2027 MOVEMENT LEADER FELLOWSHIP
Sharpen your strategy. Strengthen your leadership. Build lasting power.
Applications are now open for the 2027 Movement Leader Fellowship.
Designed for experienced organizers leading within power-building organizations, this seven-month fellowship combines graduate coursework, immersive retreats, individualized leadership coaching, and a national community of peers to strengthen strategic leadership for the long haul.
Applicants who apply by September 21 will be given priority. The final deadline to apply is October 19.
PRIORITY DEADLINE: SEPTEMBER 21, 2026
FINAL DEADLINE: OCTOBER 19, 2026
Program Details
Running from January through July 2027, the Movement Leader Fellowship is a rigorous seven-month program designed to fit alongside full-time movement work. Through four integrated learning experiences, fellows gain the tools, frameworks, and support needed to sharpen strategic vision, lead effective teams and organizations, and sustain themselves in movement work over the long term.
The fellowship includes:
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Fellows complete two college-credit courses at the City University of New York’s School of Labor and Urban Studies, taught by experienced movement practitioners:
Power and Strategy — an LDSJ-designed course exploring power-building traditions and methodologies
A virtual, 3-credit, graduate-level academic class on Power & Strategy through the CUNY School of Labor & Urban Studies. The Spring semester begins on January 28th and runs through May 27th. Exact day and time TBA. See here for CUNY’s academic calendar.
This class meets once per week and requires about 2.5 hours of work time each week in addition to class time. It’s crucial that fellows work with their organization to make sufficient time to commit to the classes.
Leadership and Management— In the form of immersive retreats, this course focuses on leading organizations and teams effectively
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Two immersive, week-long retreats provide space for deep learning, reflection, and collaboration. These retreats integrate and build upon the academic coursework with a focus on strategy development, personal leadership, sustainability and personal ecology
Retreat 1: March 21-26, 2027
Retreat 2: July 18-23, 2027 (fellowship concludes at the end of the retreat)
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Fellows develop personal leadership intentions over the course of the program and receive individualized coaching from experienced leadership coaches to support them. They also build meaningful relationships with a national cohort of peers and connect with seasoned movement leaders.
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Participants join a network of over 380 alumni across more than 200 organizations nationwide—an ongoing community committed to collective growth, support, and movement building.
A Shared Investment
The full cost of the Movement Leader Fellowship is approximately $27,600 per participant which includes all travel, lodging, meals, tuition, course materials, coaching, and teaching staff. Thanks to our funding partners, fellows and organizations are asked to contribute only a small portion of the total cost through our shared investment model.
To help sustain the quality of programming while keeping it accessible, we ask individuals to contribute towards their participation in the 7-month long program. Additionally because MLF supports both individual leadership and organizational capacity building, we strongly encourage participating organizations to contribute at the highest level they are able using a sliding-scale model.
Individual Contribution
Each fellow is required to contribute $500* towards all costs associated with MLF (including tuition, travel, coaching, etc).
Organizational Contribution
Organization Contribution Sliding-Scale
Annual Organizational Budget
Less than $2m
$2m - $5m
Greater than $5m
Suggested Contribution
$2,500
$4,000
$7,500
*A limited number of scholarships are available to those who cannot financially make any contribution. Our admissions process does not evaluate based on an individual or their organization's ability to pay.
The sliding-scale system relies on shared responsibility. Organizations with greater financial capacity play a critical role in making the fellowship accessible to a broader range of leaders. Contributing at the higher end of the scale helps ensure that organizers from smaller or under-resourced organizations can participate, strengthening the movement as a whole.
We are deeply grateful for the commitment of organizations and fellows who invest in this shared vision.
What happens after I apply?
Applicants who apply by the priority deadline and are selected for interviews will be notified via email. These interviews are between late September - early October.
Applicants who apply by the final deadline and are selected for interviews will be notified via email. These interviews will be held in early November.
The final cohort will have up to 28 fellows. Invitations to join the cohort will be sent via email in early November.
Please note that these dates are subject to change, and we will communicate with applicants in the event that any of the above dates change.
Information Sessions
To learn more about the program, register for a virtual information session below. For additional questions, please reach out to Ricardo Anez Carrasquel at ranezcarrasquel@ccny.cuny.edu.
Eligibility and Criteria
Ideal candidates are:
Social justice leaders with 10-15 years of experience who are committed to building power over the long haul.
Rooted in power-building organizations that create change through organizing and are accountable to a base of members, particularly within historically oppressed communities, rather than relying primarily on advocacy or direct service.
Engaged in full-time work with direct oversight of a team, budget, campaign, or other significant body of work.
Actively leading or developing a strategic campaign, organizational intervention, or other significant body of work that they will refine and strengthen throughout the fellowship.
At a stage in their leadership journey in which they are navigating more complex leadership responsibilities, including managing up, managing managers and/or influencing across an organization.
Deeply connect to or are from historically oppressed communities.
Eager to engage in deep study and learning in a community of peers.
Able to fully commit to ALL components of the fellowship.