Looking Forward to the Fall 2020 Fellowship: What’s Different

At FLIA, we’re excited to move forward with our fall fellowship this year. We know that it has been a really weird year with COVID-19. To that end, we’ve made several adjustments to the program and kept some parts the same. Our goal is to ensure that fellows, staff and youth at our partner organizations, and our communities stay safe.

What’s Changing?

1. Smaller Cohort

This fall, we will be hiring four fellows, down from our average of eight. This is the first time we will be holding the leadership trainings virtually, among several other changes, and we wanted to ensure that the program quality remains high.

2. Virtual Leadership Trainings

Traditionally, the fellowship starts with a one-week in-person leadership training retreat. Instead, fellows will participate in these workshops spread out over the first several weeks of the fellowship virtually. We’re excited about some of the ways that we will mimic the retreat experience!

3. Remote Co-working

Throughout the fellowship, there will be remote co-working times that fellows will log on and co-work together to foster a similar experience to working together in the same place physically.

4. Part-time or Full-time

The fellowship is now available as either part-time or full-time. As the summer fellowship was postponed, we hope that by having the part-time fellowship available, students who would have applied over summer could participate this fall. When you apply, you will select your current choice for part-time or full-time, but can change it during the hiring process if your availability changes. Part-time fellows will receive a pro-rated weekly stipend. Both full-time and part-time will work the same number of days by the end of their fellowships and therefore receive the same compensation.

5. Remote Available

With the constantly changing nature of COVID-19, we want to assure you - you will be able to complete the fellowship remotely. Depending on the status of your partner organization’s office, you may be able to work in the office socially distanced if it is your preference. However, remote working will continue to be available, even if the partner organization’s office is open.

What’s Staying the Same?

1. Remote Interviewing

During the hiring process, your interviews will be conducted remotely. At FLIA, we’ve always had the first round of interviews virtually and will continue to do so. Our partners would do a combination of remote and in-person, but will now just interview virtually.

2. Virtual Community Building Among Fellows

Since the beginning of Future Leaders in Action, we’ve taken advantage of technology to facilitate community building amongst fellows. We will continue to use Slack and video calls throughout the fellowship. We’ll also be adding to new ways to connect.

3. The Core Project

The core piece of your work will stay the same. As a FLIA fellow, you will spend most of your time working on a project identified by the partner organization. Check out the opportunities here. Partners have selected projects that can be completed remotely to ensure that you will not have to pivot your focus, even if there is a need to return to strict social distancing.

4. Support

You will receive the same support that fellows have received in the past with several additions. We’re working on adding several additional programming pieces to provide support throughout the fall, as there may be additional stressors with COVID-19.

5. Our Goal of Supporting Emerging Leaders and Youth-focused NOnprofits

Our dedication to supporting youth-focused organizations stays the same as there’s a need for consistency in youth’s lives right now. The youngest amongst us are dealing with the most upheaval and our mission has always included supporting these organizations because of what it means for the future of our country and world. Children will be experiencing a lot of firsts this fall and making sure important places in their life like Fiver Children’s Foundation, South Bronx United, Variety - the Children’s Charity, and Iowa Center for Children’s Justice are running smoothly will help reduce some of that stress. Additionally, for emerging leaders getting valuable work experience while receiving a living wage is as important as ever.

With all of the uncertainty going on in the world right now, if you have any additional questions or concerns, please email Kirsten and she will answer them. We are here to help you apply for the fellowship!

Black Lives Matter

As you all know, Future Leaders in Action has taken a hiatus, choosing to not have a cohort of follows for the Summer 2020 season as we adjust to a new world in pandemic.But staying quiet during what can only be described as a reckoning in this nation - the collective, public mourning of Black people murdered by police, the uprising and protest movement and centering of Black voices - feels wrong. Is wrong. And is antithetical to our mission of supporting the development of the next generation of nonprofit leaders.So we'll be centering Black voices and thoughts on the nonprofit world's role in this movement and its own internal reckonings that have already begun. We're proud to be a part of that.

