Loula Friend Dunn

Loula Friend Dunn (May 1, 1896 – June 28, 1977) was an American social worker and public welfare administrator who served as the first woman executive director of the American Public Welfare Association, which later became the American Public Human Services Association. Dunn was an influential policy advisor who worked closely with Eleanor Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Nelson Rockefeller.

Early life and education Loula Friend Dunn was born in Grove Hill, Alabama on May 1, 1896. She became a public school teacher before studying social work at Alabama Polytechnic Institute (later Auburn University) and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in the 1920s.

Career Dunn began her career as a social worker with the Alabama Child Welfare Department, where she started as a case worker and was eventually promoted to assistant director. In 1933, she became the director of the Alabama Relief Administration, which provided social services during the Great Depression.

Dunn was also an administrator of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), which later became the Works Progress Administration (WPA). During her WPA service, she was responsible for administering New Deal social work and employment programs in six states. Dunn was also involved in the formation of many state and county welfare departments after the passing of the Social Security Act by administering “final relief grants” from the emergency FERA funds to establish permanent social services departments. Through the course of this work, Dunn met Eleanor Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson, who would become her long-term colleagues and collaborators. From 1940 to 1950, she served as vice president of the Child Welfare League of America and toured Canada and Great Britain to evaluate their welfare programs in the wake of World War II. She received two honorary doctorate degrees from Alabama College (later University of Montevallo) and Western College for Women.

Legacy and archives Dunn recorded an oral history interview for Columbia University’s Social Security Administration project. Recordings and a transcript are available on Columbia's website. The University of Minnesota library holds the Loula Dunn papers and the organizational records of the APWA during her period as executive director.