Projects

State and local courts hear more than 95% of all cases filed in the United States, covering matters that directly affect the safety, well-being, and stability of millions of people and their communities. Many of these cases can have profound, life-changing implications, and communities of color are disproportionately affected by the outcomes.

Pew’s Philadelphia research and policy initiative seeks to inform discussions on important issues facing the city and the region and to provide policymakers and other decision-makers with data, analysis, and examples of promising practices that may help them address key challenges.

Over the past several years, the U.S. Department of Education and Congress have made important policy changes to the federal student loan repayment system. But much work remains to ensure that borrowers fully benefit from these new policies, especially those who struggle to repay their loans.

Philadelphia, the birthplace of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, is also Pew's hometown. Pew's commitment to the Philadelphia region reflects our significant historical ties to the city where our founders began their philanthropic efforts.

Coastal wetlands—salt marshes, seagrass beds, and mangrove forests—host some of the richest biodiversity on the planet, acting as refuge for wildlife and nurseries for juvenile fish, including species important for local communities and livelihoods.

Chile’s Patagonia region is one of the world’s last largely intact natural areas. Its glaciers, hardwood forests, rugged coastline and wild fjords remain remarkably untouched. Pew is partnering with nongovernmental organizations, universities, and government agencies in Chile to help protect this area, while promoting public-private partnerships for new conservation efforts.

Canada contains much of the planet’s boreal forest—an ecosystem found only in high northern latitudes—as well as the world’s longest shoreline, which borders the Pacific, Arctic, and Atlantic oceans. With effective protections in place, Canada can emerge as a global leader in safeguarding nature and supporting Indigenous-led conservation.

The Pantanal and Gran Chaco represent two ecologically distinct areas—the world’s largest tropical wetland and a remarkably large dry forest—which, together, provide vital aquatic habitat, nutrient renewal, migration routes, and flood control for millions of animals and people living downstream. As one of the planet’s most ecologically significant landscapes, this South American region supports myriad plant and animal species, including jaguars, giant anteaters, giant river otters, maned wolves, and Brazilian tapirs.

The energy modernization project works with state and federal policymakers to advance the nation’s transition to electric vehicles; build a clean, reliable electric grid; and expand renewable energy solutions, such as offshore wind.

Pew is working to secure comprehensive and complementary rules and consequences for international fisheries management to support healthy, resilient marine ecosystems and fisheries over the long term.

Pew seeks to improve ocean health by generating high-quality research and fostering a global community of experts who collaborate to address marine conservation issues. To achieve that goal, we award annual fellowships to midcareer professionals whose future contributions to marine conservation will be significantly enhanced by Pew’s support.

To meaningfully change the way the ocean’s natural assets are respected and protected, The Pew Charitable Trusts is working closely with governments, key stakeholders and partner organizations to develop policy mechanisms to address the negative human impacts on marine ecosystems.

In an effort to reduce the amount of plastic waste entering marine waters, Pew will work with governments, industry, scientists, and other nongovernmental organizations (or civil society) to better understand this global problem and offer solutions.

From the tropical north to the red centre and the surrounding oceans, Australia is one of the wildest and most intact places on Earth. An ancient place of stark extremes and exquisite beauty, Australia for tens of thousands of years has hosted the world’s oldest living civilisation—the First Nations communities.

The lands and waters of the United States are national and global treasures. From the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific coast and Alaska, the landscapes we call home include mountains, deserts, rivers, freshwater wetlands, coastal areas, and oceans.

The Pew Charitable Trusts’ housing policy initiative works to help policymakers reimagine their approach to housing by illuminating how regulations and statutes drive the housing shortage and rising costs.

Pew’s retirement savings project studies the challenges and opportunities for increasing retirement savings. The initiative, which fosters policy discussion on how best to ensure that everyone can save a sufficient amount for retirement, examines barriers to retirement savings that affect workers, employers, and taxpayers; policies aimed at eliminating those barriers; and the fees associated with retirement plans.

Managing a state’s finances—whether working to erase a budget deficit or reaching consensus on what to do with a surplus—is challenging. But planning for fiscal threats beyond the immediate budget cycle is not only far more complex, it’s often overlooked altogether.

Broadband connects communities to an increasingly digital world. It has transformed industries, changed the way we access goods and services, and become an indispensable part of modern life. Yet despite more than two decades of public and private efforts to expand broadband access, gaps persist. Nearly 24 million Americans, mostly in rural areas, still lack a reliable high-speed connection.

A growing list of long-term budgetary challenges is making it increasingly difficult for states to plan for the future and address uncertain financial pressures. The Pew Charitable Trusts helps state policymakers prepare for new and emerging risks to fiscal stability and manage uncertainty by strengthening budgeting practices across several areas.

Since 1985, Pew has supported the groundbreaking research of promising early-career biomedical scientists in the United States and Latin America. Our multiyear grants encourage informed risk-taking and collaboration among researchers. Biomedical scholars and Latin American fellows often become mentors to the next generation of grant recipients, and many have won major scientific awards.

More than 2 million people with mental health conditions—including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and severe depression—are jailed each year, often for misdemeanor crimes. Three-quarters of these individuals have co-occurring substance use disorders.

State and local public health officials need timely, comprehensive health data from hospitals, doctors’ offices, and clinical labs to detect and respond to disease hot spots, contaminated food and water, and populations experiencing inequitable health outcomes such as higher rates of environmentally triggered conditions like asthma.

Each year, people throughout the United States suffer from millions of preventable illnesses and hundreds of thousands of premature deaths, with a combined cost of more than $730 billion. Underlying this tragic reality is the insufficient use of existing health care data that could benefit public health.

Substance use disorders and the harms associated with these diseases are a serious, growing public health problem. Nearly 48,000 Americans died from an opioid overdose in 2017. Pew develops and supports policies that would reduce the inappropriate use of prescription drugs while ensuring that patients have access to effective pain medication. .

Suicide is a growing public health problem in the United States. Provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that more than 49,000 people died by suicide in 2022—the highest number of suicide deaths ever recorded in the U.S.