 Under the leadership of co-founders Sherry Linkon and John Russo, the center supported a range of activities promoting awareness of and respect for working-class life and culture, including an educational program in collaboration with Local 1375 of the United Steelworkers that brought college classes to the union hall.This work, in addition to continuing biennial conferences on working-class studies, was further supported by two grants from the Ford Foundation starting in 2000.The Center for Study of Working Class Life was established in 1999 at Stony Brook University under the leadership of economist Michael Zweig.