Foundation investments in public policy fellowships offer emerging young leaders the opportunity to learn first-hand how they can influence laws and system reform.

Connecticut Voices for Children, a research-based public education and advocacy organization, which provides policy fellowships for recent college graduates interested in state-level policy work focused on juvenile justice, education and child welfare

Fellows supported by Tow Foundation funding conducted extensive research on state juvenile justice policies and local school disciplinary practices that was used by senior staff in testimony before committees of the Connecticut General Assembly to advocate policy reforms. The Fellows’ recent research documents how the repeated use of exclusionary punishments, such as suspensions and expulsions, increases a child’s risk of involvement in the juvenile justice system and suggests that Connecticut schools’ over-reliance on out-of-school suspensions contributes significantly to the achievement gap and extraordinary drop-out rates in the state’s urban areas.

In 2008, Connecticut Voices for Children’s research and advocacy on school district suspension data and the costs of exclusionary punishments helped to advance and subsequently preserve a newly passed state law that will limit the use of out-of-school suspensions. The law is expected to go into effect on July 1, 2009. In addition, research by the Fellows helped shape Connecticut Voices’ recommendations to the Connecticut Department of Education, which was legislatively mandated in the new law to create guidelines for all school districts regarding suspension practices. The guidelines were released in October 2008. Young people who have completed their Connecticut Voices fellowships have gone on to graduate or law school and plan to continue their policy and advocacy work.