PHILADELPHIA, AUGUST 17, 2022–Enforcing racial equality through the rule of law, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent troops from the U.S. Army’s 101 Airborne Division to Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957 to protect the Constitutional right of nine Black students to attend a segregated all-white high school. More than six decades later, amid a national reckoning of relations between the races, Eisenhower Fellowships is advancing the legacy of its namesake with its inaugural 2022 USA Justice Program.
Beginning in September, 11 mid-career U.S. professionals from the worlds of law enforcement, medicine, bioscience, academia, finance, education and civic engagement will travel abroad for four to five weeks to expand their horizons and sharpen their strategies for combatting entrenched racial discrimination in their communities and professions. Each Fellow’s personalized itinerary will take them to two or three countries for meetings with top experts in their fields.
“These dynamic leaders join a global network of Fellows who for nearly seven decades have been striving to create a world more peaceful, prosperous and just,” said EF Chairman, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates. “Their work advances the core justice pillar of our founding mission.”
The first cohort of EF Justice Fellows include a Boston mental-health professional seeking to improve equal access to treatment for young adults, a Los Angeles community policy advocate interested in alternatives to incarceration, a Chicago police sergeant looking to explore how overseas police departments respond to use-of-force incidents and a Philadelphia School Board member seeking international perspectives on how to improve public education in urban settings with limited resources.
“The Justice Program employs our historic foundation of direct dialogue to enhance understanding and shape solutions to the vexing inequalities that disproportionately affect African-Americans and other communities of color,” said EF President George de Lama.
For the biographies of the first USA Justice Program Fellows, please click HERE.
*****************************************************
Now in its 69th year and named for America’s 34th president, EF brings together innovative leaders from across geographies and sectors to tackle big challenges and improve the world. Since 1953, more than 2,400 mid-career leaders from 115 countries have benefitted from the unique experience of an Eisenhower Fellowship.
For more information please contact:
Lee West
Director, USA Fellowship Programs
250 South 16th Street
Philadelphia, Pa., 19102
lwest@efworld.org
215-546-1738