[3][4] Foley spent his year on a graduate fellowship at University College Dublin studying American-Irish diplomatic history.
He spent part of that time in 1975–76 with Voluntary Service Belfast (VSB), working to reclaim bombed-out buildings and organizing cross-community youth activities.
He later took a two-year leave from Yale Law School in 1979–81 to serve as a full-time volunteer with the Nobel Prize-winning organization Peace People in Belfast.
[5][6][7] He later worked with two US Speakers of the House, Tip O'Neill and Tom Foley (no relation), and for Senator Joe Biden on Irish issues in Washington.
[8] He hosted Irish Nobel Peace Prize winners Mairead Corrigan Maguire and John Hume on visits to the US,[9][10] and has spoken and written often on the situation in Northern Ireland.
[12][13] In that role, Foley authored the Peace People's proposals to resolve the Hunger Strikes at the Long Kesh prison and other Parliamentary submissions.
[14][15] With Corrigan-Maguire, he presented those proposals to top officials in the British, Irish and US Governments,[16] as well as to leaders in Provisional Sinn Féin and in community and paramilitary groups across Northern Ireland.
[27][28] Foley organized the first cross-community boys and girls youth soccer [29] and basketball programs [30][31] in Northern Ireland during the Troubles—putting hundreds of children into communities whose lines they had never before crossed.
He also worked closely with leaders of the Corrymeela Community, a peace and reconciliation group dedicated to bringing all sides of the political conflict to the table.
[33] Two years later, Foley joined Senator Joe Biden's team as chief speechwriter and legislative aide for Irish issues.
[40] In 2022, Foley was appointed Alternate Observer to the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) by Ambassador Samantha Power, in her role as Director of US AID.
[55][56] He also helped transform the state's unemployment offices into one-stop Job Centers,[57][58] an innovation recognized by Harvard's Kennedy School as a national model for government service delivery and workforce development.
[60] He served under Secretaries Robert Reich and Alexis Herman as a key liaison with governors, mayors, congressional offices, labor and business leaders, and with community.
Under Foley, the Southeastern Pennsylvania chapter led the nation with over 350 volunteers in front-line service in Mississippi and Louisiana,[73] and raised $41 million for Katrina relief.
[75] From 2010 to 2018, Foley served as president of Mount Aloysius College,[76] a comprehensive liberal arts and sciences institution with a strong commitment to career-directed study founded by Irish-based Sisters of Mercy.
[84] The college's work on behalf of lower-income students led the White House in 2015 to name Mount Aloysius one of four model higher education Engines of Opportunity in the country.
[85] Foley established nationally recognized, yearlong, campus-wide explorations[86] on values-focused themes like The Common Good, Civil Discourse, and The Good Life, which included a speaker series, curricular offerings, orientation activities, and publications which were shared with the wider education community, and two of which were added to the permanent collection of the Library of Congress.
[93] In 2018, Foley successfully advocated for the largest increase for low-income students in the history of Pennsylvania's higher education aid program (PHEAA).
[109] Foley's interest in early education began during his time as head of the United Way of Pennsylvania,[110] advocating for its adoption and promoting the first public investment in pre-school education by the Pennsylvania state government,[111] and continues today with his role as co-chair of The Governor's Early Learning Investment Commission.
"The Role of Private Higher Education in Workforce Development," Association of Independent Colleges and Annual Meeting, Harrisburg, PA, April 3, 2017.
With Robert Coy, "Advancing Labor-Management Cooperation in Pennsylvania," Labor Notes (publication of National Governors Association), 29 August 1988.
With Ciaran McKeown, "Time for a Change: The Case for a Return to Normal Judicial Process," Parliamentary Submission (Belfast: Peace People, Ltd.), 1980.