About

Housed within the School of Design Strategies at Parsons School of Design within The New School, The Parsons Scholars Institute currently comprises two social justice and mentorship programs called the Parsons Scholars Program and the Parsons Scholars Mentor Fellowship. Since 1997, these programs work in tandem as vital access initiatives that seek to counterbalance barriers that students of color encounter in their pursuit of higher education and career opportunities in the fields of art and design.

PSP’s roots lead back to 1997 as a pre-college scholarship opportunity offered to 12 New York City high school students and has, since then, grown into a program that directly supports the mentorship of 72 New York City high schoolers from New York City Public Schools a year. The newly reimagined Mentor Fellowship provides matriculated undergraduates the opportunity to engage in self-designed interdisciplinary research with curated seminars incorporating social justice frameworks and the professional development of young adults. The Parsons Scholars Institute seeks to change access and persistence narratives for communities marginalized along racial and income lines via community support and radical forms of access provided to the students we serve.