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Applications are open!

Join the inaugural cohort to build a healthier, more equitable, and sustainable food system for all.

The Castanea Fellowship is looking for dedicated leaders ready to deepen the impact of their vision to build a healthier, more equitable, and sustainable food system. The Fellowship is for engaged leaders who are already equipped with a deep understanding of how the food system could shift in a meaningful way and have had considerable impact, yet know they could do much more. The leaders we seek are those who have demonstrated commitment to the work, understand racial equity, believe in the power of diversity, and welcome collaboration.

The Castanea Fellowship is a two-year, awarded program that provides fellows the space, time, and resources to grow skills, connections, and community. We aim to further the work of established leaders from across the country and provide them with unique learning and skill-building opportunities.

The Castanea Fellowship Experience

An unparalleled opportunity to amplify your vision, influence, and impact.
Six 3-6 day in-person gatherings to build and learn as a cohort and benefit from diverse regional perspectives and tactics. This includes communication, finance, leadership development, organizing, and policy learning immersions.
An international learning experience to explore food systems outside of the U.S. context and reveal the global dynamics of food.
$40,000 awarded over the two years of the fellowship to support the work and participation of Fellows.
Support, mentorship, and love from the Castanea community.

The Application Process

We are excited to receive your applications! Our process is designed to gather more information the further your proceed in our selection process. The first step is to submit a written application. If selected for the second round, you will be invited to a video interview and will be asked to fill-out a self, peer, and colleague evaluation. The final stage will involve reference checks. Then we’ll invite up to 12 people to join us as Castanea Fellows and begin the program May 1st, 2019.

The program includes 6 Learning Immersions in various regions, which each Fellow is required to attend. They will occur in these months:

June 2019
November 2019
April 2020
August 2020
January 2021
June 2021

Precise dates will be shared in 2019.

Application Milestones

04Dec

Informational Webinar

16Jan

First Round Applications Due

31Jan

First Round Applicants Notified

01Feb

Second Round Invitations Sent

01Mar

Second Round Materials Due

01Apr

Final Round of Review

15Apr

Applicants Notified and Invited to Join Castanea!

01May

Fellows Announced and Program Starts

No event found!

Eligibility and Criteria

Who Are We Looking For?

We welcome established visionaries who:

Align with our values of racial equity, diversity, and impact.
Lead their field and have already demonstrated inspiring results.
Have experience working with communities or populations across a range of physical and cultural geographies.
Believe that food system change involves a multi-sector and multi-strategy approach.
Welcome being part of a diverse, robust, multiracial cohort.
Want to deepen skills in communication, finances, organizing, and/or policy.
Understand intersectionality of race, gender, class, ability, environmental, and health issues.
See themselves as constant learners and seek to be in a learning community.
Can commit to devoting the necessary time to be fully engaged in the fellowship.

Our Call for Applicants Across Sectors

The Castanea Fellowship gathers dedicated and experienced leaders from across the food system: farmers, organizers, racial justice advocates, health care professionals, policy makers, entrepreneurs, ecosystem caretakers, community developers and those whose various approaches, tactics, and strategies will help us build a healthier, more sustainable and equitable food system.

Our Commitment to Diversity

We are bringing together the most diverse cohort we can imagine. We hope to have at least 50% people of color and at least 50% women represented in the cohort. The cohort will also represent diverse regions of the nation and will include an array of entry points and sectors in the food system to grow strategic diversity and collaboration in the field.