The Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University will build institutional capacity to conduct an ongoing health and safety training and education program targeted to workers in high-hazard industries and industries with high fatality rates, minority, hard-to-reach, low literacy, limited English capacity, underserved, disadvantaged and young workers in the DC Metro Area, many in small businesses. Currently, there is a vacuum of centers of occupational safety expertise that can reach our underserved target population in the Washington DC area with education, training, and technical assistance in hazard identification and hazard control.
The first year KI will focus on the target population of vulnerable workers in the large restaurant industry in the Washington DC Metro Area. Our goal is to develop institutional capacity to conduct widespread training and provide technical assistance to our target population of vulnerable, underserved, minority, low literacy, and limited English proficiency workers in the DC area that seek to build safer workplaces and prevent injuries and illnesses.
Kalmanovitz practitioner fellow Debbie Berkowitz warns Recent OSHA decision could send the message “OSHA is giving employers a pass” when workers are “seriously injured” | TIME Magazine
June 27th, 2026
Debbie Berkowitz, a former OSHA adviser who is now a fellow at Georgetown’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor, reviewed the OSHA file for the DPR Construction incident and…
Kalmanovitz practitioner fellow Debbie Berkowitz Quoted in AFL-CIO Report “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect”
May 23rd, 2026
The AFL-CIO’s 35th Annual ‘Death on the Job’ Report provides a national and state-by-state analysis of workers’ health and safety and policy recommendations for how the government can…
“What Does it Profit?” Wins Multiple W3 Awards for Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Episode
October 2nd, 2025
The Kalmanovitz Initiative is excited to announce “What Does it Profit?” – the award winning podcast from the Solidarity Economy Workshop – has won two Gold W3 awards in Individual Episodes…
