The Winter 2021 recipients of the Opportunity Fellowship are: Rosana Maris Arias ’23, Rachel D’Agui ’22, Michael Espinosa ’21, Abi Lopez ’22, Anastasiia Malenko ’23, Jeong Shin ’23, and Jordan Ratsirarson ’24. Click here to read their bios and check out their work.
Click here to support the longevity of this program with a donation.
About this Program
Accessibility of The Daily has been a longstanding issue. The data uncovered by our Vol. 257 Demographics survey revealed a significant lack of socioeconomic diversity among our Daily staff: Less than half of our staff receives financial aid from the University, and only 9% consider themselves to be first-generation college students. Nearly 80% of staff respondents reported that the would classify themselves as either “Highest tax brackets,” “High income,” or “Upper middle class.” Currently, the diversity of The Daily’s staff does not represent the diversity of the community we seek to cover (in this and other respects). This is a problem.
Furthermore, the time demands that students take on in order to contribute to the organization can often present a barrier to entry for students from lower-income backgrounds who may need to work demanding part-time jobs to support themselves and/or their families.
Using an excess $15,000 we had left over from another scholarship fund, we established the Opportunity Fellowship in 2021 to help alleviate these barriers to entry.
The $1,000 Stanford Daily Opportunity Fellowship is awarded each quarter to Daily staff members who want to spend more time on The Daily, but who may face financial obstacles to doing so. This purpose of this fellowship is to replace the need of a student to take paid work that would make the Daily inaccessible to them, thereby creating pathways for more students with financial need to contribute to The Daily.
The 2021 winter quarter pilot launch of this fellowship is a step toward The Daily’s goal of offering financial aid to all members with need.
We’ve started this pilot with a very small pool of fundraising, and would love to be able to keep it going in future years. To donate directly and support the future of this fellowship, please click here and designate your gift to the Opportunity Fellowship. Thank you!
