Deadline: 22-Nov-21
The Open Society Foundations has launched the Leadership in Government Fellowship Program to support former senior-level government staff in the United States who have recently left public service and have played a significant role in advancing social change from within government in the United States at the city, county, tribal, state, and federal levels.
The Foundation is interested in public sector leaders that have a deep interest in using this fellowship opportunity to reflect on their time in government and to undertake a project that advances policy ideas and inserts their unique perspectives about making change from within government into the public dialogue.
The fellowship is part of a larger effort within Open Society-U.S. and the Open Society Foundations to invest in new voices that inform and challenge the collective thinking about advancing open society in the United States.
The issues they work on include the following:
- ending mass incarceration, making police departments more accountable to the communities they serve, challenging the death penalty, and replacing youth justice policies that stigmatize and suppress with policies that safeguard the rights of children and young people
- promoting drug policies that ensure access to treatment and address drug use—and the health, mental health, and social needs it creates—within the context of communities rather than the criminal justice system
- promoting fairness and equality for all people in the United States by removing barriers to full participation in economic, social, and civic life for all; seeking to reduce the racial wealth gap and change the national racial narrative
- strengthening the capacity of community and legal organizations that work to promote the rights of immigrants, safeguarding them against unjust attack, and promoting their full participation in American life
- supporting high-quality journalism to help hold powerful institutions accountable, protecting the public interest on matters of media and information policy, reducing various forms of corruption and the undue influence of money in politics, empowering communities to combat multiple forms of voter suppression, and advancing reforms safeguarding the independence of state and federal courts
- promoting the rule of law, defending civil liberties and human rights, and combatting Islamophobia generated by ill-defined or discriminatory counterterrorism policies and practices
- promoting economic opportunity for all, reducing income equality, establishing fairness in the workplace, and advancing fair housing and lending policies
Award Information
Fellows will receive a stipend in a general range of $100,000 to $140,000 depending on percentage of time committed to the project. Projects are either 12 or 18 months in duration.
Eligibility Criteria
- All projects must relate to one or more of Open Society-U.S.’s areas of focus. Projects can focus on a particular issue or cut across broad areas of interest. In addition, this year, they ask that applicants demonstrate how their expertise and proposed fellowship work is connected to the unprecedented challenges and opportunities facing the United States today, including the COVID-19 pandemic, democracy reform, climate change, and/or racial justice. Please carefully review the complete guidelines for more details on the fellowship requirements.
- A project might identify a problem in the implementation of policy that has yet to be fully recognized or discussed, offer new strategies on how to work with government and advocate for policy change, or highlight a different approach for legislative or executive action. They strongly encourage applications for projects that offer unique insights and perspective into how government implements programs and policies with an eye towards their effect on low-income communities, communities of color, immigrants, refugees, asylum-seekers, people who are LGBTI, women, and those otherwise historically marginalized communities in the United States and its territories.
- The Foundation strongly encourages applications from people who see themselves serving as change agents within government again in the future or are looking to apply their public service knowledge and experience to an advocacy career. People of all political parties, ideologies, and levels of government (ie, city, county, tribal, state, federal) are encouraged to apply.
For more information, visit https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/leadership-in-government-fellowship