Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

+ What are the goals and intended outcomes of the fellowship? How will I know if I am a good fit?

EJ Disrupt Design: An Environmental Justice Movement Fellowship supports and grows the capacity of movement leaders to design innovative and disruptive systemic interventions that can advance a more transformative climate justice agenda on a local, Tribal, national and global scale. Are you forming or already a part of a group of EJ movement leaders looking for space to design, test, and co-learn with other leaders? Are you tuned into the root causes of a problem and not tied to ONE solution but instead itching to try something new, and scale ideas for movement impact?

The Fellowship is a space for leaders to reimagine, prototype, and scale solutions. Please see the minimum eligibility criteria below:

All Core Group members must be:

• 18 years or older
• Based in the United States, Indigenous Communities within the boundaries of the US, or US-affiliated territories (Including Puerto Rico, Guam, The Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, or the Virgin Islands)
• Have a solid baseline knowledge or orientation towards EJ
• Can demonstrate ties to an EJ org, as a staff member, advisor, or board member.
• Affiliated with a 501c3 that can receive funds on your behalf and support/act as a community of practice for fellows during your participation in the fellowship
• Demonstrate self-awareness and experience in collaborative leadership and partnerships across diverse lived experiences and social identities
• Commitment to participating in all fellowship activities over 2 years (approx 270 hours)

+ Can individuals apply for the fellowship?

This fellowship is only open to self-identified and self-formed groups of 3-4 environmental justice grassroots leaders and their allies from other sectors with the main applicant and majority of the group being grassroots.

+ Who is considered an Environmental Justice leader or part of the EJ Movement?

Guided by the Jemez principles and Principles of Environmental Justice, we are considering leaders who are most impacted, accountable to EJ communities and connected to an EJ/CJ base building organization. We also consider leaders working in other sectors (e.g. government, philanthropy and academia) who are building power in partnership and solidarity with EJ communities.

More specifically, the Defining Environmental Justice Communities for Environmental Justice Policies research from the Tishman center defines an EJ community as:

“Typically, the term EJ or disadvantaged community suggests that the socio-demographic characteristics of that community represent mostly Black, Brown, Of Color, Indigenous and/or low wealth populations. Overburdened communities often refer to areas where the population experiences disproportionate environmental risk or harm. Sometimes the term EJ communities includes both overburdened measures of environmental burden or social vulnerability in addition to socio-demographic characteristics. Whatever the term or definition used, it is vitally important to understand how to characterize EJ communities as states increasingly seek to implement EJ policies designed to protect and invest in these communities.”

+ Can you provide more specifics about who is considered “Senior Leadership” and examples of movement level solutions?

We are seeking leaders with demonstrated understanding, experience, and orientation to the EJ political landscape and who first and foremost share an accountability to a specific EJ community and/or organization. Senior leadership refers to folks who make decisions and influence the work within an organization (e.g. staff in lead or director level roles, board members, advisory committee etc). Having an established community of practice to lean on as you ideate, test and ultimately scale solutions is critical. We are seeking leaders who have multiple arenas (wear multiple hats) of influence within the EJ movement that have the avenues to amplify the impact of their work.

This is a space for senior movement leaders to co-learn and unlearn amongst peers; organize and build power in the moment to address emerging opportunities; and test and design climate justice solutions. Examples of how we think about scale and movement level impacts include:

source: Riddell and Moore in Scaling Out, Scaling Up, Scaling Deep (2015)

+ If I am a student, should I apply?

If you are a student AND working within a grassroots EJ or allied organization leading the work with a community and you have a decision-making role, you can apply. This is an experience and organizing space for practitioners with experience in the EJ movement.

+ What is the time commitment for the fellowship?

The fellowship is a 2 year experience made up of five 4-6-month phases. Fellows will participate in a combination of virtual and in-person retreats, plus group coaching sessions, monitoring and evaluation processes, and other group prep work which will take an estimated 40-75 hours per phase (a 4-6 months period). We kindly request that your group apply only if all members can commit to participate in the full fellowship experience.

