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ABOUT DEMOCRACY FELLOWS

The Democracy Fellows Program is an intensive, yearlong leadership development program designed to empower residents in the city of Buffalo with the skills and resources required to drive organizations and institutions toward equity, inclusion, and long-term systems change. Democracy Fellows will receive in-class instruction on myriad community-based skills, in addition to working directly in the community, to develop a community-based project that will be presented at the end of the fellowship.

Fellows will use innovative strategies and community-building tactics to develop one policy report, community program, training module, or artistic or documentary video that will help create lasting impact in Buffalo. Fellows will commit 25-30 hours a month toward completing their project.

In addition to the one year commitment of the intensive Democracy Fellows Program, the 2017 inaugural class will commit to serving as an ongoing advisory committee that help to shape future classes of democracy fellows.

The ideal candidates will be passionate leaders with in-depth knowledge of systemic issues that impact communities. Democracy Fellows will be selected based on demonstrated leadership skills, with a minimum of two years experience in social change work, and ability to perform as intersectional movement thinkers. The ideal fellow has a strong track record of community and coalition building and can work to connect different racial and socioeconomic constituencies.

We value inclusion and diversity in our movement, therefore, people of color, women, LGBTQI individuals, people with disabilities and formerly incarcerated people are strongly encouraged to apply.

TUITION

If selected, a Democracy Fellow will receive a $25,000 scholarship. The scholarship covers the cost of the program and a $12,000 stipend directly to the fellow to cover expenses related to carrying out their project.

HOW TO APPLY

To apply, please complete this online application form, which includes identifying the people who will be submitting your two references.

Note: The application is an online submission form. If you would like to save the application questions to prepare your answers ahead of time, you can do so by downloading this PDF.

We expect the full application to take approximately 2 hours to complete.

If you have any questions about the application or the Open Buffalo Democracy Fellows Program, please contact the Open Buffalo Executive Director, Franchelle Hart, at Franchelle@openbuffalo.org at or 716-243-8777 EXT 101.