Future Leaders, we're eager to support you and the causes you hold dear. Please share with us (through DM, email, or in response to our upcoming alumni newsletter) how you're finding a place in this movement and we'll cheer you on and amplify. To our supportive community, please share with us the initiatives and new opportunities that may be in development. Thank you all.

Paid Fellowships and Internships are Vital to Creating Equity in the Social Sector

by Yovanna Solomon, Summer ‘19

In my work with the social sector I have often observed a disconnect between the well-meaning founders of organizations and the people to whom it is these organization’s mission to serve. As is commonly the case, the underrepresentation of Black and brown people in positions of leadership is a reflection of the very same inequity that the social sector seeks to combat with programming and services. How can organizations effectively serve Black and brown people without having Black and brown people on their team? They simply cannot.

Read the entire blog here

The Privilege of Volunteering: Navigating the Mess That is Free Labor

by Kai Joy, Fall ‘19

Ultimately we need to be working towards being “accomplices” and “comrades”, we need to struggle together, to build trust in one another. Notions of the “ally” as separate from the “oppressed victim”: of the volunteer tutor as separate from the student, these dynamics defeat us all. While there may not be universal solutions or easy answers to many of these challenges and questions, I hope that thinking through this with me has at least given you the framework to think critically about outreach and volunteer management in general. I know I will be taking all of these lessons with me long after this fellowship.

Read the rest of the blog here.

Curving the School-to-Prison Pipeline Through Mindfulness
by Brittany Harris, Spring ‘18

Youth in underserved urban communities are key victims of “sleep-walking” and face risks for many stress-related outcomes, including social-emotional barriers, behavior problems, and low academic achievement. I have become increasingly interested in the intersections of school discipline, low educational attainment, and juvenile offenders. My theory is that, if more schools and community organizations educated youth on mindfulness, school suspension rates would reduce and education outcomes would increase.

Read the rest of the blog here.

An Exploration of Intrinsic Beauty

by YoVanna Solomon, Summer ‘19

It seemed only right that I create an opportunity for a group of young brown and black girls to broaden their perceptions of beauty and celebrate all that makes them beautiful. On a Wednesday afternoon, I stood in front of a group of sixteen high school and middle school girls asking them to (re)define intrinsic beauty. “When I say the word beauty what do you think of? Who do you think of? What makes us beautiful,” I asked.

Read the rest of the blog here.

Summer 2020 Fellowship Update (4/16/2020)

Dear FLIA Community,

I hope this letter finds you and those close to you safe and healthy. The past month and a half have been an extremely uncertain time for so many of us. As Future Leaders in Action announced several weeks ago, we paused recruitment to determine the best way forward with our fellowship program. Though it was an incredibly difficult decision, we have decided to postpone the program. With the current uncertainty surrounding everyday life and business, we do not believe that we would be able to provide the high-quality fellowship experience that we have proudly presented for the past five years running. We are closely monitoring COVID-19 updates to determine the new program dates.

I won’t pretend that I am not sad as each cohort of fellows has brought some of the most capable and caring individuals into my life and into the lives of our partners and their communities. However, we believe that this is the right decision for the safety of our community.

If you are interested in FLIA’s fellowship program, the best way to receive updates of the new program dates is through the fellowship updates newsletter (sign up here). Please email me if you have any questions.

Thank you,
Kirsten

Summer 2020 Fellowship Update (3/25/2020)

Dear FLIA Community,

I hope this message finds you as safe and peaceful as possible. This is an unprecedented period of uncertainty – with this in mind, we want to update you on FLIA’s summer fellowship. In light of the constantly evolving COVID-19 pandemic, we have decided to pause accepting applications for the program for three weeks, until April 15. During this time, we will continue to monitor the developments and guidelines from the Center for Disease Control, World Health Organization, and state and local governments to make an informed decision regarding our summer programs.

