Leadership for Democracy and Social Justice
a CUNY Institute

Emerging Leaders Fellowship

Based in Texas

 

Leadership for Democracy and Social Justice (LDSJ) is pleased to launch the Fall 2024 Emerging Leaders Fellowship application cycle. To learn more about the Institute for Leadership for Democracy and Social Justice, please visit our website. Apply here by May 5, 2024 at 11:59pm ET.

The challenges of our times – from racial justice to climate change, economic inequality to health equity, gender justice to LGBTQ+ rights – can only be met by strong, diverse, grounded, and revolutionary leaders who are capable of developing imaginative, innovative, creative, and scalable solutions to achieve social justice.

The Emerging Leaders Fellowship is a semester-long program designed for organizers building power in community organizations, labor unions, or advocacy groups. It begins in August 2024 and concludes in December 2024.

This program serves organizers in their first few (1-3) years of managing staff, a coalition, or a campaign, or experienced organizers that have not received substantive formal training. This fellowship is a unique investment: fellows will gain theoretical grounding and practical experience to help deepen their understanding of their social justice work and become more effective agents of change.

The fellowship includes three mandatory components:

• A semester-long academic course on the history and theories of past U.S. social movements that meets virtually each week
• Two weeklong, in-person retreats focused on power and strategy, management and leadership philosophies, and personal sustainability
• A suite of workshops, 1-1 coaching, and mentorship from our career services team

We strongly encourage leaders that identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC), working-class, immigrant, LGBTQIA+, disabled, and other historically marginalized identities to apply.

To Apply:
Apply here by May 5, 2024 by 11:59pm ET. Applicants who apply by May 5, 2024 at 11:59 ET will receive priority. The final deadline is May 19, 2024 by 11:59pm ET.

Where do I apply, and by when?
Complete this application by May 5, 2024 by 11:59pm ET. Applicants who apply by May 5, 2024 at 11:59 ET will receive priority. The final deadline is May 19, 2024 by 11:59pm ET.

What does this fellowship Include?
Academic Course
Fellows will enroll in “Social Movements,” an academic taught virtually by faculty at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies. The semester begins the week of August 28, 2024 and ends December 21, 2024. LDSJ pays all registration and tuition costs for fellows. If you are interested in reviewing the Spring 2024 syllabus, please email Bianca.

Retreats

• All fellows are required to attend two in-person week-long retreats led by movement leaders with at least a decade of experience. Retreats build community and strengthen fellows’ power analysis and strategy skills.
  • The retreat curriculum will explore:
  • Fellow’s purpose and commitment to movement work
  • Tools to make their leadership more sustainable
  • Leadership philosophies rooted in people’s power and facilitate other people’s growth
  • Assessing movement power to define or refine organizational or coalition goals
  • Leveraging political moments and innovation towards long term agendas
  • Building authentic relationships to organize across difference
  • Fellows arrive to retreats on Sunday, programming runs through Thursday evening, and fellows depart on Friday. LDSJ will cover the costs of lodging, travel, and most meals, and will share the retreat locations with fellows accepted into the program.
    • The first retreat will be Sunday Oct. 6 to Friday Oct. 11. *Friday Oct. 11 is Yom Kippur. LDSJ will accommodate a Thursday evening departure for those observing the holiday.
    • The second retreat is Sunday Dec. 8 to Friday Dec. 13.

Career Services
Fellows will have access to individualized career coaching, mentorship, and workshops to explore ways to build a strong, sustainable movement career.  In addition to individual career coaching, fellows will practice and receive peer coaching to build a supportive network of peers, work through real-time issues, practice mutual accountability and encouragement, and sharpen key leadership and communication skills.

Who is eligible?
Applicants must:

• Be over the age of 18
• Be based anywhere in the United States (including territories)
• Have a minimum of 1 year of management experience
• Want to build community around shared values and learn from their peers and movement leaders
• Commit to the academic course, two in-person retreats, and career services workshops
• Be able to secure approval and support from their organization to participate in the fellowship

This program serves organizers building power in unions, community organizations, and advocacy organizations. We are specifically looking for people with a few (1-3) years of experience managing staff, a coalition, or a campaign, or experienced organizers that have not received substantive formal training. They many be in roles such as but not limited to:

• Organizer, lead or senior organizer, or organizing manager
• Campaign coordinator, director
• Coalition organizer, coordinator, or manager

What are we looking for in candidates? Who is an ideal Emerging Leader Fellow?
Read more about our current cohort of Emerging Leaders here.  LDSJ strongly encourages BIPOC, LGBTQ+, women and gender queer people, working class, and immigrant applicants to apply.

Ideal candidates:

• Are actively employed
• Are developing goals related to their movement work
• Are eager to strengthen their power analysis and strategy skills
• Want to improve their personal sustainability to remain in movement work long term
• Need support navigating career challenges and/or transitions

What did past fellows get out of this fellowship?
Read about current Emerging Leader fellows here. Past Emerging leaders have said this fellowship:

• Provided them with theoretical and historical grounding in social movements
• Connected them to a community of support and learning
• Gave them the space to questions, explore and strengthen their approach to organizing and their values
• Provided the language they needed to express what they already knew they were good at, and guided direction for how to build that out and apply it
• Centered them in both the fact that they want to remain in movement and the ways they want to show up in movement
• Helped them define their role within movement work
• Reinforced that through community we can transform themselves and society
• Encouraged them to practice leadership skills in real time
• Stressed the importance of strategy, delegation, and cross issue connections

What happens after I apply?
LDSJ will notify applicants selected to interview via email by the end of May 2024. Applicants will interview via Zoom in June 2024. Applicants selected for the Fall 2024 cohort will be notified via email by the end of June 2024.

How much does this fellowship cost?
Applicants do not have to pay to apply or participate in the fellowship. Their employers or host organizations will be asked to make a contribution on a sliding scale. Contributions are suggested – not mandatory – and do not carry weight in the application or interview process. We have robust scholarships available to all applicants.

• Organizations with an annual budget of $5+ million = suggested amount of $750 per participant
• Organizations with an annual budget between $2-5 million = suggested amount of $550 per participant
• Organizations with an annual budget less than a $2 million = suggested amount of $350 per participant