Sorensen Center Strengthens Local Impact with Jerome L. Greene Foundation Support
Date: April 28, 2022
2022 Fellows funded by the Jerome L. Greene Foundation
The Sorensen Center for International Peace and Justice recently received a second $300,000 multi-year grant from the Jerome L. Greene Foundation, enabling the Center to fortify its Fellowship Program and support CUNY Law students to address global challenges at home in all five boroughs of New York City. The Program, launched in 2015 with six inaugural Fellows, hit a new high in 2022 with an impressive cohort of 33 Fellows.
“Since inception, the Sorensen Center has focused locally and globally, building on excellent social justice work at CUNY Law School,” said Camille Massey, Founding Executive Director of the Sorensen Center. “Thanks to generous support from the Jerome L. Greene Foundation, the Center dramatically increased Fellowships and intensified our local partnerships at a time when needs are great in our own backyard.”
Through the Sorensen Center’s Fellowship Program, CUNY Law students receive funding to complete public interest legal internships where they represent clients, advocate with communities, and conduct policy research. At home and abroad, Fellows use their skills and experience to advance racial justice, immigrant/refugee rights, housing and health justice, workers’ rights, gender and LGBTQI+ justice, and more. Fellows’ legal work is buoyed by specialized training sessions, lessons from distinguished legal scholars, and mentorship from experienced legal practitioners and a junior board comprised of Fellow alumni.
Cesar Ruiz ‘21, a 2020 Fellow, commented, “My experience as a Fellow working at LatinoJustice PRLDEF is one that I will cherish for a lifetime. I am thankful for the community and resources I gained, and appreciate all the support from the Sorensen Center and Jerome L. Greene Foundation.” As a graduate, Ruiz has continued working at LatinoJustice PRLDEF, focusing on voting rights in New York and Florida Latinx communities as an Equal Justice Works Fellow.
Beginning in 2019, support from the Jerome L. Greene Foundation tripled the number of students, clients, and legal organizations impacted by the Center’s Fellowship Program. In addition, a partnership between the Sorensen Center and LaGuardia and Wagner Archives led to New York City Council-funded Fellowships for students serving the needs of LGBTQ+ communities in New York City.
Eduardo Capulong, Interim Dean of CUNY Law, expressed excitement about the Center’s role and strengthened capacity: “With support from the Jerome L. Greene Foundation, the Center can support an even greater number of our students, enabling them to work with an incredible range of legal institutions. The Center’s excellent programs, including its visiting Scholars and Critical Voices series, continue to help draw outstanding students to our Law School.”
While support from the Jerome L. Greene Foundation helps usher in the next phase of the Center’s development, the Center’s Fellowship Program would not have been possible without faith and generous early investment from Jill and Jay Bernstein’s Harold P. Bernstein Fellowship Fund, Joel Z. Hyatt, the Haywood Burns Global Fellowship Fund, and many individuals.
Rubén Kraiem, a Sorensen Center Advisory Board member and former law partner of Ted Sorensen, added, “While the Center is still young, it has an impressive track record and enormous potential to scale and create transformational change.”
Meet the 2022 Fellows and learn more about the Fellowship Program.
About the Sorensen Center
The Sorensen Center for International Peace and Justice, launched in 2014, fosters the legacy of Ted Sorensen, long-time close advisor and speechwriter to President John F. Kennedy, by nurturing students committed to practicing public interest law. The Center trains social justice lawyers to work from local to global and protects rights of those affected by instability, conflict, and repression. As the first-named center at CUNY School of Law, the Sorensen Center builds on and enhances the Law School’s decades-long tradition of practicing law in the service of human needs.
About the Jerome L. Greene Foundation
Established in 1978 by Jerome L. Greene, real estate attorney, philanthropist, and consummate New Yorker, the Jerome L. Greene Foundation identifies and invests in opportunities that enrich and advance people’s lives here in New York City. Its projects focus on the arts, education, medicine, and social justice.