Applications for ’24-’25 Roosevelt Network Fellowships are now CLOSED!

If you applied in Wave 2, or were deferred from Wave 1, you will be notified of a final admissions decision no later than the first week of March.


The Emerging Fellowship is a yearlong, policy writing-focused fellowship experience designed for students in the last one to two years of their undergraduate degree program. This rigorous and advanced Fellowship offers progressive-minded students the opportunity to dive deeper into policy research and writing, receive mentorship from Network Alumni and Roosevelt Institute staff, be in community with other passionate policy wonks, and ground themselves in Roosevelt’s vision for a just economy and multiracial democracy. Fellowship alumni become members of our national Network, with continued opportunities for mentorship and programming for young professionals.

Emerging Fellows will be trained across key skill areas necessary for them to understand the progressive policy landscape, will engage with local advocates and policy experts, and will produce a short policy brief at the end of the fellowship experience. Students in the program will also have opportunities to explore various graduate school pathways through Network alumni panels and mentor connections. All Emerging Fellows will receive a $3,000 stipend, disbursed in three installments, over the course of their program experience.

Students applying should be aware that the time commitment necessary to be successful in this program is similar to that of a senior seminar or independent study course. With the support of Network staff, students will be expected to engage in orientation trainings and cohort discussions, design their own research plan and timeline, develop the framework of their policy argument, and produce a final comprehensive document discussing a policy recommendation. 

All applicants should be passionate about exploring policy solutions in the following issue areas:  

  • Corporate power (e.g., antitrust, anti-monopoly, or combatting corporate concentration);
  • Worker power (e.g., worker justice, labor protections, or higher education);
  • Climate justice (e.g., environment protections, green jobs, or environmental racism); or 
  • Race & democracy (e.g., gerrymandering, closing the racial wealth gap, or reparative economic policy).

At this time, Roosevelt Network programs do not support students interested in: 

  • K-12 Education
  • Healthcare
  • Global Politics/International Relations
  • Immigration
  • Child Welfare
  • Financial literacy
What will the experience look like?

The Emerging Fellowship will run from June, 2024 to May, 2025. Emerging fellows will move through a rich curriculum consisting of the following components: 

Virtual Summer Intensive (June – July, 2024)
Expect to be engaged in weekly, real-time, training, reading assignments, and 1-1 advisor meetings for ~6 hours a week. Examples of bootcamp training topics include:

  • Understanding Neoliberalism
  • Policy Writing Fundamentals
  • Advanced Policy Research
  • Community-Centered Policy Approaches

Hyde Park Conference (one of the two first weekends of August, 2024)

Emerging Fellows are required to attend the in-person Network Fellows Conference at the FDR Memorial Library and Museum for a long weekend of training, community building, engagement with senior Roosevelt Institute staff, and deep reflection on the enduring legacy of the Roosevelts. All costs for travel, lodging, and food will  be covered by the Roosevelt Institute.

Policy Research & Mentorship (Fall 2024)
Fellows will spend ~5 hours a week engaged in monthly cohort calls, biweekly one-on-one advisor meetings, professional development with their Alumni mentor, and research focused assignments. 

Policy Brief Writing & Publication (Spring 2025)
The last four months of the program ramps up to ~10 hours a week dedicated to individual policy brief writing, continued one-on-one advising calls, community events, and a rigorous memo review and publication process. 


Fellowship Logistics

Students will complete this fellowship in the community where they live and/or attend school. This eleven month experience will require that students have capacity for real-time, virtual training sessions. Applicants must also be geographically located within the United States for the duration of the fellowship – we cannot accommodate international time differences or offer asynchronous engagement opportunities at this time. 

Other than the Hyde Park Conference, all other program aspects will be held via video conference software (Zoom/Google Hangouts). Applicants should be prepared to arrange access to wifi during program activities and for work on deliverables.  i.e. accessing your local public or university library.  

Every Emerging Fellow will be paid a stipend of $3,000, distributed in three equal payments over the course of the bootcamp intensive and research and writing months.  Receiving each stipend installment is conditional on meeting the commitments of the program, reviewed and agreed upon at the end of each semester.

You should apply if you:
  • Are a full time undergraduate student in the last one to two years of your degree program (i.e. will have Junior or Senior standing at the start of thee ’24-’25 academic year);
  • Are a student attending a college or university in the United States. Network programs cannot accept students attending non-American institutions;
  • Have at least one more semester left in your undergraduate degree program for the 2024-2025 academic year; 
  • Are an undergraduate student who has already engaged with policy research through your academic program, extracurriculars, or professional experience;
  • Can commit to a part-time opportunity that spans June 2024 through May 2025 and that will require some weekend engagements;
  • With the exception of temporary travel lasting less than 2 weeks, will be located within the United States for the duration of the fellowship experience (June 2024 – May 2025). This program requires in-real-time training engagement – we cannot accommodate international time differences or offer asynchronous engagement opportunities at this time. Winter Break travel is excluded from this policy;
  • Are passionate about exploring progressive policy in the areas of corporate power, worker power, race & democracy, or climate justice; and
  • Have the capacity to dedicate two to three hours every week during the summer, and two hours once a month during the academic year, to real-time, virtual training sessions.
How do you apply?

The ’24-’25 Emerging Fellowship application is now closed.