The Obama Foundation Fellowship supports outstanding civic innovators—leaders who are working with their communities to create transformational change and addressing some of the world’s most pressing problems. The program selects 20 community-minded rising stars from around the world for a two-year, non-residential program, designed to amplify the impact of their work and inspire a wave of civic innovation.
The second-ever class of Obama Foundation Fellows represents a diverse set of leaders who all model a powerful truth: that each of us has a role to play in making our communities better. These Fellows are building cultures of entrepreneurship in neighborhoods that need it most. They’re protecting our environment and ensuring we can live sustainably for generations to come. They’re showing the world that criminal justice can be restorative justice. And they’re proving that our most disadvantaged and disconnected communities can also be our most vital and innovative.
About the Fellowship
The two-year, non-residential Obama Fellowship offers hands-on training, resources, and leadership development to help Fellows scale the impact of their work. Fellows participate in four multi-day gatherings where they collaborate with each other, connect with potential partners, and collectively push their work forward. Throughout the program, each Fellow pursues a personalized plan to leverage the Fellowship experience to take their work to the next level.
Obama Foundation Fellows are:
Civic innovators
Fellows are working alongside their communities to solve important public problems in creative and meaningful ways. Living out the Foundation’s values of Imagination and Fearlessness, Fellows are bringing bold ideas to bear on the most pressing problems we face. By engaging their communities in this work, they create stronger and more sustainable solutions.
Discipline diverse
As organizers, inventors, artists, entrepreneurs, and more, Fellows illustrate the power of drawing upon diverse talents and approaches to drive meaningful change. The Fellowship provides a space for leaders across disciplines to learn from one another, ultimately making their own work more impactful.
At a tipping point in their work
Fellows have already demonstrated direct and meaningful impact in their communities, gaining recognition among their peers for their contributions. Now, they stand at a breakthrough moment in their careers. They’re poised to use the Fellowship to significantly advance their work, perhaps by launching new platforms, expanding their footprint, establishing models that others can adopt, or shifting the national or global conversation on a topic.
Talented, but not connected
The Foundation is committed to expanding the circle of opportunity to include new and varied voices. The Fellowship is designed to support leaders who have not already benefited from prestigious opportunities or global attention. We’re excited to lift up civic innovators who are not currently connected to the networks and resources they need to advance their work.
Good humans
Fellows demonstrate the values of the Obama Foundation and are eager to participate in the Fellowship community now and in the future. By bringing strong personal values to the cohort, Fellows build an authentic, inclusive, and collaborative community that provides lasting valu