Are you an early-career leader ready to make a bigger impact in your community? The Rising Leaders for Results Fellowship 2026 offers a fully funded chance to build skills and networks. This 21-month program from the Annie E. Casey Foundation targets professionals aged 24 to 31 who work on issues facing children, youth, families, and communities with few resources.
About the Rising Leaders for Results Fellowship
The Rising Leaders for Results Fellowship supports the foundation’s Thrive by 25 initiative. This effort helps young people gain the tools, connections, and chances they need for success in school, jobs, and life. Young leaders from across the U.S. helped shape this program, the first Results Count leadership effort for those aged 24 to 31.
It aids people who lead community projects, form partnerships, shape policy, create social solutions, or work across fields to help those in need. Fellows often come from areas like education, public policy, community growth, youth support, arts, social justice, nonprofits, or civic work.
What Makes This Fellowship Unique
Most leadership programs stick to classroom ideas. The Rising Leaders for Results Fellowship focuses on real-life use. Fellows take their own work challenges into the program and solve them with new tools, coaching, and group learning.
It views leadership in two ways. First, as an inner skill to build self-knowledge and better habits. Second, as an outer skill to handle groups, systems, partners, and tough social issues. This mix lets fellows use lessons right away in their jobs.
Fellowship Duration and Structure
The program lasts 21 months with seminars, engagements, and group work.
Applied Leadership Work
Fellows pick a key challenge from their job as their main focus. They improve it through coaching, peer talks, seminars, reflection, and tests. This leads to real progress during the fellowship.
In-Person Seminars and Virtual Sessions
Fellows join intense in-person events, online workshops, strategy talks, and group discussions. These build skills in leadership, planning, talking, teamwork, and fixing big problems. Travel to other places adds new views on communities.
Coaching and Peer Learning
Each fellow gets one-on-one coaching, small group sessions, peer input, and shared learning. This aids reflection, better choices, fresh ideas, quick feedback, and stronger skills.
Between-Session Engagement
Learning goes on with online coaching, practice tasks, peer contact, and follow-ups. This keeps growth steady over the full time.
Faculty Site Visits
Faculty visit fellows at their workplaces to watch leadership in action, see challenges, link lessons to daily work, and give custom advice. This makes support very practical.
Build Your Own Experience
Fellows create a personal plan for growth that fits their goals. This lets them chase unique learning paths.
Network and Community Building
The program builds lasting ties with cohort members, experts, leaders, policy makers, and others. These links last beyond the fellowship.
Fellowship Goals
Fellows gain skills to lead with results, focus on fairness, change systems, and work with communities. They learn to rally people, fight unfair gaps, handle complex setups, push fair results, use tools well, and create lasting change.
Commitment to Equity and Justice
The fellowship stresses how race, identity, systems, and unfair structures affect communities. Fellows study gaps, barriers, unequal chances, and local issues. They build real plans to fix them in their roles.
Organizational Benefits
Fellows bring fresh tools and ideas back to their groups. This boosts teamwork, goals, and community work. Bosses must support time off for events and applying new skills at work.
Financial Support and Coverage
The foundation pays for main costs like travel, hotels, meals, and materials during events. Extra help covers childcare, access needs, or custom resources. No money worries block participation.
Why You Should Apply
This fellowship speeds up growth with full funding, a national network, coaching, real-world practice, career boosts, cross-field work, fairness training, and system change skills. For those set on community change, it marks a key career step.
Application Deadline
Submit by July 6, 2026, at 5 p.m. EDT. Apply here. For details, check this page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is eligible for the Rising Leaders for Results Fellowship 2026?
Professionals aged 24 to 31 who work on issues for children, youth, families, and underserved communities in fields like education, public policy, or nonprofits.
What does the fellowship program include?
It features 21 months of applied leadership work, in-person seminars, virtual sessions, one-on-one coaching, peer learning, site visits, and network building.
Is the fellowship fully funded?
Yes, the Annie E. Casey Foundation covers travel, hotels, meals, materials, and extra needs like childcare or accessibility support.
When is the application deadline for the 2026 fellowship?
Submit your application by July 6, 2026, at 5 p.m. EDT.
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