The Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative and the Chesapeake Legal Alliance are accepting applications for our inaugural Fred Tutman Fellowship in Environmental Justice Law and Journalism.

The fellowship is named in honor of Fred Tutman, the longtime Patuxent Riverkeeper and the only Black riverkeeper in the nation. Tutman, a longtime journalist with a background in law, has fought tirelessly for clean water in Maryland’s longest river, which abuts a diverse array of communities. He has taken on power plants that have endangered human and aquatic health, developers who have pumped excess sediments into the water, and government agencies who have been slow to act to protect residents from water-borne infections stemming from pollution. 

The Tutman fellow will continue in the tradition of its namesake, using reporting, research, writing, and knowledge of the law to investigate complex environmental issues and publish stories about those issues on both the EJJI and CLA websites, with editing support from EJJI editors and legal input from CLA attorneys. The fellow will choose a project to pursue throughout the 10-week fellowship, and will be integrated into a cohort with the other CLA and EJJI interns and fellows. At the fellowship’s conclusion, the Tutman fellow will present the research in a symposium open to the public. The fellow will leave the internship with several published pieces for a portfolio.

The position runs from the end of May until mid-August and pays a $4,500 stipend. We welcome students from Chesapeake Bay watershed states as well as anywhere else in the country, but fellows are responsible for finding their own housing if they choose to relocate here. The fellowship is hybrid/remote, and we will accept remote applicants with the expectation of at least one visit to Baltimore/Annapolis for an in-person meeting and tour of the area. 

Fellows must be enrolled in an institution of higher learning and be studying either the law or journalism. A focus on environmental matters is appreciated but not required. We will consider undergraduates, graduate students, and law students.

For best consideration, please send a resume, cover letter, and three writing samples to info@ejji.org by February 1. If you have questions, you can also email info@ejji.org. 

The Chesapeake Legal Alliance, known as “lawyers for the Bay,” uses the law to improve the quality of the Chesapeake Bay through a network of volunteer attorneys who provide free legal services. The Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative, whose motto is “Our community, our story,” trains residents to use journalistic techniques to tackle environmental problems in their communities. To learn more, visit www.ejji.org and www.chesapeakelegal.org.