Fellowship
Are you passionate about social justice? Do you want to contribute your skills to a local nonprofit while becoming a better ally? Join our Fellowship Program!
About the Fellowship Program
The SNS Fellowship program is a ten month, part-time service program that places young professionals with local nonprofits in the DC metro area for targeted skills-based volunteer work. We foster issue-oriented allies and dynamic leaders of tomorrow through leadership training and race equity development, as Fellows engage in meaningful projects with organizations at the community level. Organizations receive a total of 100 hours of volunteer service to expand and enhance their impact.
Be a Fellow
As a Fellow, you will…
- Serve a local organization that matches your skills, interests, and desired focus area
- Gain deep insight into the vision, work, and culture of your matched non-profit organization
- Attend monthly leadership development sessions featuring local nonprofit leaders and issue-based experts leading sessions on racial equity and social justice issues
- Receive ongoing individualized race equity coaching
- Join a community of like-minded young professionals committed to racial and social justice
- Develop a Capstone Project that adds value/perspective to your host site, justice, and/or Allyship work
You should apply if you…
- Live in the DMV (Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia metro area) and have a strong interest in supporting local organizations in this area. (This Fellowship is REMOTE for the 2023 class.)
- Are interested in enhancing your specific skill set and gaining invaluable experience working with a nonprofit organization
- Are dedicated to deepening your commitment to Allyship and your understanding of race equity
- Are able to commit to 12-15 hours per month from February-December 2023 (10 hours with your host site and 2-4 hours in training and coaching sessions)
- Are between the ages of 21 and 35 at the time of submitting your application
- Are committed to being an active, inclusive, and engaged learner as a member of the cohort
What makes this Fellowship unique from other programs?
Race equity work is for everybody, regardless of your racial identity/ies. As SNS’ flagship program, what sets this Fellowship apart is that SNS leads its race equity work through a pro-Black, Black-led framework.
Throughout the ten month program, Fellows build their race equity lens through skills-based, community-centered volunteer work and racial identity and leadership development curriculum.
The cohort’s intimate and engaged community is focused on building a thoughtful, diverse group of young leaders that centers Black people and the most marginalized in society in our social justice and liberation work. By participating in this Fellowship, the personal and professional are challenged to grow together, to collaborate with others, and to contribute to building a beloved DMV community.
- Create a data visualization tool to help analyze organization data
- Develop a new social media strategy
- Research best practices to improve or expand programs
- Support fundraising through donor data analysis and/or assisting with grant opportunities
- Provide planning and outreach support for a key organization event
- Facilitate client-facing curriculum development and program restructuring
- Organize community engagement events and opportunities for community relationship-building
2023 Fellow Application Process
Overview
The 2023 Fellowship Program will be accepting 8-10 Fellows. Applicants must be between the ages of 21-35 at the time of submitting their application. Members of the BIPOC community are strongly encouraged to apply. Applicants with accessibility needs are welcome to apply and your individual needs can be discussed and addressed.
The 2023 Fellowship Program will operate remotely until conditions from the COVID-19 pandemic improve. It is strongly preferred that applicants live in the DC metro area to ensure a robust Fellowship experience when in-person activities resume.
Cost
There is a $2,500 Fellowship fee supporting the full scope of programming and development for each Fellow. Applicants are encouraged to request sponsorship from their employers. Those unable to cover programming fees through employer sponsorship, independent means, or fundraising are still encouraged to apply as there are some dedicated scholarship funds each year.
Application Timeline
- September 6 – Fellow Applications open
- February 11, 2023 – Fellowship Program Begins
Questions? Email us at info@serviceneversleeps.org
Meet Our Current Fellows
Grace Miller
Perfect, Inc
Brittany Robinson
CAIR Coalition
Cristiana Salazar
HBCU 20x20
Lilly Siems
Our Minds Matter
Previous SNS Fellow Cohorts
2022 Fellowship Class
- Margaret Chappell, Ally Theatre/Voices Unbarred
- Hannah Lee, Neighborhood Legal Services Program
- Charlotte Sackett, Our Minds Matter
- Grant Wood, Perfect, Inc
- Katie Wynne, CAIR Coalition
2021 Fellowship Class
- Abbi Bruce, Service Never Sleeps
- Allyson Fernandez Knott, Our Minds Matter
- Kate French, Common Good City Farm
- Swati Gayen, Local Motion Project
- Kerri-Ann Guyah, Offender Aid and Restoration
- Nina Lobo, The MusicianShip
- Karen Loya, Wakefield High School Cohort Program
- Sara Merlo, College Track DC
- Anwesha Nandi, Collective Action for Safe Spaces
- Cameron Nolan, SOUL - Sports For Social Change
- Katherine O'Reilly, La Cocina VA
- Caroline Roddey, Perfect, Inc.
2020 Fellowship Class
- Joshua Aurand, Common Good City Farm
- Carsen Beckwith, Collective Action for Safe Spaces
- Sam Burns, Josh Anderson Foundation
- Anna Garner, Calvary Women’s Services
- Rachel Jolie, Perfect, Inc.
