Carl Wilkens Fellowship
OUR PROGRAM
Seeking to bridge the gap between thought and action in the anti-genocide movement, the goal of the Carl Wilkens Fellowship is to develop effective leaders in communities across the United States who have acquired the skills and fostered the relationships necessary to influence and shape US policies on genocide.
Genocide Intervention Network believes that leadership development among our grassroots base is critical to building a lasting anti-genocide constituency. Our grassroots programs therefore focus on building activists' skills and fostering relationships between grassroots actors and influentials.
Launched in 2009, the Carl Wilkens Fellowship is a selective, 12-month program that provides a diverse set of emerging citizen leaders with the tools and training to build sustained political will to end genocide.
The program is named in honor of Carl Wilkens, the only American who chose to remain in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide and is credited with saving hundreds of lives. Mr. Wilkens is emblematic of the program’s theme: ordinary individuals can make an extraordinary difference when they choose to engage.
COMMUNITY LEADERS MAKING AN IMPACT
Carl Wilkens Fellows come from a rich diversity of professional backgrounds and skills sets. They are filmmakers; retired corporate lawyers; high school teachers and university professors; IT specialists and website developers; practicing nurses; graduate students of public policy, religion, and the law; public relations professionals; organizers around prominent social justice issues; fine artists; actors; and therapists
OUR IMPACT
February to September 2009
- 340+ community meetings/presentations organized & attended
- 400+ volunteers engaged
- 115+ phone calls to Congressional offices
- 610+ letters to Congressional offices
- 44 meetings with Congressional offices
- 60+ media stories/letters to the editor
- SPOTLIGHT ON FELLOWS - click here
The 2010 Carl Wilkens Fellows represent communities across the length and breadth of the United States. These individuals can be found at work in the following locations: Louisville, Kentucky; Forest Hills and Queens, New York; Montclair, New Jersey; Seattle, Washington; Berkeley, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; Gilbert, Arizona; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Bethany, Oklahoma; Normal, Illinois; St. Louis, Missouri; Niceville, Florida; Ladson, South Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; Virginia Beach, Virginia; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Bloomfield, Connecticut.
These remarkable individuals share a long-term commitment to the anti-genocide movement, to their leadership within their community spaces, to their communities themselves, and to each other. In all of these respects, our Carl Wilkens Fellows bear out a respect for Genocide Intervention Network’s mission: to build a permanent anti-genocide constituency willing and able to protect civilians from genocide and mass atrocities.
