Piedmont Animal Welfare Alliance

We are a nonprofit that lives at the intersection of animal welfare and social justice, our favorite address. We operate a prison dog-training program in partnership with the N.C. Dept of Public Safety, Prisons Division, at the minimum-security men's prison, Forsyth Correctional Center, in a New Leash On Life, pairing dogs in need of training with inmate-trainers trying to remake their lives. The dogs are trained for 10 weeks by the men, under the the supervision of professional instructors who volunteer their time. After 10 weeks, we adopt the dogs out to qualifying applicants, who give them a loving home.

We also partner with Family Services, Forsyth, in our program A New Start in Life, that helps domestic violence survivors in their domestic violence shelter by taking care of pets of these survivors. 71% of pets in an abusive home are also abused. If the survivor is able to get out with their pets (not a lot do), domestic violence shelters rarely accept pets. We provide foster homes, medical care, food and all other expenses while the survivors try to remake their lives. After they leave the shelter, we reunite them with their pets.