About
From not-for-profit organizations, courts, and government agencies, to legal services and initiatives addressing inequalities and discrimination, the work powered by our Public Interest Grant Opportunities supports communities that have been consistently marginalized.
Students’ achievements, ambitions, and lived experiences, along with the foundational learning of CUNY Law’s 12-credit Lawyering Program, position our students to be uniquely impactful and effective.
GRANT OPPORTUNITIES
About
The CUNY School of Law Foundation offers Public Interest Summer Grants to current CUNY Law students who plan to complete a full-time summer legal public interest internship. Summer Grant recipients are awarded $5,000 to support an eight-week, 35 hrs/wk summer internship.
Eligibility
All students, except for those who will graduate in February or May 2024, and those who previously received a summer grant, project grant, or a Sorensen Center Fellowship, are eligible to apply for Public Interest Summer Grants.
Students are strongly encouraged to apply for both a Public Interest Summer Grant and a Sorensen Center Fellowship. However, students cannot receive both a Public Interest Summer Grant and a Sorensen Center Fellowship in the same year. As such, if you are offered both a Summer Grant and a Sorensen Center Fellowship, you may only accept one offer.
Securing a Summer Internship
You need not have secured a summer internship in order to apply for a grant. However, after initial evaluations, finalists will be contacted in early-to-mid-February in order to appropriately match students with focus-area specific grants and to meet grant distribution criteria. If you need help in securing an internship or project, please make an appointment with the Career Planning Office.
NOTE: Once you receive funding through a summer grant, project grant, or a Sorensen Fellowship, you will not be eligible to receive a Public Interest Grant for the remainder of your tenure at the Law School.
About
The CUNY School of Law Foundation will be offering Public Interest Project Grants to current CUNY Law evening students in the part-time program who plan to complete a limited-hours, short-term, public interest project. Project Grant recipients are awarded $1,250 for a 70-hour internship, during a specific time period (several weekend days, two-week internship, etc.). Projects do not have to take place in the summer.
Eligibility
Only evening students are eligible to apply to Public Interest Project Grants. Students who will graduate in February or May 2023 and those who previously received a summer grant, project grant, or a Sorensen Center Fellowship, are NOT eligible to apply for Public Interest Project Grants.
Students do not need to have secured a public interest project in order to apply for a grant. However, applicants MUST know what your project is when applying. Finalists will be asked to complete an additional application in February to appropriately match students with focus-area-specific grants and to meet grant distribution criteria.
If you need help in securing an internship or project, please make an appointment with the Career Planning Office.
NOTE: Once you receive funding through a summer grant, project grant, or a Sorensen Fellowship, you will not be eligible to receive a Public Interest Project Grant for the remainder of your tenure at the Law School.
KEY DETAILS ON GRANT OPPORTUNITIES
11/30/23 Applications Open
1/8/24 Applications Due
1/10/24 Grant Committee Begins Review
1/24/24 (mid to late-Jan) Finalists contacted for additional application
3/10/24 Announcement of Fellowship Award Recipients
The Grant Committee has worked to increase transparency in both the process of distributing Project and Summer Grants and the evaluation of said grant applications. The application process involves an initial application, followed by an additional application for selected finalists.
The application process is anonymous to reduce reviewer bias.
Applications for grants are evaluated based on financial need and commitment to public interest
As applications are received, they will be monitored for anonymity. Applications are linked only to CUNYFirstID. Identifying information accidentally included on an application (name, personal identifiers, undergraduate institution, etc.) will be redacted.
The Grant Committee will use rubrics to evaluate applications and nominate applicants for grants.
Selected finalists will be contacted by mid-February with the additional application which will ask for additional information about your summer placement and whether your financial need has changed. While most grants are for general public interest law and do not require work in a specific area, some do require work in a specific legal or geographic area. As such, additional information will be needed if you are selected as a finalist in order to match you with an appropriate grant and meet grant distribution criteria.
Public Interest Summer Grants and Project Grants are awarded based on the information provided within this grant application. An evaluator’s personal knowledge of an applicant is not considered, nor are resumes nor CVs, considered, and applications are reviewed anonymously to avoid bias.
Restricted Summer Grants
While most of the Summer Grants are for general public interest law and do not require you to work in a specific area, some grants do require you to work in a specific legal area or are restricted in other ways, such as prohibiting the grant from being combined with outside funding. Finalists will be contacted in order to appropriately match students with focus-area-specific grants and to meet grant distribution criteria.
The rubric for individual evaluators’ use in evaluating an applicant’s Commitment to Public Interest for a Summer Grant or Project Grant informs an evaluator’s nomination for a Summer Grant or Project Grant. Commitment to Public Interest is measured using four categories: Lived Experience, Substantiated Interest, Professional Experience, and Long-Term Goals. Each category is given equal weight in determining an applicant’s overall Commitment to Public Interest.
