Jeffrey Vazquez is a rising junior at Columbia University’s School of General Studies, majoring in Sociology, where his interests center on criminal justice reform, disability rights, educational equity, and how institutions shape access for marginalized communities. His commitment to social impact is informed by lived experience and a desire to understand how systems of inequality can be transformed. At Columbia, Jeffrey has engaged in social impact work through qualitative research and community engagement. His work spans the Beyond the Bars Fellowship at Columbia’s Center for Justice, the Movements Against Mass Incarceration oral history project, and Dreaming Beyond the Bars, a storytelling initiative exploring justice, lived experience, and public dialogue. Through the fellowship, Jeffrey hopes to bring these areas together in a collaborative space focused on social impact leadership. He also hopes to strengthen his ability to translate research, storytelling, and community knowledge into initiatives that influence policy, institutions, and public understanding.