- Deadline
- Passed
Open Society-U.S.’s Soros Justice Fellowships fund outstanding individuals to undertake projects that advance reform, spur debate, and catalyze change on a range of issues facing the U.S. criminal legal system.
We are taking a moment to pause and analyze the future of our three U.S. based fellowship programs. This means we will not be issuing a call for proposals for 2025 fellows, as we would have done this fall.
Filter by
Year
-
Anthony Robles
2018Anthony Robles will develop an interactive website that documents the stories of people who had fatal encounters with police in Los Angeles. -
Dominique McKinney
2018Dominique McKinney will challenge state practices which funnel vulnerable youth into the juvenile and adult justice systems. -
Donovan X. Ramsey
2018Donovan X. Ramsey will write a narrative nonfiction book that critically reevaluates the crack epidemic of the late ’80s and early ’90s, told through the stories of those who survived it. -
Gabrielle Chapman
2018Gabrielle Chapman will lead a statewide coalition to promote an antiracist policing model, educate the public about racial disparities in the state, and cultivate the next generation of racial justice leaders. -
Giselle Ariel Bleuz
2018Giselle Ariel Bleuz will build the capacity of transgender and gender nonconforming people to produce and distribute media addressing the ways the criminal justice system impacts their communities. -
Jason Hernandez
2018Jason Hernandez will develop a curriculum and toolkit for advocates, students, and family members to help them organize clemency campaigns. -
Jenni Monet
2018Jenni Monet will produce a multimedia journalism project exposing extreme gender violence against indigenous women and girls in the United States. -
Jhody Polk
2018Jhody Polk will support incarcerated law clerk programs around the country and develop a network that will mentor those seeking legal careers upon their release from prison. -
Julieta Martinelli
2018Julieta Martinelli will create a multimedia series exploring how the incarceration of undocumented immigrants affects the lives of their children. -
LaTonya Tate
2018LaTonya Tate will identify and implement effective community-based alternatives to Alabama’s outdated probation and parole practices. -
Leyla Martinez
2018Leyla Martinez will create a coalition of Latinas that can help shape public attitudes toward their experiences with the criminal justice system. -
Linda Heng
2018Linda Heng will document the experiences of Southeast Asian youth affected by deportation and the criminal justice system and help promote their leadership in the broader movement for social justice. -
MiAngel Cody
2018MiAngel Cody’s Banished project will tell the stories of Black people incarcerated under U.S. “three strikes” drug law and challenge the government to disclose information on those serving mandatory life sentences. -
Samora Abayomi Pinderhughes
2018Samora Abayomi Pinderhughes will combine musical compositions with audio interviews to create an installation piece exploring the realities of daily violence, incarceration, and detention in communities of color. -
Troy Williams
2018Troy Williams will create a national multimedia platform and community engagement program that will help formerly incarcerated people document their experiences and engage the public. -
Tung Nguyen
2018Tung Nguyen will establish a model system in Orange County, California, for supporting Vietnamese facing deportation—a system that could be implemented nationwide. -
Brenda Kenneally
2001Brenda Kenneally will illustrate through writing and photography the problematic nature of incarceration for victimless drug and drug-related crimes. -
Emily Bolton
2001Emily Bolton will expose errors and identify practical, system-wide adjustments to minimize wrongful convictions. The project works to reframe the debate over the importance of constitutional protections and advocate reform of a system that places... -
Jan Goodwin
2001Jan Goodwin will write a series of articles exploring restorative justice as a viable framework for the criminal justice system. -
Jessy Fernandez
2001Jessy Fernandez will launch the Community Education Project which seeks to educate poor communities of color about the nation's over-reliance on punishment and incarceration, and to support their participation and leadership in creating and... -
Linda Evans
2001Linda Evans will increase civic participation of former prisoners, launch a public education campaign highlighting the social, political, and economic obstacles faced by former prisoners and engage in policy advocacy on behalf of them. -
Marlee Ford
2001Marlee Ford will create a replicable, community-based, prevention-focused, holistic defender model that is effective at both reducing juvenile incarceration and increasing public safety. -
Michelle Dillard
2001Michelle Dillard will raise public awareness, develop an advocacy module and framework for the implementation of therapeutic interventions for children with incarcerated parents. -
Peter Markowitz
2001Peter Markowitz will establish an immigration defense project at a local community defender which ensures that criminal representation is sensitive to collateral immigration consequences and can serve as a model for defender organizations nation-wide. -
Presita May
2001Presita May will recruit community-based lawyers to represent people of color in custody; strengthen residents' links to state and local government decision-makers, and to increase and enhance communication between community residents and the police.
Filter by
Year
-
Brandon Brown
2024Brandon Brown and Catherine Besteman will educate, coordinate, and interrupt the flow of people into prisons through building a robust, reparative, healing alternative to incarceration in the wake of harm. -
Catherine Besteman
2024Catherine Besteman and Brandon Brown will educate, coordinate, and interrupt the flow of people into prisons through building a robust, reparative, healing alternative to incarceration in the wake of harm. -
Claudia Muñoz-Castellano
2024Claudia Muñoz-Castellano will educate and create a Texas statewide legal empowerment program to combat the alarming rise in criminalizing policies and practices that target immigrants. -
Deborah Small
2024Deborah Small will study the impact of local efforts to “reimagine public safety,” focusing on the effectiveness of the initiatives, enhancing trust between law enforcement and the community, and addressing systemic issues. -
Elizabeth Kennedy
2024Elizabeth Kennedy will research deportees to El Salvador and Honduras, focusing on youth, Indigenous and Garifuna communities, the LGBTQI+ population, and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. -
George Morton
2024George Morton will establish an initiative that elevates the vast expanse of Black narratives and fosters the transformation of Black people as artists and art subjects. -
Gina Jackson
2024Gina Jackson and Lea Wetzel will build a national model of peer support and best practices for missing and murdered Indigenous Womxn (MMIW/G). -
Kelly Davis
2024Kelly Davis will research the needs and experiences of pregnant people who have been incarcerated, to inform and advance a broader policy agenda based on gender-based violence, reproductive justice, and criminal justice reform. -
Lauren Faraino
2024Lauren Faraino will engage in legal and storytelling advocacy to investigate, and expose, and halt the unlawful practice of harvesting organs of people who die while incarcerated without family permission. -
Laverne Thompson
2024Laverne Thompson will craft a dynamic community archive of the groundbreaking efforts of Louisiana’s advocates and visionaries who paved the way for criminal justice reform in Louisiana. -
Lea Wetzel
2024Lea Wetzel and Gina Jacksin will build a national model of peer support and best practices for missing and murdered Indigenous Womxn (MMIW/G). -
Nia Lee
2024Lee will spearhead a national series for justice-impacted Black and Brown queer women, femmes, trans, and gender-expansive individuals to create a platform for dialogue, community building, and transformative justice spaces. -
Temi Mwale
2024Temi Mwale will examine how technology produces state violence and harm through the criminalization of Black communities, with a unique focus on the parallels between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Brazil. -
Tijanna Eaton
2024Tijanna Eaton will support authors who have served time in United States prisons, jails, and immigration detention centers, with wraparound coaching and services to develop books sharing their vital stories.