Children and Family Fellowship
Helping distressed communities become places that foster strong, capable families is a complex challenge. One of the key challenges is strengthening the child welfare, education, mental health, and other public systems charged with serving children and their families.
We believe that one essential step toward supporting these child and family services systems is developing individuals to lead institutions and systems toward improving outcomes for disadvantaged children and families. Acting on this conviction, we created the Children and Family Fellowship, an 18-month leadership development program for accomplished professionals. The Fellowship explicitly strives to increase the pool of leaders with the vision and ability to frame and sustain major system reforms and community capacity-building initiatives that benefit large numbers of children and families.
A complement to our existing programs and funding strategies, the Fellowship represents an important investment in the future of the human services field—and in the futures of our most vulnerable children.
Fellowship Goals
Broaden Vision - Fellows deepen their convictions about the possibility of and pathways to improved outcomes for disadvantaged children, fragile families, and disinvested neighborhoods. Fellows expand their understanding of the key role families play in determining their own destiny.
Expand Knowledge - Fellows learn about innovative programs, policies, practices, and powerful strategies that are strengthening communities and families.
Enhance Leadership Capacity - Fellows hone their technical skills, deepen their formal knowledge, expand their ability to think strategically, and increase their self-awareness — all critical aspects of successful leadership.
Enlarge Networks - Fellows gain exposure to new people, programs, and ideas that challenge their thinking and assumptions. This network-building also helps Fellows develop relationships that will be important resources as they progress through their careers.
Increase Confidence - Fellows build the considerable courage required to take on challenging career paths and lead significant change initiatives.
Fellows Network
The Casey Fellows are members of a network who are committed to strengthening families, to building communities, and to challenging and transforming systems. The network is designed to support relationships among the fellows, to maximize the fellowship experiences, and to contribute significantly to sustained movements to improve outcomes for poor children, families, and communities.