Civic Leaders Fellowship Program

The Cornell Civic Leaders Fellowship Program was launched five (5) years ago by the Public Service Center in collaboration with the Department of City and Regional Planning, the Community and Rural Development Institute, and the Cornell Participatory Action Research Network.  The Cornell Civic Leaders Fellowship Program seeks to accomplish the following:

  • support community leaders who possess the knowledge, skills, competencies, values, and experience to provide leadership for critical institutional and community problem-solving efforts;
  • foster university and community practices that encourage greater commitment to community building and social responsibility. 
  • strengthen and build regional university-community collaborative relationships; and
  • support community leaders as they reflect on past practices, plan for the future, and enhance capacities of their communities, as well as contribute to instructional and research activities. 


An Advisory Board consisting of community leaders, faculty and university administrators reviews applications that must demonstrate how each project proposal is responding to community capacity-building needs and enhancing the academic experience of on- and off-campus participants, as well as identifying university resources, staff, and departments with which the Fellow intends to work.  Proposals must show evidence of community support, include an evaluation plan, and explain how results will be disseminated, both on campus and back into the community.  Fellows are expected to serve as guest lecturers in courses and colloquiums over the period of one year.

The first year was made possible in part by a $20,000 grant from the Mid Atlantic Consortium—Leadership for Institutional Change and the Kellogg Foundation, which encouraged higher education institutions to build collaborative relationships with their local community; and it also allowed four community leaders to be chosen as fellows and receive an award of $5,000 each.  The program did not continue to receive this funding and is currently being funded through the Cornell Public Service Center’s reserves.  Lack of funding has forced the program to reduce fellowships from four to two.  Each Fellow currently receives a $5,000 stipend that may be utilized for program expenses and/or sponsoring agency reimbursement; however, additional funds are also needed to support the implementation costs incurred by the Center in coordinating the program.