HOW TO APPLY

Emerging Women of Color LeadStrong Fellowship  
2027 Cohort  

Deadline: Monday June 2, 2025 (5pm) 

Eligibility Criteria 

2024 African American Women LeadStrong

2024 Women of Color LeadStrong

2025 Native American and Alaska Native Women LeadStrong

We invite participants who:  

  • Are connected to the San Francisco Bay Area social sector.  

  • Work as paid, part-time to full-time (at least .8 FTE / 32 hours) staff of a organizing/movement building or direct service organization/project. 

  • Roles include, but are not limited to frontline workers, organizers, advocates, administration / operations 

  • Identify as an emerging leader – someone who nurtures their leadership capacities by being a self-starter, has agency over their own learning and growth, supports the development of others, practices tending to their own heart and needs to be of better service to their community, and uses their voices and skills for a larger community goal / vision. 

  • Demonstrate a deep commitment to self-reflection, self-analysis, self-correction in developing their skills as a leader and advocate through inner work. 

  • Demonstrate a strong commitment to showing up as their whole self while serving as a conduit of learning for peers in the fellowship and for their own organization. 

  • Demonstrate a commitment to participating fully in all components of the fellowship, virtually, in-person, and offline. See cohort calendar for specific dates. 

  • Have the written support from a community member to participate in the Fellowship. 

Their organization will: 

Be located in Alameda, Contra Costa, or San Francisco counties. National organizations with a significant in-person programmatic presence or footprint in the Bay Area are also eligible. 

  • Function as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization or operate under a fiscal sponsor. 

  • Primarily serve low-income communities. 

  • Provide direct services (food, housing/shelter, crisis support, etc) to communities and/or serve a movement  / organizing role in their communities. 

  • Promote healthy, livable, and just communities by providing direct services, engaging in community mobilization, and/or advocacy. 

Only one applicant per organization will be accepted. 

Application Components

The application consists of a series of personal and organizational questions and may take up to a few hours to complete. In addition, there are a few narrative questions to get to know you as an emerging leader.  

We also ask for the following support materials: 

  • Current Resume 

  • Letter of recommendation from a professional relationship or community member who has witnessed your emerging leadership. 

  • Commitment Form signed by you and your direct supervisor. Download the Commitment Form here.  

Here is a PDF of the live application for your reference. SurveyMonkey does not save partial applications. We recommend applicants use a document to draft their responses and copy-paste them into the application when ready. We will review applications submitted via SurveyMonkey. If you have questions, please sign up for an Ask Me Anything session.  

Be an Emerging Women of Color leader

Deadline: June 2, 2025 (5 pm)