Arcus Social Justice Corps (ASJC) Fellowship

If selected to be an Arcus Fellow, students will make a pledge to enter social impact careers for at least three years after leaving the College of Environmental Design (CED). The ASJC seeks to attract students with the most potential to make direct and transformational social change in the world through planning, research, and design. This program especially aims to empower students who want to make tangible change in vulnerable communities after graduation.

In the context of environmental design, social justice work is wide ranging. Social justice can mean addressing the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events which have been proven to impact underserved communities the most; developing affordable, public, and social housing; addressing environmental pollution, toxicity, and degradation especially in community of color; increasing access to healthy and sustainable food systems in low income communities and in food deserts; reforming urban planning policies that have had detrimental impacts on race in America such as redlining; designing public spaces that reflect the values and voices of the communities in which they are built, and beyond. Architects, landscape architects and environmental planners, city and regional planners, real estate developers, and urban designers are well equipped to tackle all of these problems and chart bold new actions plans for our future. By working in nonprofits, NGOs, higher education, government agencies, or by creating their very own forms of new radical practice, graduates in environmental design fields can move the needle on essential social change.

By being inducted into the ASJC, students will not only receive as much debt relief as possible but also gain a sense of belonging through the building of a community that is dedicated to social justice. The ASJC will offer programming throughout the year for students to incubate new ideas, attend seminars, receive career planning support, engage in community-connected studios, and receive direct mentorship from practitioners in the real world. Arcus Fellows will also lead a dynamic social justice movement within Bauer Wurster Hall to inspire all CED students — undergraduate and graduate, across all disciplines and backgrounds, and students who are planning more traditional career paths. The hope is that alumni of the ASJC will return to CED in the years to come to mentor future cohorts of students who want to pursue public service work in the real world, to gain a better understanding of what this really means in action.

Arcus Fellows are selected by a CED committee that includes practitioners in social justice fields, faculty, staff, and alumni representatives. The application for the second cohort is now closed. Decisions will be made about this round of Arcus Fellows in the spring of 2022 from the incoming class of graduate students who will arrive at CED in the fall of 2022.

The third cohort of the Arcus Social Justice Corps will be selected in the spring of 2023 from the incoming class of graduate students who will arrive at CED in the fall of 2023.

Anyone who would like to apply for the third cohort should check this website in the fall of 2022 for the open application. Applicants will need to simultaneously apply to any CED Master’s program (by the program’s fall 2022 deadline). This fellowship is only availble for applicants who are U.S. citizens, have U.S. permanent residency, or have DACA or refugee status.

Should you have any questions, please contact: CEDArcusFellows@berkeley.edu