Although this seems like a lot of time on the front-end, alum wished they had more time. All times are pre scheduled and cleared by your organization in advance. There may be some changes as we receive feedback from the cohort but since the work is done as a group - the time allotted is helpful to remove barriers to success. The time commitments and deliverables are meant to interface and weave with your movement work rather than be an additional isolated batch of work to add to your plate. This is why your group should consider a movement or climate problem central to your current or aspirational work. Accessibility is core to our values and we will make every effort to make accommodations if/when possible. For a full schedule of retreats, click here.

+ What Is the structure of the fellowship? Will it be in person or virtual?

The fellowship will consist of 5 Phases, approximately 4-6 months long and includes both in person and virtual meetings; large and small core group gatherings. The typical flow of each phase includes:

• Month 1: In person (5 days) or virtual (5 hours) co-learning retreats
• Month 2: Monthly virtual group coaching and design dojos (practice sessions)
• Month 3-4: Community ideation and co-design sessions (in person and/or virtual)
• Month 4: Core Group Huddles, 3 day retreat with a EJMF coach. Your group decides on the dates within this month, mode (in person/virtual/ hybrid) and location (if in person)
• Month 5 -6: Additional group coaching, design dojo and/or community ideation session

+ Is the fellowship focused on specific areas of environmental justice work?

We are specifically seeking groups working in the following areas: Climate Justice, Environmental Health, Energy Democracy, and/or Just Transition. Our Landscape Assessment which included 48 interviews and 167 surveys with movement leaders, identified these four areas as key themes for urgent and long term intervention, as well as areas of work ripe for experimentation and disruption. We are looking for groups whose work is rooted in decolonial, liberation, and regenerative just transition frameworks and mindsets that impact social movements.

We strongly encourage submissions from those with diverse lived experiences, especially BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, low-income and women leaders, Indigenous and place-based knowledge holders, elders, youth, builders, storytellers, and communities directly affected by climate impacts.

Since the landscape assessment, we’ve continued to track shifts and emerging opportunities within the EJ movement. Key themes are emerging in the EJ movement as ripe for this next cohort organizing work: Justice40, Cumulative Impacts/Mandatory Emissions Reduction, Challenging False Solutions & Carbon-Centric Narratives, along with Red - Swing State battles coming into the next election. We understand the EJ movement is a shifting landscape. If you are not working on one of these areas, but meet the other selection criteria, we encourage you to apply.

+ What is a prototype and what type of prototypes have alumni created through the fellowship?

A prototype is the physical manifestation of your idea. Fellows will start with creating small scales of prototypes (e.g. a drawing, journey map, etc) and build it up to a higher resolution (pilot, regional-international scale etc) over time as they gain new insights, perspectives and feedback about their idea through continuous testing. Some examples of alumni prototypes include:

• Publishing a book on Just Recovery
• 3 Climate Justice Black Diaspora Healing Org trips to Senegal
• International Peace Summit hosting 150 leaders from across Pacific Islands to co-create Peace Declaration
• Advising 12-18 Cities on Infrastructure For EJ Communities
• Anchors for 250 orgs in New England for Thriving Communities Region

+ What support will fellows receive for their participation in the fellowship?

Fellows receive individual stipends of $28,000 for their two-year participation in the program. During the prototyping phase, groups will receive up to $60,000 seed funding to support their prototypes based on their scaling templates. Groups will also receive high quality group coaching valued at $15,000. All travel and lodging expenses for in-person retreats will be covered for the fellows. Additional child care and dependent care, professional development and other support will come from individual stipends.

+ What support will fellows’ organizations receive for their staff’s participation in the fellowship?

The Fellowship is happy to provide $20,000 per fellow to organizations whose staff participate in the program. This resource is meant to offset the cost of a fellow’s participation in core group huddles. If two or more fellows are applying from the same organization, that organization will receive $17,000 per fellow. Organizational support will be capped at $68,000. If your annual organizational budget is $1 million or more, you may consider waiving the organizational support funds. Waived organizational funds will go towards fellows’ prototypes in phase 3 of the program.

+ How will my organization be expected to support me through the fellowship experience?

