Soros Justice Fellowships in Advocacy and Media

Posted by Open Society Foundations on September 26, 2016

Applications Invited for Soros Justice Fellowships in Advocacy and Media

A program of the Open Society Foundations, Soros Justice Fellowships support outstanding individuals working to implement innovative projects that advance reform and spur debate on a range of issues facing the criminal justice system in the United States. The fellowship program is part of a larger effort by the Open Society Foundations’ Criminal Justice Fund to reduce the destructive impact of current criminal justice policies on the lives of individuals, families, and communities by challenging the overreliance on incarceration and harsh punishment and working to ensure a fair and equitable system of justice.

Fellowships of up to $110,250 will be awarded in three categories: Advocacy Fellowships, Media Fellowships, and Youth Activist Fellowships.

1) Advocacy Fellowships: Eighteen-month grants will fund outstanding individuals — lawyers, advocates, grassroots organizers, activist academics, and others with important perspectives — working to initiate innovative policy advocacy projects at the local, state, or national levels with the potential to have a measurable impact on one or more of OSF’s criminal justice priorities. Projects may range from litigation, to public education, to coalition-building and grassroots mobilization, to policy-driven research. Fellows are expected to work full-time on their projects during the fellowship term. Projects can begin in either the spring or fall of 2017.

2) Media Fellowships: Twelve-month grants will support writers, print and broadcast journalists, bloggers, filmmakers, and other individuals with distinct voices proposing to complete a media project that engages the public and spurs debate on one or more of OSF’s criminal justice priorities. Fellows are expected to work full-time on their projects during the term of the fellowship. Projects can begin in either the spring or fall of 2017.

3) Youth Activist Fellowships: This new twelve- or eighteen-month fellowship program will support outstanding individuals between the ages of 18 and 25 who take on projects of their own design that address some aspect of the U.S. criminal justice system. Projects can range from public education and training, to grassroots organizing and policy advocacy, to social media campaigns and other forms of creative communications. Projects can be full- or part-time, and can begin anytime between May and November 2017. Youth Activist Fellowships come with an award of $60,000 for full-time or eighteen-month projects (or a lesser award pro-rated for part-time or twelve-month projects), as well as access to a range of training and professional development opportunities.

The program strongly encourages applications for projects that demonstrate a clear understanding of the intersection of criminal justice issues with the particular needs of low-income communities; communities of color; immigrants, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people; women and children; and those disproportionately affected by harsh criminal justice policies, as well as applications for projects that cut across various criminal justice fields and related sectors (e.g., education, health and mental health, housing, and employment). The program particularly welcomes applications from individuals directly affected by, or with significant direct personal experience with, the policies, practices, and systems their projects seek to address (e.g., applicants who have themselves been incarcerated or who have a family member or loved one who has been incarcerated and whose fellowship project emerges from that experience).

Complete program guidelines and application instructions are available at the Open Society Foundations website.

DEADLINE: OCTOBER 12, 2016

https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/soros-justice-fellowships