Our highest priority is the safety of our fellows and our community. We aim to provide a strong fellowship experience for partners and fellows; however, with the current status of the pandemic and the information we have now, it is unclear whether or not we can safely provide our fellowship experience this summer. At FLIA, we try to make the application and interview process as communicative and supportive as possible. We want to ensure those who have applied that your applications are still valid, and we will share an update with the entire FLIA community on April 16.

If you have questions, please email me at Kirsten@futureleadersinaction.org.

Sincerely,
Kirsten
Executive Director

The Perks of Being a Fellow

I was sweating in a coffee shop in Brooklyn as I frantically proofread my application for a fellowship with Future Leaders in Action. It was a sweltering summer day in June and my friend had just sent me a link to the fellowship application. I scanned the description and felt as though I had conjured up a dream listing… social sector... youth-oriented... professional development... living wage? It felt too good to be true. And it almost was -- the application was due that same day. I quickly put together my materials and hit send.

When I look back on that day in June, my main concern was my ability to gain a significant professional experience in the social sector. I had graduated a month prior and the only thing I really knew I wanted for my future was to work in the non-profit industry and that I was passionate about solving a variety of different social issues. But despite my steady social sector oriented work-study job and a handful of unpaid volunteer and internship experiences, I hadn’t had a major professional experience at a non-profit. This made the job application process especially daunting. Unlike the private and financial sectors, there aren’t a plethora of entry-level jobs available in the social sector at a given time. I was hopeful that a fellowship with Future Leaders in Action would allow me to discover more about my own capabilities while contributing to an organization whose mission I was passionate about. All of that came true and more -- beyond improving my professional skills in project management and workplace communication, I received significant preparation for the job process, resulting in two job offers before my fellowship even ended.

My experience with Future Leaders in Action has expanded way beyond the 12-week fellowship. As an alumni of FLIA, I’ve been able to grow further and broaden my skills in the social sector as well as continue to meaningfully contribute to Future Leaders in Action. I joined FLIA’s board of directors as its first alumni board member, just a year after I had attended the leadership retreat for my Fall 2018 fellowship. As a board member, I participate in quarterly board meetings regarding the organization’s growth, getting important insight into what goes into running a young, but wide-reaching non-profit organization. I am learning about things I don’t necessarily think about on a day-to-day basis including managing an organization’s budget and analyzing and understanding key performance indicators. I also have been able to further my leadership skills through my organization and facilitation of a cohort of alumni fellows to develop FLIA’s core values.

Even before my board service I’ve been able to remain engaged with my cohort, current fellows, and other alumni. The monthly alumni newsletter gives alumni a window into the goings-on and growth of FLIA, while highlighting the accomplishments of featured alumni, and opportunities in the fellowship cities. Alumni gatherings have also provided the opportunity to build and strengthen friendships and networks across cohorts.

Though I could not have predicted that just over a year later after sitting in that Brooklyn coffee shop I’d be FLIA’s first alumni board member, I am deeply grateful to the organization’s support of my professional development throughout my fellowship and after. I am appreciative of the alumni meet-ups and the fellowship presentations I’ve gotten to observe, as well as the insightful conversations I’ve held with fellow alumni over the past year, discussing our experiences at our first jobs, social issues, and future career plans. I am looking forward to our expansion of alumni opportunities and brainstorming more ways Future Leaders in Action’s alumni network can connect and remain involved.

Clare Connaughton is a Fall 2018 Future Leader in Action fellow and current alumni board member for FLIA. After completing her fellowship, Clare earned a position as a bilingual paralegal with Children’s Rights, a national organization that holds the government accountable for keeping kids safe and healthy through legal action and strategic advocacy. Learn more about Clare’s fellowship here.

Fellowship applications for Summer 2020 are open for opportunities in New York and Central Iowa. Click here to apply. Know someone who should apply for the opportunity? Thank you for forwarding this article to them!