Lucy Grimshaw

Fulbright-University of Manchester Award

Lucy Grimshaw is a data-driven activist with dual degrees in Public Policy and Social Work from the University of Missouri-Saint Louis. As a Black Woman and transracial adoptee, she brings a unique perspective to how race affects mental health and society. At 12, she read Les Misérables and was moved by its redemptive and poverty-crime correlation themes. After visiting a Haitian prison and witnessing events in her hometown of Ferguson in 2014, she became heavily involved in leading protests and equity initiatives. 

Grimshaw has interned with legal/community organizations, researched US/UK incarceration rates for her thesis, and has spoken about social/racial justice from campus-wide events to NPR. She mapped the socioeconomic inequality of The Delmar Divide, a gentrified neighborhood near her hometown, and presented her findings at her local NGA. Her Chancellor gave her the Newman Civic Fellowship, and she now works at a psychiatric rehabilitation home, aiding those affected by inequity coming out of institutions.  

While at UofM, her Criminology MRES will examine the intersection of race, poverty, and crime through a mental health and trauma-informed lens. She aims to reduce incarceration/institutionalization rates for this demographic while maintaining public safety. Grimshaw plans to volunteer with refugees, connect with British family and friends, travel, and enjoy London's theatre scene. Her goal is to become a civil rights lawyer with a JD/PH.D. degree, empowering these marginalized communities through empathy, hope, and redemption.