Justice Catalyst Announces 2019 – 2020 Catalyst Fellows
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jacob Lipton, Fellowship Director
Email: jlipton@justicecatalyst.org
Justice Catalyst is proud to announce its 2019 – 2020 fellowship projects. The projects will be housed at a variety of public interest organizations around the country, carrying out Justice Catalyst’s mission of activating path-breaking approaches to social justice lawyering and affirmative litigation that have real-world impact and improve the lives of the low-wage workers, the poor, and the marginalized.Projects selected include proposals from:
Octavia Abell, who will continue working to build the next generation of public sector leaders at Govern for America.
Stephanie Alvarez-Jones, who will work on addressing the conditions of detention for immigrant mothers and children at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid.
Matthew Ampleman, who will work on eliminating systemic barriers to vacant property rehabilitation in St. Louis, Missouri at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri.
Kyle Barron, who will join Brooklyn Defender Services to launch a Rapid Response Immigrant Justice Project.
Rosa Lee Bichell, whose project will use disability rights to empower immigration detainees at Disability Rights Advocates.
Meghan Brooks, who will be working on veteran class action practice at the New York Legal Assistance Group.
Matthew Duffy, who will pursue local model legislation to advance democracy at The Center for Popular Democracy.
Denise Ghartey, who will be fighting climate gentrification in Miami at Community Justice Project.
Stacy Ham, who will join the Legal Aid Justice Center to secure the right to counsel for immigrant children upon release from detention.
Tess Hellgren, who will work on a project to defend the rights of non-citizens in hostile immigration jurisdictions at the Innovation Law Lab.
Molly Linhorst, who will challenge immigrant exploitation and financial interests in county-run immigration detention facilities at the ACLU in New Jersey.
Connor McCleskey, whose project will focus on fighting the commercial exploitation of incarcerated people through litigation at Worth Rises.
Laura McCready, who will launch a project to replace the War on Drugs with comprehensive drug treatment at ACLU-Massachusetts.
Kelly Miller, who will carry out a project to build holistic legal orientation in immigration detention at Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles.
Carolyn O’Connor, who will engage in a project to enforce rights in the U.S.-Mexico Border Crisis at Texas Civil Rights Project.
Julie Pittman, who will work with Centro de los Derechos del Migrante to challenge the use of illegal fees in the recruitment and employment of low-wage migrant workers.
Kelly Jo Popkin, who will join Justice Catalyst Law to employ alternative antitrust tactics to protect patients against the deleterious effects of hospital mergers.
Hayden Rodarte, who will work on a project to stop abuses in immigration detention at Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Elyssa Spitzer, who will join the Judicial Strategy team at the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Ian Stringham, who will continue expanding access to law libraries for people in California prisons and jails at California Legal Research.
A full list of fellows will be available at https://catalystfellowships.org/fellows/ and if you are a law student or recent graduate interested in a 2020-2021 Fellowship, please visit https://catalystfellowships.org/get-started/ or contact fellowships@justicecatalyst.org. Justice Catalyst prioritizes groundbreaking ideas, including early-stage projects that are boundary-pushing in the pursuit of systemic solutions to major injustices, whether at an established legal organization or an organization looking to hire its first lawyer. More information at https://catalystfellowships.org/get-started/