Fellows at a retreat to Val-Kill, the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site
The Center’s Fellowship Program, launched in 2015, provides CUNY Law students with the opportunity to contribute to peace and justice efforts in their local communities and communities around the world. Through the Program, the Center provides Fellows with funding and assistance securing internship placements at leading institutions where they engage in research, provide technical expertise, and spearhead justice initiatives around the world. Fellows participate in specialized skills trainings, intimate conversations with distinguished leaders, and legal retreats. Since the Program’s inception, 145 CUNY Law students have become Sorensen Center Fellows.
Sorensen Center Fellows make an impact…
at home in New York City…
Through their internships, Fellows address global challenges affecting our local communities in NYC. Fellows have fought for housing and voting rights, LGBTQ+ and Muslim rights, voter protections, and more. Thanks to an exciting new partnership with The Jerome L. Greene Foundation, the Center is able to increase the number of fellowships awarded to students tackling injustices in our local communities. Local placements have included: Bronx Defenders, Common Cause, National Advocates for Pregnant Women, and Sylvia Rivera Law Project
2019 Fellow, Dannelly Rodriguez, at a housing justice rally with Make the Road NY
2019 Fellow, Ashley Franklin, with her fellow interns at ACLU of Michigan
across the United States…
Our Fellows are committed to fighting injustice not only in NYC, but across the entire country. Fellows serve as advocates for individuals and families struggling with the immigration process in border towns and cities. They push for reforms to the nation’s actions on climate change and food and water security and engage with issues of state’s rights. National placements have included: the American Bar Association’s Center for Human Rights, Corporate Accountability Lab, Food and Water Watch, and Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services
and around the world.
Protecting human rights is a global challenge. Fellows use their legal skills and expertise to support and further the work of organizations that work internationally, as well as in local communities around the world. They exchange knowledge and strategies with lawyers and activists and advocate for change that will benefit people everywhere. International placements have included: Al Marsad Arab Human Rights Centre, Asociación Interamericana para la Defensa del Ambiente, OutRight Action International, and Sustainable Development Institute
2018 Fellow, Jess Halperin, in South Africa with 2018 Scholar-in-Residence, Justice Albie Sachs
Fellow Shoshana Brown (right) greets Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Fellow Katy Naples-Mitchell (right) with Judge Rosemary Barkett
Special Thanks!
Jill and Jay Bernstein’s Harold P. Bernstein Fellowship Fund
Haywood Burns Global Fellowship Fund
Joel Z. Hyatt
An Invitation…
If you would like to be involved as a mentor to a law student or supporter of the Fellowship Program, please contact Camille Massey. 100% of your gift will enable talented, law students to pay for internship travel and basic cost-of-living expenses, so they can learn while helping communities from local to global.
Sorensen Burns Pro Bono Scholars to South Africa in 2018
In early 2018, two Sorensen Center Haywood Burns Fellowships were granted to third-year law students participating in the Pro Bono Scholars Program at CUNY Law. The program allows students to devote their last semester in law school to an approved externship. Haywood Burns, CUNY Law’s second dean, died in a car accident while working for post-apartheid judicial reform in South Africa.
Inaugural Sorensen Opal Tometi Fellowship
For the first time, in 2017, a Sorensen Center Fellowship was awarded in the name of Opal Tometi, co-founder of #BlackLivesMatter and Director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI). Lovely Bonhomme, whose project in Haiti focused on international development and land rights, was the recipient.