Social
Justice
Accelerator
The Social Justice Accelerator empowers up-and-coming leaders by putting the resources of UJC at their disposal, enabling them to leap over the hurdles of being an early stage nonprofit and get directly to serving their constituencies.
Meet the 2026-2028 cohort of the Social Justice Accelerator
The SJA is designed to shepherd new and early-stage social justice leaders through the challenges of developing a well-functioning operation, by bringing them into the UJC community, where they will be mentored by expert leaders in the nonprofit and entrepreneurial fields. Over the course of two years, the SJA provides up to five individuals with the support and resources to turn their vision for social change into a reality.
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The five SJA projects are:
Groundwork Legal: is building a civil rights organization that challenges government systems through litigation, policy reform, and public accountability.
Health Justice Initiative: addressing health inequities through legal services, community education, and systems advocacy.
Redo.io: creating technology that helps public defenders use the California Racial Justice Act at scale across all 58 counties.
Revival: reimagining consumer debt relief by putting tools traditionally used by debt buyers into the hands of borrowers.
South Brooklyn Sanctuary: building a model that combines legal defense, community sanctuary, and operational excellence.
What the SJA provides:
- Fiscal Sponsorship: UJC provides fiscal sponsorship for initiatives that are not yet separately incorporated and/or do not have their 501(c)(3) status.
- Back Office Support: Assistance with accounting, finance, payroll, human resources, and benefits.
- Organizational Development Support: Coaching and training to help build, test, and launch newr initiatives.
- An Extensive Network: Expert guidance from UJC’s extensive network of mentors, consultants, and colleagues, as well as connections to external advisors and potential partners.
- Community: Access to a wider ecosystem of social impact organizations, and the opportunity for collaboration with UJC’s other awardees and anchor projects.
- Space to Work: Free office space in UJC’s downtown Manhattan office, including access to free printing, faxing, postage, office supplies, and conference rooms.
- For Projects based outside of NYC, the SJA provides travel and accommodations to NYC two-three times a year, to participate with the full cohort in person.
“We’re in a real moment to address some of our country’s most pressing issues: racism, police brutality, climate change, healthcare access, vitriolic partisanship, extreme wealth disparities, and more. We’ve recruited bold leaders with vision and solutions to seemingly intractable problems.”
– Brooke Richie-Babbage, Director, Social Justice Accelerator
The SJA grows out of our decades-long history of incubating and supporting organizations that stand with marginalized communities, fight for inclusive communities, and push for transformative system-level change.
Watch the video below to find out more about the SJA, or scroll down to see the bios of key SJA staff, and information on previous SJA classes.
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HEAR FROM OUR SJA GRADUATES
The best way to measure the success of the program is to hear from our graduates!
SUPPORT OUR SOCIAL JUSTICE ACCELERATOR
Invest in the social justice leaders of tomorrow and help us incubate ground-breaking projects
Key SJA Staff
Doug Lasdon: Executive Director, UJC
Doug Lasdon launched the UJC as a one-person operation in a burned-out building in East Harlem. In addition to leading the UJC and spearheading the Social Justice Accelerator, Doug is an Adjunct Professor at the Cornell Law School, teaching Poverty Law and Social Entrepreneurship and mentoring students on launching their own social justice projects. He was previously an Adjunct Professor New York University. Doug has served as a consultant to the World Bank, and as a Wasserstein Fellow at Harvard Law School.
Brooke Richie-Babbage: Director, Social Justice Accelerator
Brooke Richie-Babbage is an organizational design and social impact strategy advisor and consultant. Brooke is also an Adjunct Professor of nonprofit leadership and social innovation at the Baruch Graduate School of Public Affairs, as well as the Director of Impact Network Initiatives at the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation. Brooke has been a nonprofit leader, social entrepreneur, social impact strategist, and lawyer at social change organizations for the past 21 years. She has advised and presented papers at law schools throughout the country, and has served on and Chaired multiple nonprofit boards. She is a graduate of Harvard Law, an Echoing Green Finalist, and a Harvard Law School Wasserstein Fellow.
Kristin Jamberdino: UJC Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel
Kristin currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Bronx Documentary Center and on the Professional Board of Sundara Fund’s RISE 100 initiative. She is a graduate of Canisius College and Columbia Law School, where she was an Executive Editor of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review. Prior to joining UJC, Kristin served as a partner at Nixon Peabody LLP, litigating matters addressing corporate governance, real estate, and intellectual property issues. She also focused on the development and retention of associates, and addressed human resources issues with respect to attorneys and staff. Her primary pro bono work involved advocating on behalf of unaccompanied minors in Immigration and Family Court matters. Kristin is grateful to be supporting UJC’s incredible team as they do the hard work of effectuating change and providing direct relief in the communities they serve.
SJA 2022-2024 Midpoint Assessment
After one year in the program, our current SJA class has had incredible successes – read all about them in this midterm assessment report.
SJA in review
Check out the incredible successes of our previous classes of Social Justice Accelerator fellows.
