Soros Justice
Fellowships
The Soros Justice
Fellowships fund outstanding individuals to implement innovative projects that
advance reform and spur debate on a range of issues facing the U.S. criminal
justice system. The Fellowships Program is part of a larger effort within 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 in the United State by challenging the overreliance
on incarceration and harsh punishment, and ensuring a fair and equitable system
of justice.
Fellows receive
funding through the following two categories:
Advocacy Fellowships
Advocacy
Fellowships fund outstanding individuals—including lawyers, advocates,
grassroots organizers, activist academics, and others with important
perspectives—to initiate innovative policy advocacy projects at the local,
state, and national levels that will have a measurable impact on one or more of
the Open Society Foundations’ U.S. criminal justice priorities. Projects may
range from litigation to public education to coalition-building to grassroots
mobilization to policy-driven research. Advocacy Fellowships are 18
months in duration, may be implemented in conjunction with a host organization,
and fellows are expected to make their projects their full-time work during the
term of the fellowship. Projects can begin in the spring or fall of 2013.
Media Fellowships
Media Fellowships
support writers, print and broadcast journalists, bloggers, filmmakers, and
other individuals with distinct voices proposing to complete media projects for
local, regional and national markets that engage the public and spur debate on
one or more of the Open Society Foundations’ U.S. criminal justice priorities.
The fellowships aim to mitigate the time, space, and market constraints that
often discourage individuals from pursuing important but marginalized,
controversial or unpopular issues in a comprehensive manner. Media Fellowships
are 12 months in duration, and fellows are expected to make their projects
their full-time work during the term of the fellowship. Projects can begin in
either the spring or fall of 2013.
Eligibility
Criteria
Within the larger
context of three broad but interrelated goals—reducing mass incarceration,
eliminating harsh punishment, and securing a fair system of justice—all Soros
Justice Fellowships projects should address one or more of the following
Criminal Justice Fund priorities:
Expose
the excessive and economically destructive costs of incarceration
Promote
just and effective sentencing practices
Foster
policies and practices that reduce prison and corrections populations
Abolish
the privatization of prisons, detention centers, and correctional supervision
Combat
the criminalization of marginalized populations, e.g. people with mental
illness, homeless individuals, young people
Eliminate
unreasonable barriers to the reintegration of people returning from prison, as
well as challenge the stigmatization of people with criminal records
End
the prosecution, sentencing and incarceration of children as adults
Abolish
the death penalty
Promote
the civic engagement and leadership of people with criminal records
Eliminate
the use of long-term solitary confinement in prison
Challenge
harsh immigration enforcement and detention policies and practices
Promote
new approaches to drug policy
Reform
discriminatory and abusive police and prosecution practices
Improve
indigent defense services and systems
Reduce
unnecessary pretrial detention
We strongly
encourage 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, such as education, health and mental health, housing and
employment.
Also, we in
particular welcome 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, applicants who have a family member or loved one who has been
incarcerated and whose fellowship project emerges from that experience).
Ineligibility
Criteria
The Fellowships
Program does NOT fund:
Enrollment
for degree or non-degree study at academic institutions, including dissertation
research
Projects
that address criminal justice issues outside the U.S. (applicants themselves,
however, can be based outside the U.S., provided their work directly pertains
to a U.S. issue)
Past
recipients of a Soros Justice Fellowship
Lobbying
activities
Guidelines
Download and
review the complete guidelines at left. Our online system will begin accepting
applications on July 30, 2012.
Applicants who are uncertain whether some
aspect of their proposed project fits within the parameters of the Fellowships
Program guidelines or whether the project is otherwise likely to be of interest
to the program may submit an email inquiry before proceeding with the full
application. The email should provide a brief (no more than 500 words)
description of the proposed project, as well as some background information on
the applicant, and should be sent to: sorosjusticefellowships@sorosny.org.
Please do NOT submit an email inquiry before reviewing the appropriate
documents.
Application Deadline
October 17, 2012
Amount
$58,700 – $110,250
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