In 1987, at the suggestion of Peter's friend, Tom Shepard, fencing clinics for inner-city kids were offered. The Peter Westbrook Foundation (PWF) was officially launched on a cold Saturday morning in February 1991 at the New York Fencers Club, which was located on West 71st Street in Manhattan. The first official class for the PWF Saturday Fencing Program consisted of six kids, "all of them our own relatives or those of our friends." Within two years the program grew to 40 youth, then 100. In the 2009/2010 school year, the PWF served over 400 youth from the underserved communities across New York City.