Big Bets Fellowship: Economic Opportunity: United States

Overview

_NOTE: Pre-proposal deadline represents deadline for fellows to complete the Eligibility Form and Pre-Application Form._

Our Mission

Our mission, promoting the well-being of humanity throughout the world, remains unchanged since 1913. Today, that mission requires us to work with partners across sectors and political lines to deliver results for Americans and people across the world.

Big Bets Fellowships

The Big Bets Fellowship is a 4-month leadership program that brings together a diverse and interdisciplinary cohort of emerging leaders working to address the world’s toughest challenges, accelerate opportunity for the most vulnerable, and transform systems for a sustainable future.

We seek emerging leaders with 5-15 years of relevant work experience who are at an inflection point and ready to take their next bold step. The Fellowship helps propel individuals forward in manifesting a Big Bet.
The Fellowship emphasizes an expansive understanding of leadership, going beyond traditional skill-building to support fellows in growing personal and relational aspects of leadership.

As part of the program, fellows will benefit from:

* Integrative Curriculum – an experiential and applied learning program equipping fellows with the leadership mindset and skill sets needed for driving meaningful systemic impact

* Impact Acceleration – focused time with peers, mentors, and experts to sharpen, magnify, and accelerate solutions through virtual and in-person convenings
* Cohort Community – a regional group of progressive innovators, thinkers, and builders for interdisciplinary and cross-cultural exchange. Each fellow will also join a growing global network of leaders that have participated in past regional cohorts.
* Network Access – exclusive membership in The Rockefeller Foundation network (potential benefits include post-Fellowship programming, convenings, consultation, facilitated connections, speaking engagements at global events, etc.)
* Global Platform – visible amplification for fellows to share their voice and solution with a global audience

At the end of the program, fellows will have a clarified theory of change to accelerate novel solutions and the skills to operationalize and adapt to achieve that vision; skills to build and navigate unlikely partnerships necessary to make transformative change; and supercharged storytelling capabilities to bring partners and funders into powering the work.

The Foundation will also provide fellows with a USD $5,000 stipend (subject to taxes and withholding, as may be applicable). Selection into the Fellowship does not include monetary grant support for the implementation of the fellow’s project.

**The Big Bets Fellowship: Economic Opportunity | U.S.
**

The United States is at a critical juncture, facing both immense challenges and unprecedented opportunities that are undergirded by individual’s increased pessimism about their — and their community’s — economic prospects. Since the 1980s, economic inequality has risen steadily in the United States with income and wealth increasingly concentrated among a smaller and smaller percentage of Americans. Income inequality is inextricably linked to leading challenges in the United States including climate change, poor health and educational outcomes, persistent racial and gender inequities, and the erosion of social and political trust. However, the United States also has significant resources and capacity for transformative change, with robust research institutions, a growing green economy, and emerging policy initiatives that can drive impactful economic solutions.

The Big Bets Fellowship: Economic Opportunity | U.S. will empower leaders across sectors to tackle economic opportunity challenges head-on, fostering the development of sustainable solutions, resilient communities, and policies that advance economic prosperity.

Project Selection Criteria

A Big Bet is a concerted effort to fundamentally solve a single, pressing problem in your community or our world.

We are particularly interested in solutions that address the following areas (but are not limited to):

* Creating quality jobs and/or helping to place low-wage workers and their families into quality jobs that increase earnings OR
* Fixing supply-side issues that increase the cost of living for working families, such as making it easier to build affordable housing, lower the cost of healthcare or provide quality, low-cost higher-education pathways that lead to quality jobs OR
* Improving family supports, such as public benefits, that eligible workers and their families can access when in a crisis OR
* Implementing models that generate revenue to invest in underserved workers and their communities, such as generating state revenue from climate and economic diversification investments and government incentives OR
* Transforming food and health systems to ensure underserved workers have access to food as medicine.

Eligibility

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_You must be a member of this organization to apply for this award - become a member. Applicants must be members of the Big Bets community to be eligible to apply for the Fellowship_