This is hardly intended to open a discussion about whether you love or hate George Soros, so don’t go there. Like him or not, he puts his money where his ideals are, and has established the Soros Justice Fellowships.
The Soros Justice Fellowships fund outstanding individuals to implement innovative projects that advance the Open Society Institute’s efforts to reform the U.S. criminal justice system. OSI’s strategy takes aim at two overarching ills: the over-reliance on incarceration and harsh punishment, and the lack of equal justice—especially for people of color and the poor.
The application period for fellowship is open, and will close on October 14th. They are actively seeking applications, so don’t assume that the deal’s done and all the really important projects have the loot locked up.
As can be seen from the list of last year’s fellowship winners, the breadth of projects funded is quite broad, with some even on the sketchy side (in my opinion). So many readers have done, are doing, and want to do projects that fall within the parameters of the Fellowships that it would be a terrible waste to ignore this opportunity. The funding is there, and there’s no reason to believe that your ideas, your projects, aren’t as important and worthy as past fellowship winners.
And just to show how worthwhile these fellowships can be, Amy Bach, author of Ordinary Injustice, was a Soros Fellow in 2003, providing funding to allow her to write the book. Not too shabby, eh?
Amongst last year’s winners, I noted that there was nothing to suggest recognition of the power of the blawgosphere to move the effort for justice forward, and that this was a major omission on their part.
So if you’ve got a project, go for it. The worst that can happen is you don’t get it. And I bet there’s a good chance, given some of the great work done by my friends around the blawgosphere (with no outside support whatsoever) that your efforts are worthy of a Soros Fellowship. Go for it.
As can be seen from the list of last year’s fellowship winners, the breadth of projects funded is quite broad, with some even on the sketchy side (in my opinion). So many readers have done, are doing, and want to do projects that fall within the parameters of the Fellowships that it would be a terrible waste to ignore this opportunity. The funding is there, and there’s no reason to believe that your ideas, your projects, aren’t as important and worthy as past fellowship winners.
And just to show how worthwhile these fellowships can be, Amy Bach, author of Ordinary Injustice, was a Soros Fellow in 2003, providing funding to allow her to write the book. Not too shabby, eh?
Amongst last year’s winners, I noted that there was nothing to suggest recognition of the power of the blawgosphere to move the effort for justice forward, and that this was a major omission on their part.
I queried the good Soros people on the absence of blawgers, and was told that, since their goals include public awareness of criminal justice issues, they would “welcome” applications from blawgers. “Applications”, I responded? “Feral blawgers don’t ‘apply’ for things. It’s not in our nature to do anything so ‘official’.” But that doesn’t prevent the Soros bankers from doing a quick spin around the blawgosphere to see the efforts being made here to enlighten the world as to the frightening reality of our criminal justice system.As they’ve again asked for applications, rather than taken a test drive through the blawgosphere, I suspect they have yet to adopt my suggestion that blawgers aren’t the sort of folks who apply for things, but just do the very work they seek to further. In other words, they won’t come looking for you, even though they should. But that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve the support, or that they aren’t interested in our efforts, which will have (again, in my opinion) much farther reaching impact than many of the projects that they’ve support in the past. I trust they won’t continue to ignore the most powerful tool out here for the cause of justice.
So if you’ve got a project, go for it. The worst that can happen is you don’t get it. And I bet there’s a good chance, given some of the great work done by my friends around the blawgosphere (with no outside support whatsoever) that your efforts are worthy of a Soros Fellowship. Go for it.
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Do you think there’s some way we could use this to get some money for Packratt? I’d be willing to help on that if I can.
I think Packratt would be an ideal candidate for a Soros Fellowship, and I urged him (and urge him again now) to apply. But he’s got to shake off the blues and take his fate into his own hands. At the very least, he’s got to take the first step.
One of the things I like about the OSI fellowships is that, to my knowledge, they have encouraged applications from members of the affected/targeted community. Survivors of police brutality being one example.
Also, were Packratt to apply, I think he might need an advisory board.
*disclaimer: I was funded by OSI in 2005 under a different program and rejected by the Justice Advocacy Fellowship – possibly OSI only funds you once, I never checked that out which was short-sighted on my part.
Are you listening, PR?
I’m listening… I’ve been checking into it in fact and I’m not really sure I’ll qualify for a number of reasons.
First, I’m having trouble seeing how my project fits within their stated aims that focus more on prosecution/incarceration, then it looks like I don’t have the advocacy experience they want, and finally they require that applicants work on the project full time which could be a problem for me given the limited stipend they offer, which is less than what I make at my current, and unrelated, full time job.
Of course, I could be reading it all wrong, but that’s what I’m gathering by looking at the guidelines so far… to that end, assistance is always appreciated to help my addled mind understand what I’m reading.
Thanks for the thought anyways people, it’s appreciated!
Don’t get hung up on the details. Look at the big picture.
Well, I put up a request for help since I need at least 3 people with justice/advocacy experience to serve as an advisory board and 2 colleagues to write recommendation letters before I can even apply.
We’ll see what happens, thanks!