ILR High Road Ithaca Fellowship
Dorothy Cotton Institute

ILR High Road New York is statewide program that aims to teach ILR students practical methods for civic & community engagement and leadership. The High Road Ithaca Program offers students paid community engaged internships with partner organizations committed to social and environmental justice, diversity and equity, access and education in Ithaca and surrounding areas during the fall or spring semesters. Students work 5-10 hours a week and participate in critical reflection activities throughout the semester.

The Dorothy Cotton Institute (DCI) is a project of the Center for Transformative Action. We offer human rights education workshops, civic education and support for community engagement, and leadership development. DCI carries on the legacy of civil rights leader and educator, Dorothy Foreman Cotton, focusing on nonviolent systemic and social change.

The DCI fellow work closely with Project Director and other DCI leaders to assist with any/all of the following projects:

1. Help create slides and materials for human rights workshops, probably by late February-early March, 2026.

2. For development of the CEP for the 21^st Century, a fellow will work alongside the trainers and possibly facilitate or lead an activity, depending on their interests and abilities, in February-April.

3. Contribute to a “know your rights” focus using ACLU guidance  They can also research and design a short module that presents a current human rights issue that would be compelling to themselves and their peers or younger students. By February-March, their module(s) will become part of the training material DCI will use in the Spring, 2026 and future workshops. We would enjoy finding tasks and projects that make use of our fellow’s own interests and creativity, but we will need to have some tangible resources that will be useful for our education and training. 

4. An ILR Fellow should encourage their peers to participate in a workshop if it is offered to the general public. We would love help promoting these workshops on social media  

   Our human rights workshops will focus on encouraging ICSD teachers to adapt or create human rights education curricula for their students, as they have in the past. It’s been a few years (before Covid) since we have offered in-person human rights trainings. We are working district to align with ICSD’s anti-marginalization curriculum writing. During this year, it has become evident that workshops that equip learners to know their rights are very important. 

The ideal candidate will have warmth, good listening skills, able to take direction from women of color in leadership, give and receive feedback, and some presentation skills would be a plus: e.g., ability to project and speak well to a group, give clear directions to participants, and work cooperatively with other trainers). Taking good notes and checking in frequently on progress; asking for help if needed. And have interests in human rights, social justice and effective civic engagement are a plus. While not a requirement, we would love to have a fellow who has an interest in learning about people’s struggles for social justice, economic, civil and political rights. Empathy, respect and commitment to human dignity for all, and interest in nonviolent direct action, peacemaking, collaboration and free speech.