- Emma Robinson, EveryoneOn
- Cara Sierks, SOUL - Sports for Social Change
- Tristan Slusser, Amara Legal Center
2019 Fellowship Class
- Andrew Chang, Free Minds Book Club
- Livi Logan-Wood, Collective Action for Safe Spaces
- Taseen Haque, Learn Serve International
- Louis Nicoletti, Learn Serve International
- Meredyth Hurlbert, Calvary Women’s Services
- Poorna Ramasubramanian, Calvery Women' Services
- Nebu Kolenchery, Everyone Home DC
Charlotte Runzel, Amara Legal Center
2018 Fellowship Class
- Sirisha Bonda, Calvary Women’s Services
- Sam Chase, Aspire Afterschool Learning
- Christina Corbett, Girls, Inc
- Elle Gault, Hack the Narrative
- Maddie Heller, DC Scores
- Nisha Chandiramani, Friends of Guest House
- Karen Chen, Collective Action for Safe Spaces
- Marcy Ewald, Hack the Narrative
- Ryan Halvorsen, Aspire Afterschool Learning
- Abby Maraya, Everyone Home DC
2017 Fellowship Class
- Natalia Oyola-Sepulveda, Collective Action for Safe Spaces
- Ishani Purohit, Empowered Women International
- Daniel Robles-Olson, Liberty's Promise
- Sakib Tauhidul, Everyone Home DC
- Alisha Anderson, Empowered Women International
- Laura Brush, Calvary Women's Services
- Min Kim, Serve Your City
- Erica Malchodi, Girls, Inc
2016 Fellowship Class
- Alexandria Blue, Girls Inc
- Alex Winter, Collective Action for Safe Spaces
- Clara Savage, Serve Your City
- Marissa Personette, Calvary Women's Services
- Lucy Montgomery, Calvary Women's Services
- Kalyn Fetta, Serve Your City
- Shane Dutka, Code of Support Foundation
- Kristen Cummings, Josh Anderson Foundation
- Jenn Brann, Collective Action for Safe Spaces
- Korrin Bishop, Everyone Home DC
- Maisha Huq, Girls Inc
Are you ready to deepen your commitment to allyship, build community with like-minded peers, and be of service to a local organization?
BE A FELLOW!
Host a Fellow
What is that project that is always out of reach that you know will improve your organization’s work, if only you had the time and skills?
As a nonprofit host site for a SNS Fellow, your organization will…
- Receive 100 hours of project-based support across 10 months at no cost to your organization
- Leverage the specialized skills of a young professional to develop new strategies and systems
- Enhance your organization’s capacity to accomplish core goals
- Foster an emerging leader’s commitment to social justice and volunteer service
You should apply to be a Host if your organization…
- Has one staff member that will serve as the Fellow’s site supervisor and who can dedicate 2-4 hours each month providing supervision and fulfilling SNS’ program communication and evaluation requirements.
- Fosters a welcoming and supportive space for the Fellow to explore, create, and contribute, which includes providing adequate training and resources.
- Is willing to work with a Fellow who will provide service hours remotely for the 2023 program year. In-person attendance at organization events and/or other meetings is permitted if site and Fellow are in agreement, though should not be required.
- Is able to collect and report data on the project and the Fellow’s impact during the year.
- Is located in the DMV metro area.
2023 Host Site Applications
Overview
The 2023 Fellowship Program will be accepting 8-10 Fellows. Fellows are young professionals between the ages of 21-35, mostly employed as consultants with local consulting firms. The Fellowship program is designed to help enhance a nonprofit’s capacity by matching a Fellow’s skills with a nonprofit’s defined need over a 10 month project (February to December). Fellows also participate in ongoing training and leadership development centered around race equity led by SNS. There is no financial cost for a host site to participate in the program.
Application Process and Timeline
The process and timeline for an organization submitting an application to be a host site for 2023 is as follows:
- All applications are due no later than November 4, 2022.
- Applicants should receive an auto confirmation that their application form has been received. Applicants will receive a status update in November after the application deadline.
- Applicants will be notified if any Fellow applicants have preliminarily matched with their organization by January 6, 2023.
- Organizations with preliminary matches will be expected to conduct short interviews and provide feedback from these interviews to SNS no later than January 23, 2023.
- Organizations that do not have matches will remain on the SNS outreach list and will be encouraged to apply again the following year.
- Organizations will be notified if they have been successfully matched with a Fellow by early February 2023. The Fellowship program officially starts on February 11.
SNS pre-screens both host site applicants and Fellow applicants before recommending possible matches to the host nonprofit. Host nonprofits then have the opportunity to have a short conversation with the candidate option(s) to help determine best fit before SNS makes an ultimate placement recommendation.
Please note that applying will offer you an opportunity to be part of the matching process and does not guarantee Fellow placement with your organization.
To download a printable flyer with the above information to share with your colleagues, click here.