The Elias Foundation renews its commitment to supporting individual grassroots activist leaders with the announcement of five new grantees for its 2020 Activist Fellowship Program. Building on the success of a pilot program launched in 2015, Elias is providing much needed support and mentorship to social justice leaders in Westchester and the greater Hudson Valley region.
Activists often work multiple part-time jobs, struggle to complete their education and have little opportunity for professional development. The Elias Foundation turned to a model of funding that supports the personal needs and advancement of social justice leaders. Annual grants, for five years, can be used in a multitude of self-determined ways. The grantees can, for example, take classes and workshops in fields such as non-profit management or leadership development; cultivate their talents in the creative arts and writing; or travel to their ancestral homeland to reconnect to their origins.
The impact has been transformational in the lives of the grantees and, as Elias Foundation had hoped – is helping them become more effective leaders in their communities.
The alumni and new fellows of the program attend meetings and retreats together, support each other’s events and actions by staying connected on social media. Some fellows from previous cohorts serve on the Advisory Committee* and participate in identifying the next round of grassroots leaders to benefit from the program.
Gabino Trujillo - Gabino is an artist and community organizer with the Yonkers Sanctuary Movement, a grassroots organization that mobilizes to keep immigrant families safe from detention and deportation and to fight for justice for the undocumented community in Yonkers.
Juanita O. Lewis - Juanita is the Hudson Valley Organizing and Training Director for Community Voices Heard (CVH), a member-led multi-racial organization that seeks social, economic and racial justice for all.
Kat Cancio - Kat is an artist, healer and mother residing in occupied Lenape territory, a.k.a. Spring Valley. Kat helps support the Ramapough Lenape Nation in their struggle for land, cultural preservation and the protection of mother earth.
Maria Smith Dautruche - Maria is an organizer, fundraiser and non-profit strategist who, most notably, has been coordinating the New York Youth Justice Initiative since 2018 and is a current Westchester County African American Advisory Board member.
Rae Leiner - Rae is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Newburgh LGBTQ+ center and is the former director of the Empire State Poverty Reduction Initiative in the city of Newburgh.
*The Elias Advisory Committee combines the wisdom of multi-racial, cross-generational, multi-issue, seasoned leaders. All members are engaged in movement building and have deep experience in the Hudson Valley.
To read more about the Fellowship, the criteria for applying and information on how to apply, please visit the Programs page on this website. We will be accepting new applications in September 2020 for new fellows to be awarded in February 2021.
You can also contact Polly Withers at pwithers@eliasfoundation.org if you have any questions about this program.