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/

Previous
Previous

Justice Catalyst Fellow Winston Berkman-Breen Appointed as First-Ever Student Advocate & Director of Consumer Advocacy

Next
Next

Public Rights Project & Justice Catalyst Release Guide to Help Local Governments Promote Safe and Just Communities