Rising Leaders for Results Fellowship

The Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion is pleased to announce a lead­er­ship devel­op­ment pro­gram for lead­ers ages 24 to 31 who are work­ing to improve the life tra­jec­to­ry of chil­dren and their fam­i­lies most at risk for poor edu­ca­tion­al, eco­nom­ic, social and health out­comes. Emerg­ing lead­ers, espe­cial­ly peo­ple of col­or, who are advo­cat­ing for and sup­port­ing neigh­bor­hoods and com­mu­ni­ties where needs are the great­est and resources are few are encour­aged to apply.

The Ris­ing Lead­ers for Results Fel­low­ship is a 21-month, mul­ti-ses­sion pro­gram that pro­vides oppor­tu­ni­ties to lead­ers ear­ly in their careers to sharp­en and deep­en their lead­er­ship skills, expand their hori­zons, advo­cate for them­selves and grow their net­works to accel­er­ate their impact now and over the arc of their careers.

Back­ground

In Jan­u­ary 2021, the Foun­da­tion announced its 10-year tar­get­ed invest­ment to improve the well-being and prospects of youth and young adults, called Thrive by 25. Its focus is to make sure all young peo­ple have the fam­i­ly con­nec­tions, rela­tion­ships, com­mu­ni­ties and edu­ca­tion­al and employ­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties they need to real­ize their true potential.

Thrive by 25 has intro­duced us to young lead­ers who are already work­ing in non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions and gov­ern­men­tal agen­cies, lead­ing move­ments, pur­su­ing entre­pre­neurism and using their voic­es and tal­ents in cre­ative ways. They are mak­ing pos­i­tive change in com­mu­ni­ty life, edu­ca­tion, pub­lic pol­i­cy, com­mu­ni­ca­tions and arts and cul­ture — and advanc­ing equi­ty and justice.

The Foun­da­tion and its part­ners devel­oped the Ris­ing Lead­ers for Results Fel­low­ship in response to expres­sions of inter­est from young lead­ers for build­ing results- and equi­ty-dri­ven lead­er­ship skills ear­ly in their careers.

Results and Pur­pose of the Ris­ing Lead­ers for Results Fellowship

The Ris­ing Lead­ers for Results Fel­low­ship seeks to make an invest­ment ear­ly on in young lead­ers’ careers by prepar­ing them to pow­er­ful­ly take up their role as results-dri­ven and equi­ty-focused lead­ers. To this end, par­tic­i­pants in the pro­gram will:

• deep­en their skills, will and capac­i­ty to ignite action with oth­ers to advance and achieve equi­table outcomes;
• build the nec­es­sary ​“back­pack” of lead­er­ship com­pe­ten­cies, tools, expe­ri­ences and rela­tion­ships to use in their cur­rent roles and to sup­port their lead­er­ship growth and devel­op­ment over time;
• address cur­rent lead­er­ship chal­lenges that are get­ting in the way of achiev­ing equi­table results; and
• share their knowl­edge, life expe­ri­ences, curios­i­ty and aspi­ra­tions with a net­work of peers and sea­soned lead­ers for mutu­al sup­port, con­sul­ta­tion and cross-sec­tor learning.

Key Com­po­nents of the Ris­ing Lead­ers for Results Fellowship

The pro­gram will bring togeth­er a cohort of 12 young lead­ers, ages 24 to 31, who are already work­ing on behalf of their com­mu­ni­ties, to form a pow­er­ful learn­ing com­mu­ni­ty. Ele­ments of the pro­gram include the following:

• Eight sem­i­nars and a boost­er ses­sion over 21 months that deep­en par­tic­i­pants’ com­pe­ten­cies; expand their think­ing espe­cial­ly around equi­ty and strat­e­gy devel­op­ment; and explore and sup­port their lead­er­ship aspirations.
  • See the Ris­ing Lead­ers for Results Fel­low­ship cal­en­dar for sem­i­nar dates and locations.
  • Note that the sem­i­nars are held approx­i­mate­ly every two months to allow ade­quate time between sem­i­nars to apply new skills and advance work.
• The iden­ti­fi­ca­tion of an orga­ni­za­tion­al or lead­er­ship chal­lenge or result that will become the focus of each par­tic­i­pants’ applied learn­ing and action dur­ing the program.
  • Work on this chal­lenge or result will take place pri­mar­i­ly ​“back home” between sem­i­nars and be refined dur­ing sem­i­nars as well as through fac­ul­ty coach­ing calls and peer con­sul­ta­tion. Par­tic­i­pants will enlist part­ners back home to help move the nee­dle on this work.
• Indi­vid­ual and small-group coach­ing by fac­ul­ty and peer-to-peer-con­sul­ta­tion with oth­er participants.
• Webi­na­rs and small-group skill-build­ing calls between sem­i­nars that deep­en learn­ing and connection.
• A site vis­it by a fac­ul­ty member.
• Net­work­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties with sea­soned leaders.
• The devel­op­ment of a cus­tomized lead­er­ship plan, called ​“Build Your Own Expe­ri­ence,” which per­mits the pur­suit of indi­vid­u­al­ized lead­er­ship devel­op­ment activities.

Bring­ing Val­ue to Their Organizations

Par­tic­i­pants will gain sharp­ened skills, net­work build­ing, coach­ing, reflec­tion time and more from this expe­ri­ence, and their orga­ni­za­tions will ben­e­fit as well. Par­tic­i­pants will bring the tools and skills of the pro­gram back into their orga­ni­za­tions, apply them in real time to their jobs and enlist their col­leagues and stake­hold­ers in achiev­ing accel­er­at­ed results. To this end, par­tic­i­pants MUST have the sup­port of their employ­ing orga­ni­za­tions, and specif­i­cal­ly of their super­vi­sor, to use work time to par­tic­i­pate in the pro­gram and to attend all sem­i­nars and oth­er pro­gram activ­i­ties. Self-employed or oth­er appli­cants in unique employ­ment arrange­ments should con­tact Bar­bara Squires with questions.

Foun­da­tion Support

The Casey Foun­da­tion funds the cost of pro­gram par­tic­i­pa­tion, including:

• trav­el to and from pro­gram sem­i­nars, includ­ing trav­el-relat­ed expenses;
• meals dur­ing seminars;
• lodg­ing dur­ing seminars;
• mate­ri­als; and
• stipend toward child­care sup­port dur­ing sem­i­nars, if needed.

Addi­tion­al­ly, the Foun­da­tion will pro­vide $8,000 over time in the form of unre­strict­ed grant funds to each participant’s orga­ni­za­tion as an acknowl­edg­ment of the sup­port of the orga­ni­za­tion for this invest­ment in the ris­ing leader. For par­tic­i­pants who are self-employed, the Foun­da­tion will pro­vide $8,000 over their time in the pro­gram, rec­og­niz­ing that pro­gram par­tic­i­pa­tion may con­flict with some income-gen­er­at­ing opportunities.