Organization Overview

Michelson 20MM Foundation, founded in 2010, is an affiliated organization of Michelson Philanthropies. We believe that equitable educational and economic opportunities are essential to activating humanity’s full potential. For more than a decade, our foundation has served 20 million minds—the approximate number of post-secondary students in the United States—by advancing open educational resources, smart justice, digital equity, and intellectual property education.

Since our founding, our work has grown to include investing in tech entrepreneurs, changemakers, and policy with the goal of catalyzing scalable innovations in the knowledge economy and accelerating progress toward a more just world. The foundation continues to expand into other verticals, challenging social inequalities and injustices in fields beyond education.

The Student Fellowship Program

The Michelson 20MM Foundation operates across a diverse array of program areas. These interconnected program areas collectively strive to empower underserved communities, bridge educational disparities, and create a more inclusive and equitable educational landscape for all. Michelson20MM has become a vanguard in the particular fields of digital equity, social justice for the formerly incarcerated, student basic needs, intellectual property, and open educational resources.

The Michelson 20MM Student Fellowship Program will place 1-2 fellows under each program area: Student Basic Needs, Digital Equity, Smart Justice, and Open Educational Resources. The fellow will execute a program-related project on a campus, systemwide, local, or statewide level.

Student Basic Needs

A recent survey of two- and four-year institutions spanning five years found that 43% of college students faced food insecurity, 48% of students faced housing insecurity, and 16% of students faced homelessness. As students persist in college, the basic needs crisis becomes more severe; 1/2 of students with one or more years of college are food insecure, and 2/3 are housing insecure. The Michelson 20MM Student Basic Needs (SBN) Initiative seeks to increase persistence and graduation rates through systems change, research, and technological innovations that help students meet their basic needs.

Smart Justice

The Bureau of Justice Statistics claims that approximately 60% of formerly incarcerated individuals struggle with unemployment (Wang & Bertram, 2022), compared to the low unemployment rate of 3.7% for the general population (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022). Educational attainment, even in a prison setting, has been shown to increase employability, wage-earning, and quality of life for people who are re-entering our community. Studies have shown that providing postsecondary education to individuals impacted by the justice system can yield enormous economic, fiscal, and social benefits for students, communities, and our society at large. The Michelson 20MM Smart Justice Initiative seeks innovative pathways to educational attainment, employment, and economic opportunity for system-impacted communities and people/students.

Digital Equity:

Access to the internet is a requirement to engage in today's world. Work activities, school classes, job applications, and medical appointments all demand reliable high-speed internet. Every Californian deserves access to fast, reliable, and affordable internet and the opportunity to learn how to navigate the digital world effectively. We believe a fast connection without bandwidth or data limitations, coupled with technical support, is a civil right—not a luxury. The Michelson 20MM Digital Equity Initiative supports programs working on a broad spectrum of systems-based solutions to digital inequity—from device acquisition to broadband access to digital literacy.

In previous years, one area of work within the Digital Equity Initiative included the Tribal Communities Project, a multi-year effort to address digital inequity in Indigenous communities. This project looked to empower tribal nations with the knowledge, tools and means necessary to access the internet and the opportunities that come with it.

Textbook Affordability & Open Educational Resources

Textbook and course material costs remain a significant barrier to student success; two-thirds of students report not buying a textbook due to cost. Students should not have to choose between their academic success or affording their basic needs. Yet, due to a near monopoly of the textbook industry and the vulnerable place students hold in the textbook market they are forced to make that choice. The Michelson 20MM Foundation seeks to advance affordable, equitable, culturally relevant, and high-quality learning experiences for college students through increasing the number of courses and faculty that use open educational resources and fighting for a fairer textbook marketplace. Open educational resources (OER) are openly licensed course materials that allow for no-cost access and have been linked to increased student success rates in the classroom. Across the country, educators have been able to bring down the barriers between students and the materials they need. Our goal is to expand and build on that movement.

Overview of Role

Each fellow will execute a program-related project in one of the 5 focus areas listed above on a campus, systemwide, local, or statewide level. The fellow will attend multiple monthly meetings with a Program Manager for project reports and be provided an advocacy & professional development training element alongside other fellows. Our fellows will have opportunities for professional development as they meet with our team of expert thought leaders in the higher education, digital equity, intellectual property, and criminal justice reform spaces. Fellows will attend weekly check-ins with the Student Engagement Program Coordinator to provide project updates and receive any additional guidance on their work as needed. The fellow’s required level of commitment will be contingent upon the details of their project, with an estimated average of 5 hours a week and maximum of 20 hours a month. Fellows will also have the opportunity to attend virtual and in-person conferences or events. Fellows will utilize their experience with advocacy to develop outreach strategies, meet with local decision makers, give testimonies, and collaborate with other fellows/organizations in the program area space. All fellows will participate in a Fellows Capstone near the end of their fellowship to present their work. Some of our past fellows spearheaded projects focused on research collection, organizing campus policy changes, conducting landscape analysis, and developing media strategies for issue area experts.

This position is best suited for undergraduate students with some advocacy experience, especially experience working in student government or other student advocacy/organizing groups on or off their campus. Applicants must have a strong interest in equity, student organizing and advocacy, or research. The ideal candidate will possess great communication skills, some advocacy or organizing experience, and/or some research experience, and some understanding of the political/legislative process.

This position is currently hybrid with a geographical preference for the Southern California region.

You’ve gotta have:

Successful candidates for this role will have a mix of the below experience and education. This fellowship is designed for students who reflect the diverse makeup of California’s higher education systems. We are flexible in considering your background, but want to ensure that you are equipped with the tools to learn. Please review and make sure that your skill set aligns with:

• Nearing undergraduate degree completion as a full-time student in the UC, CSU, or CCC system, at a California tribal college, or at a private university.
• Minimum of 1 year experience with higher education or on/off campus community advocacy/organizing.
• A demonstrated commitment to advancing equity and accessibility in higher education.
• Interested in advocacy on college affordability, criminal justice reform, digital equity, or intellectual property.
• Comfort & experience with public speaking.
• Familiarity with college student government structures is preferred.
• Ability to take ownership of new projects and work well both independently and collaboratively.
• Strong attention to details and meeting deadlines/follow through.
• A demonstrated ability to balance school, work, and fellowship schedules.
• Action-oriented, strong track record as an implementer and self-starter.
• Non-traditional students, students of color, first-generation, LGBTQ+, DACA-mented, working class, returning-to-college, and other historically underrepresented college students are highly encouraged to apply.

You’ll receive:

$20 hourly compensation for 10-11 months. Michelson 20MM will cover all costs associated with foundational work.