Law & Social Policy Legacy Award.
The Law & Social Policy Legacy Award was launched in 2021 to recognize organizations defending and advocating for low-wage workers’ rights and to increase knowledge of this work in the philanthropic community. The Public Welfare Foundation spent more than a decade supporting public policy and system reforms to improve the lives of low-wage working people in the United States. This prize commemorates and builds on the Public Welfare Foundation’s support to the field and honors the critical role law and social policy organizations play in building an economy that works for all.
A $10,000 award will be given by EOF with support from the Public Welfare Foundation annually until 2030 as part of their legacy investment in the Workers’ Rights field. There are no restrictions or limitations on the use of the $10,000 award. Awardees are recognized at EOF’s Annual Budget and Tax Briefing, in front of dozens of funders. A short video about the winner’s work is also produced to share during the recognition event and with EOF members and partners.
Nominations are evaluated on the following criteria:
- The nominee engages in both law and policy to defend and advocate for low-wage workers’ rights.
- The nominee meaningfully impacts the lives of individual low-wage workers and advances structural and systemic change.
- The nominee employs a strong worker-engagement model and centers the voices of low-wage workers in their work.
- The nominee’s work stands out among their peers.
The 2027 Call for Nominations will open in September 2026.
Previous Award Winners (2021-2025)
Missouri Workers Center (MWC) received EOF’s 2025 Law & Social Policy Award.Learn more about MWC and all the 2025 Nominees.
Make the Road New Jersey (MRNJ) received EOF’s 2024 Law & Social Policy Award.
Learn more about MRNJ and all the 2024 Nominees.
New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty (NMCLP) received the Economic Opportunity Funders’ 2023 Law & Social Policy Legacy Award.
Learn more about NMCLP and all the 2023 Nominees.
