If you’re a student or community member impacted by the criminal legal system—or feel strongly about ending mass incarceration—the Beyond the Bars Fellowship provides Camden means to deepen your identity, build leadership, and strengthen social justice initiatives. Hosted by Columbia’s Center for Justice, this interdisciplinary program merges academic learning with community-based organizing and advocacy.
About the Fellowship
The Fellowship runs weekly for approximately eight months, blending theory and praxis through seminars, workshops, and guest lectures on organizing, legislative advocacy, transformative justice, and communications. Fellows shape solidarity projects in collaboration with local groups, culminating in community impact presentations. Participants explore restorative, healing, and human justice frameworks while expanding their networks across Columbia and community organizations.
What the Fellowship Encompasses
- Weekly in-person or hybrid sessions from October 2025 to May 2026 in New York City.
- A $1,000 honorarium awarded to eligible participants.
- Collaboration with advocacy partners such as RAPP, Bronx County Reentry Task Force, Education Inside Out Coalition, and others.
- Inclusion in the annual Beyond the Bars Conference, where Fellows and organizers engage with broader public audiences on justice themes.
Who Should Apply?
- Students at any level—or non-students—who are based in the greater New York City area.
- Individuals directly or indirectly impacted by incarceration, or who have a deep commitment to justice reform.
- No prior experience required—just strong interest, willingness to engage weekly, and readiness to co-design peer-led projects.
Why Apply
This Fellowship offers both personal and professional impact: designing solidarity projects, building leadership, networking with community organizations, and shaping public discourse. Alumni often evolve into leaders in legal reform, public policy, nonprofit sectors, or grassroots movements with enriched grounding in transformative justice theory and practice.
How to Apply
Apply online when the application opens on July 15, 2025, with a deadline of August 15, 2025. Group interviews follow between August 25–September 5, and final selections are announced by early September. The Fellowship begins October 7, 2025.
https://centerforjustice.columbia.edu/news/applications-are-now-open-2025-2026-beyond-bars-fellowship
The Beyond the Bars Fellowship offers a rare, fully supported space to develop justice leadership alongside activists, scholars, and community members—fostering transformation, impact, and sustainable networks for social change.
Reflect honestly in your application: focus on your personal justice journey, outline your community involvement or envisioned change project, and demonstrate your commitment to weaving restorative and transformative justice into collective action.
Stand with impact, build leadership, and help end mass incarceration—apply today.
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