Public Interest is broadly defined in the rubric document. Financial Need is measured as its own category. Evaluators will nominate applicants to receive a Summer Grant based on their overall assessment of the application. Evaluators will use this rubric as the objective criterion to make nominations. Grants are awarded based on the information provided within the grant application.
Below is a list of examples of the types of restricted grants that have been previously available:
- Don Friedman Memorial Grant for internships providing legal services
- Hamill Family Fellowship Grant for an internship to work with or for children and youth in New York City who are at risk of going into or in state custody
- Paul O’Dwyer Human Rights Fellowship Grant to support an internship to advance public interest and public service law by increasing access to legal services in New York City
- Pipeline to Justice Grant to support an internship for students who entered law school through the Pipeline to Justice Program
- Public Interest Summer Grants for internships with respective focus areas such as environment, health care, housing, and labor
- Robert Briglio Memorial Grant for internships focused on disability justice
- Solomon Slatkin Fellowship Grant for an internship with a focus on immigration law
SORENSEN CENTER OPPORTUNITIES
Through its Fellowship Program, the Sorensen Center for International Peace and Justice provides CUNY Law students with opportunities to use their legal skills and experience to make an impact in NYC, across the U.S., and around the world.
In addition to ongoing training and learning opportunities, recipients of Sorensen Center Fellowships will receive either:
- $6,000 stipend for an 8-10 week summer legal internship or project (10 weeks preferred)
- $1,250 stipend for a 70-hr legal internship or project
All current CUNY Law students are eligible to apply for a Fellowship, except for those who will graduate in or before May 2024 and those who previously received a Sorensen Center Fellowship. There are no additional applicant exclusions. The application process for 3L Pro Bono Scholar Fellowships will continue to be separate, as a partnership between the Sorensen Center and CUNY Law’s Clinical Program.
All current CUNY Law students are eligible to apply for a Fellowship, with the exception of those who will graduate on or before May 2023 and those who previously received a Sorensen Center Fellowship. There are no additional applicant exclusions.
This application is open to those who are still seeking an internship/project and those who have already secured an internship/project. The Sorensen Center’s network serves as a valuable resource, in conjunction with the Career Planning Office and others.
Students are strongly encouraged to apply for both a Public Interest Summer Grant and a Sorensen Center Fellowship. If offered both, students may only accept one offer.
11/30/23 Applications Open
1/8/24 Applications Due
1/10/24 Grant Committee Begins Review
1/24/24 (mid to late-Jan) Finalists contacted for additional application
3/10/24 Announcement of Fellowship Award Recipients
Requirements
- Up-to-date resume
- Two references able to speak to your quality of work, reliability, initiative, and cooperation (make sure to ask permission before listing them)
- How your lived experience impacts your commitment to public interest work (200 words max)
- How your experience in activism, advocacy, affinity group membership, activities, or volunteering has played a role in your public interest commitment (200 words max)
- How your professional experience (paid or unpaid), if any, has impacted your commitment to public interest work (200 words max)
- How your long-term goals demonstrate your commitment to public interest work (200 words max)
- Description of financial needs and circumstances you would like the committee to consider (150 words max)
- Elaboration on your interest(s) and further description of the internship(s) or project(s) you will seek (or have obtained) (250 words max)
Many challenges are impacting our local communities as well as other communities across the U.S. and around the world. They include but are not limited to immigration/refugee rights, LGBTQ+ rights, racial justice, women’s rights/gender justice, criminal justice/restorative justice, poverty, housing, climate justice, and voting rights/democracy. Over 80 Sorensen Center Fellows have addressed these issues (and many others!) through internships/projects in New York City, across the U.S., and around the world.
Not required, but highly encouraged
- Description of your leadership qualities and experiences (traditional or nontraditional) — in your household, an academic environment, a professional setting, or your community (250 words max)
Criteria central to the Selection Committee’s consideration:
Commitment to social justice, desire and ability to undertake proposed work, and leadership experience/potential (traditional and nontraditional).
Consideration will be given to expressed financial need and whether a student has previously received a Public Interest Summer Grant. The Committee is committed to diversity in all its forms. The Committee will conduct a thorough, holistic review of each application and may conduct reference checks and applicant interviews during the review process. Applications and information contained within are strictly confidential and will only be reviewed by the Selection Committee.
Support from the Jerome L. Greene Foundation enables Fellows to address challenges affecting people and communities in New York City.
Support from the New York City Council, through a partnership between the Sorensen Center and the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives, enables Fellows to address challenges facing LGBTQ+ people and communities in New York City.
Support from Jill and Jay Bernstein’s Harold P. Bernstein Fellowship Fund, the Haywood Burns Global Fellowship Fund, Joel Z. Hyatt, and other generous donors enables Fellows to address challenges affecting people and communities across the United States and around the world.