Meltzer Social Justice Fellowships offer financial support to students who design innovative social justice projects. The program launched in 2020-21 and will continue in 2021-22, thanks to generous gifts from Joseph and Wendi Meltzer. The Sheller Center manages the program.
How can I find out more about Meltzer Fellowships?
What projects did the program support in its first year?
Meltzer Fellowships supported a variety of creative projects in 2020-21, all devised by the Fellows themselves and carried out in collaboration with community organizations. Projects included:
- With Community Legal Services, the creation of a Collateral Consequences of Convictions Guide, detailing
- With the Education Law Center-PA, a project to identify practices and resources that would assist ELC in responding to educational barriers faced by Black girls in Philadelphia schools.
- With Make the Road PA, an effort to develop community leaders and informational materials concerning housing problems faced by immigrant tenants.
- “Writer’s Block,” an project that engaged community volunteers in reaching out to incarcerated people during the pandemic.
- With VietLead, a project to help immigrants in seek pardons for criminal convictions that might otherwise result in their removal.
- With Philadelphia Legal Assistance, Norris Square Community Alliance, Ceiba and other partners, a project to help homeowners in Latinx neighborhoods acquire title to abandoned lots adjacent to their homes.