

Staying Local, Leading Change: Garden State Fellows Make a Mark in New Jersey Policy
After graduating from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, many students land in far-flung places, launching careers in public policy all over the globe. But some are finding that staying put right here in the Garden State offers them exposure to some of the most pressing policy matters of the moment and a chance to impact local communities.
As sweeping cuts at the federal level shifted the focus of policy action to the state and local level this year, the inaugural cohort of Garden State Fellows found opportunities to conduct research, lobby policymakers on behalf of immigrant communities, develop campaigns on civil rights, and advance efforts to increase affordable and sustainable housing in the state.
“With the Garden State Fellowship, Princeton SPIA has created an opportunity for talented and ambitious graduates to apply the skills they learned at Princeton and to acquire new ones all right here in New Jersey, our own backyard,” said Anastasia R. Mann, a Princeton SPIA lecturer and founding director of SPIA in NJ, which oversees the fellowship.
After a competitive application process, SPIA in NJ recently announced the 2025 fellows. Kimberly Cross ’25 is an African American studies graduate interested in education, criminal and social justice, and immigration. Hiba Siddiki ’25 is a Princeton SPIA graduate interested in education, housing, poverty, and social welfare. They will be placed at organizations next month.
Here’s what the outgoing fellows have accomplished thus far:
Lauren Aung ’24, American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey
As a politics major at Princeton, Lauren Aung had the opportunity to learn about racial organizing at the ground level when she spent time at George Floyd Square in Minnesota. That spurred an interest in social change and racial equity that led her to apply for the Garden State Fellowship.
“I liked that it was a state-level fellowship, which gave me an opportunity to be closer to the ground,” she explained. “There's a lot of sheen and shine put on federal and international work, but there's a lot of opportunity for change on a state and local level.”
At the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey (ACLU-NJ), Aung started off conducting research before getting involved in campaign planning. Her proudest accomplishment was researching and designing a campaign on state-level legislation related to policing.
Aung has received and accepted a return offer allowing her to stay at the ACLU-NJ for an additional year once the fellowship ends. After that, she hopes to become a lawyer and provide legal assistance to social movements.
“I feel very grateful to have had time to learn about all the different paths I could take, and all the different ways that people are making change, so that I could figure out how my skillsets and passions fit into that,” she said.
Madison Linton ’24, New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice
Madison Linton thought that her yearlong fellowship at the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice would consist mostly of research and analysis to help the policy team. But within the first week of her fellowship, that plan went out the window. When the federal government signaled that Newark’s Delaney Hall detention facility would reopen, the Alliance stepped up its efforts on behalf of New Jersey’s immigrant communities.
Linton started leading the organization’s lobbying efforts in Trenton. She also co-facilitates and co-leads the Alliance’s campaign calls. Like Aung, Linton has received a full-time job offer to stay on after the fellowship wraps up.
“I’m very, very happy that [the Alliance] trusted me enough, and I proved my competency enough to be able to be given this type of role in the organization,” she said.
Linton thought she’d be working at the international level when she graduated with a Princeton SPIA major last year. But the ability to focus on immigration issues in her home state was appealing, and she feels passionate about seeing the work through.
“I definitely think that this experience provides a very strong foundation for international NGO work due to the nature of how we strategize with policy,” she said. “The need right now is within my community.”
Olivia Ragan ’24, Fair Share Housing Center
As an undergraduate student at Princeton SPIA, Olivia Ragan knew one thing for sure: She wanted to work on domestic policy. She explored different policy areas and became interested in housing and land use. Given the unaffordability of housing around the United States, Ragan sensed there was momentum to enact policies that address housing shortages and create more affordable housing.
That interest led her to pursue a fellowship at the Fair Share Housing Center, a nonprofit advocacy organization that seeks to increase access to affordable housing in New Jersey.
Ragan started in a communications role but shifted to litigation and events planning, which she realized she likes better. She is helping review housing proposals that New Jersey towns have developed to address affordable housing, and she plans to stay on when her fellowship ends to continue that work through the end of the year.
“It’s been so useful, in the way that college and undergrad can’t be, in figuring out the day-to-day and what I like and don’t like,” she said. “As a student, I didn’t know the range of jobs that existed that matched up with my interests.”
The fellowship offered an opportunity to learn about how policy advocacy works at an organization like Fair Share Housing Center, and Ragan said that wouldn’t have been possible without the fellowship.
“These organizations usually don’t have the resources to take on people straight out of undergrad,” she noted.
From Left to Right: Hiba Siddiki '25, Olivia Ragan '24, Madison Linton '24, Kimberly Cross '25, Lauren Aung '24
Photo by Charles R. Plohn/Fotobuddy