The Open Society Foundations has announced its Leadership in Government Fellows for 2021.

Founded in 2016 to support former senior-level government staff who have left public service after dedicating their careers to advancing economic, social, and racial justice, the program provides fellows with a stipend ranging from $100,000 to $133,000 in support of projects lasting between twelve and eighteen months.

The fifth cohort of OSF Leadership in Government Fellows includes former Florida state representative Cindy Polo, who will use her award to create mass communications plans designed to educate Latinx voters about the policymaking process and the role of government; former Washington state representative Kristine Reeves, who will develop a public policy process model and toolkit for addressing the perpetuation of systemic oppression and exclusion; Laurel Paget Seekins, a former assistant general manager for policy at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, who will build collaboration tools that help advocates and government changemakers promote equitable transit services; Lorelei Salas, a former commissioner of the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, who will work to provide worker centers, unions, and policy makers with the tools they can use to convince businesses to put people before profits; former Stockton mayor Michael Tubbs, who will work with community-based organizations and governments across California to launch basic income pilots that address poverty and lack of economic opportunity in the state; and Nic Santos, former chief of staff to Therese M. Terlaje, chair of the Guam Legislative Committee on Culture and Justice, who will work to empower the movement for adequate and equal protection of cultural and environmental resources in Guam.

"I'm thrilled to welcome the fifth cohort of Leadership in Government Fellows," said Open Society-U.S. program officer Elizabeth Guernsey, who oversees the program. "They bring a diversity of experiences and backgrounds to their fellowship work and offer much-needed perspectives and experiences to advance the values of an open society."