2022 National Hometown Fellowship

1.  Placement & Community Venture. Fellows are placed in a paid, full-time position in which they work on a critical challenge alongside an existing community leader in their hometown or home state. Working together for 35 hours per week, the placement serves as an “apprenticeship” in leadership and local service for the Fellow within a nonprofit or local government. Outside of the leadership apprenticeship, Fellows begin their service with a community-wide listening tour. Fellows talk with community members from all walks of life to understand the challenges, assets, and opportunities of their community. Following the listening tour, each Fellow will be responsible for launching a community venture––a project of the Fellow’s choosing that addresses a critical challenge they have identified. Previous Fellows have done everything from getting elected to their local nonpartisan City Commission to launching a nonprofit that raised more than $18M to serve their community. As AmeriCorps service members, all Fellows will receive a $30,000 stipend for the year, and a $6,345 Education Award upon completion of the Fellowship.
2.  Training and Fellowship Experiences. All Fellows will attend a ten-day pre-service training in Washington, DC where they will learn about American history, the most significant challenges facing our country today, how to build bridges across lines of difference, and how to be an effective leader in the community they call home. This will include off-site visits to rural and urban environments, historic sites like Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and Shenandoah National Park, as well as the White House, Capitol Hill, and museums and monuments across Washington, DC. Fellows will have the opportunity to meet leaders from across sectors, including members of Congress, leaders in foreign and domestic policy, distinguished academics, and more. Throughout the course of the Fellowship, Fellows will also attend further retreats and training. This will include a visit to Wichita and Dodge City, Kansas (home to the Kansas Leadership Center and Lead For America’s headquarters), as well as a “Fellow exchange” in which Fellows will complete a ten-day (five days in each location) “home and home” experience with a member of their Fellowship cohort serving in a community very different from their own. At the end of the Fellowship, Fellows will come together for a graduation summit in Washington, DC, where their accomplishments will be celebrated and they will meet and inspire the incoming cohort of Fellows. All travels, housing, meals, and miscellaneous costs associated with Fellow programming will be covered by Lead For America in full.
3.  Mentorship and Fellow Advising. Each Fellow will have access to a network of their state’s, and our country’s, most exceptional leaders across the fields of politics, government, nonprofit, business, and more who will support Fellows in their personal and professional development. Lead For America’s staff and team of Fellowship advisors will also support Fellows in their career discernment and growth as moral and dynamic leaders, including providing advice on their community venture, how to navigate interpersonal challenges, and what paths each Fellow might consider post-Fellowship. Each Fellow will be free to choose their mentors but is asked to build at least one professional relationship with a mentor from a different ideological background.
4.  Alumni Support. For LFA, alumni success looks like every Fellow continuing to serve their hometown or home state and advancing into the highest levels of leadership and public responsibility, while maintaining a strong moral compass and a commitment to working across lines of difference where possible. Each of the benefits that LFA provides to alumni––from training on how to launch social ventures or serve in public office, to graduate scholarship opportunities––is aligned with keeping Fellows in their communities long-term, and to fostering lifelong friendships amongst people from very different backgrounds and belief systems.
5.  Friendship. Friendship is fundamental to personal fulfillment, but we also believe it is the most powerful tool for bridging divides in our country. Lead For America’s co-founders came together across different backgrounds and political beliefs and want the Fellowship to leave each Fellow with lifelong relationships with people different from them, too. The training, retreats, mentorship, and alumni opportunities are all designed to leave Fellows with a network of the nation’s most outstanding young leaders who, together, are committed to bringing a moral, dynamic, and bridge-building leadership ethic to lifelong public service.

What is the application process for the National Hometown Fellowship?

1.  Eligibility Quiz. A few "yes or no" questions to ensure you are eligible for the Fellowship before filling out our full application. 
2.  Submit your application. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, so you will hear if you are moving forward within a few weeks of your submission.
3. Phone Call. Some candidates will be asked to schedule a 15-minute phone call with a member of our staff to elaborate on the materials shared in their application. This phone call is a necessary step before becoming a Finalist. 
4.  Finalist: 30-45 Minute Interview. Every Fellow will be interviewed by a panel of Lead For America staff and distinguished community members. The interview is designed to be challenging. Panelists will ask questions to better understand a prospective Fellow’s vision for their communities, their future aspirations, and how they would respond to critical leadership challenges they might face over the course of their Fellowship and public service career.
5. Optional Nominations. Before their interview, candidates have the option to submit up to three (3) nominations from local community leaders that highlight their desire and qualifications to become an LFA Fellow. 
6.  Endorsed Finalist: Match with a Host. As an Endorsed Finalist, you have been selected by LFA to become a Fellow within our 2022 cohort! We then work with you to identify and contact at least three potential host organizations in your community that might serve as your host. For each interested host organization, LFA and the Endorsed Finalist will work to, (1) build/confirm a project scope, and (2) secure funding. Overall, this is a challenging process that offers Endorsed Finalists the benefit and opportunity to be creative and entrepreneurial in co-creating their Fellowship experience. 
7.  Confirmed Fellow. Once your host organization is confirmed on both sides, you will officially be named a Fellow. 

Who is the ideal National Hometown Fellowship candidate?

Benefits of the National Hometown Fellowship

• Fully paid 10-day Pre-Service training in Washington D.C. at the beginning of your fellowship.
• Fully paid 3+ day leadership training and retreat with your cohort in Kansas.
• Fully paid Fellow Exchange experience, where Fellows visit and learn from other members of their cohort.
• Fully paid 2+ day in-person graduation ceremony and summit in Washington, DC.
• Regular virtual trainings and plenary conversations.
• Past training partners include Harvard Kennedy School, UNC School of Government, Urban Rural Action, Community Renewal International, Tisch College of Civic Life, and leaders such as Shreveport (LA) Mayor Adrian Perkins, author, and AEI Senior Fellow Ti Carney, Acting Chief Executive Officer of AmeriCorps Mal Coles, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Amanda Nguyen.

• Monthly calls with an LFA Fellow Advisor to ensure you are meeting your professional and personal goals and planning for the future.
• An Employee Assistance Program that provides legal, financial, tax, and mental health resources.
• A hand-selected, local mentor who is a leader in their field, tailored to each Fellow’s personal aspirations.

• Segal AmeriCorps Education Award - Fellows will earn $6,345 in scholarship funding for every 1,700 hours of service (one program year) that can be applied to current educational expenses or to repay qualified student loans. Learn more here. Note this scholarship is taxable and a person cannot earn more than the aggregate value of two, full-time education awards.
• Alumni graduate scholarships to a growing list of top MPA and MPP schools, including the Fels Institute at the University of Pennsylvania and the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown.
• Grants of up to $5,000 for alumni to launch entrepreneurial initiatives to serve their community.
• A lifelong community of some of the most talented, passionate, and dynamic leaders in the country.

• A $30,000 taxable stipend.
• Health Care Reimbursements - The opportunity for medical premium reimbursements. Reimbursements fully cover Bronze plans, and up to $386/month for Silver, Gold, or Platinum plans.To be eligible, the health care plan must meet Minimum Essential Coverage requirements and Fellows must pay directly for their own insurance costs (not paying a spouse or family member).

About Lead For America

Learn More & Contact Us