One of the goals of the fellowship is to develop a culture and network of EJ design practitioners and organizations across the movement. We are looking for applicants who have the full support of their organization to participate in this experience. Organizational support looks like:

• Providing you with time to participate in the fellowship retreats, coaching sessions, and other practice spaces. This might include hiring or allocating other staff to support some of your work so you have additional capacity for the fellowship activities;
• Providing a community of practice for you within the organization to process and apply fellowship learnings. This includes identifying a Peer Influencer, who can act as a thought partner to provide feedback on your design ideas and iterations and support you in bringing the tools and concepts into your organization’s work;
• Processing your stipends and payments for prototype funding and organizational support.

+ What should I consider when putting together a Core Group?

So much of the work in this fellowship happens in your Core Group. You will want to form a group that has:

• Shared Collective Purpose - how aligned are you in your vision, values and understanding of the problem or opportunity you’re focused on.
• Folks who can commit to work together, through joy, creativity, growth, conflict, feedback and discomfort over the course of two years.
• Diversity of perspectives that each person offers (consider race/ethnicity, geography, age, types of innovation energy you each bring, leadership and communication style, etc can greatly benefit each group.
• Consider and discuss your ways of working - for example: the more time zones you have, the harder it can be to schedule times to come together, how might you work through that? How will you work across differences and hold space for generative conflict? How will you each share leadership and take on different roles? How do you want to stay accountable to each other?

+ Who should be the primary contact /lead applicant for our group?

The lead applicant will be responsible for uploading your group’s responses to the application and coordinating communication between the fellowship team and your group. Over the course of the two years, you will select different leaders in your group to coordinate and convene your group’s work and share the labor of leadership and coordination. We have seen Core Group formation benefit from having a diversity of leaders and perspectives and we recognize the potential of groups that include leaders from both grassroots and allied sectors. We are looking for Core Groups to have at least 1-2 grassroots EJ leaders (if not more). In alignment with EJ and Jemez principles, we recommend that a grassroots movement leader be the lead applicant for the group.

+ How many groups will you select for the cohort? When will you notify selected fellows?

Four to five groups (totaling about 20 leaders) will be selected for the second cohort. Groups invited to participate in the interview stage will hear from us in February 2024. All applicants will be notified of their status by mid-March.

• December 4: Applications Open
• January 15: Applications Close
• February: Group Interviews
• March: Final Selection/ Virtual Orientation Call
• June: EJ Disrupt Design Fellowship Cohort 2 Launch

+ Who is on the selection committee?

Our selection committee is made up of a five person Advisory Committee. Our advisory committee members are respected EJ leaders from legacy organizations and fellowship alumni who have come together to help guide the design and direction of the fellowship. All advisory committee members will be part of the first round of reviews. During interviews, semi- finalists will meet with members of our staff and pedagogical team. You can read more about our advisory committee members, staff, and pedagogical team here.

+ Tell me more about who is designing the fellowship. Who is involved?

EJ Disrupt Design: An Environmental Justice Movement Fellowship is housed at the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School. The Tishman Center is a collaborative community of practice that leverages research, policy, and design in accordance with the Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing. We bring together research and action to tackle the root causes of climate and environmental injustice and commit to change in higher education practices within and beyond The New School. Through our collaborative efforts, we impact research, practice and policy across multiple sectors. Dr. Ana Baptista, is the Co- Founder and Angela Mahecha is the Director of the Fellowship both leaders who have spent decades growing the capacity of EJ grassroots organizations, you can read each of their bios here

The EJ movement’s collaboration and support of this project has been integral since its inception. In 2019, we led a Landscape Assessment, which included 48 interviews and 167 surveys with movement leaders, to hear directly from the movement about their strategies, focus areas, aspirations for the movement, and what they’d like to see in a fellowship program specifically for EJ. We held 2 movement wide EJ Workshops for more detailed reflections on the purpose of the fellowship in 2021. Over the course of the 2 year pilot, the EJMF Pedagogical team facilitated the program co-design with an advisory committee and the EJMF fellows, made up of EJ leaders from across the US. and US territories, who continue to guide the fellowship’s development and implementation as alumni and technical coaches from the movement.