Indigenous Communities Fellowships Summer 2024 - Round 2
A Cardinal Quarter opportunity co-sponsored by the Native American Cultural Center and the Haas Center for Public Service, the Indigenous Communities Fellowship is Stanford’s premier opportunity for students to pursue Indigenous service and community reinvestment. This fellowship enables students to partner with a nonprofit, government, or tribal organization of their choice to gain experience applying their academic pursuits and leadership skills to address issues of social change, equity, and inclusion in service to American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Indigenous Pacific Islander communities.
This fellowship was founded upon, and aims to support student experiences that are rooted in the following values:
-
Uplifting Indigenous Worldviews: We believe that traditional Indigenous knowledge, principles, and practices play a central role in the promotion of well-being and success within Indigenous communities, and therefore aim to support students that seek to bridge Indigenous worldviews with their academic interests.
-
Advancing Indigenous Sovereignty: We recognize that Indigenous communities are sovereign nations whose members and leadership know the best path for addressing their needs, therefore reserving the right to grant, deny and establish the terms of partnership with the non-profit organizations that serve them. As such, we intend to exclusively work with host organizations and support student-service experiences that recognize and aim to advance Indigenous peoples' right to sovereignty and self-determination.
-
Supporting Career Development: We acknowledge that there are often limited opportunities for students to gain experience working in community. Therefore, we aim to empower students with real-world experience, practical skills, and ethical frameworks to support their future careers in service to Indigenous communities.
Indigenous Communities Fellows spend the summer working full-time with a supervisor/mentor in an organization of their choice. Each undergraduate fellow receives a base stipend of $6,500 to support travel and living expenses during the fellowship. Financial aid and supplemental funding are available to undergraduates who qualify. Graduate fellows will receive a stipend of $8,500.
Please review the program policies in their entirety before applying. The Round 2 application deadline will be April 9, 2024.
How to apply:
Applicants propose their own placements with organizations with which they have corresponded before the application deadline and effectively demonstrate that their intended partner organizations have the need, interest and capacity to work with a fellow and to support the proposed project/work plans. Students can submit an application after they have received and accepted an offer from a host organization, and the host organization must then complete the Community Partner Questionnaire (via the fellowship application) by the application deadline.
The Haas Center and the Native American Cultural Center have many Resources for Fellowship Applicants, including our list of Cardinal Quarter Connections of host organizations seeking to work with Stanford undergraduate students, and our Meet the Undergraduate Fellows page with information on previous fellows' community partners and projects.
Interested students can receive application guidance and support from Matthew Yellowtail, Program Coordinator of the Indigenous Communities Fellowship, at matthewy@stanford.edu.
Eligibility
Eligibility:
For complete eligibility requirements, please review our program policies in its entirety.
Undergraduate and graduate students from all academic disciplines are encouraged to apply, and applicants may vary in academic interests, public service involvement, and experience. Priority will be given to students who have completed fewer than two previous Cardinal Quarter opportunities. Graduating seniors may have lower priority.
Students are welcome to propose placements with a variety of public interest organizations, keeping in mind funding will be restricted for certain types of political, research, Stanford-based, for-profit, and faith-based organizations. Please review the “Host Organization Eligibility” section of our program policies for more information.
Are you working on a “project” this summer? Would your “project” benefit from additional funding? A Cardinal Quarter “project” is defined as 1) student designed in consultation with a community partner, 2) student implemented, 3) provides a tangible deliverable to the community, and 4) is sustainable beyond the summer. Students working on projects may be awarded up to an additional $1000 for project-related expenses. Click here for more information about projects and here to see a list of project-related expenses that may be covered. Please check the relevant box on the fellowship application if you will be applying for project-based funding.
Requirements:
Selected fellows are expected to begin their fellowship following the completion of spring quarter classes and no later than July 8, 2024. All fellows are required to work with their community partners 35-40 hours/week for nine consecutive weeks. Fellows are expected to work on-site at their host organizations at least on a hybrid schedule, but some fully virtual experiences may be allowed on a case-by-case basis. Fellows must have a designated full-time professional staff member on-site as their supervisor/mentor. Please review the complete program policies for additional requirements. Other commitments include the following:
Spring Quarter
- Complete and online program orientation
- Complete the Engaging in Ethical and Effective Service in-person workshop or worksheet.
- Meet with Matthew Yellowtail, the academic mentor for the fellowship, at least once.
- Design a personal learning plan and share the learning plan with the site supervisor and academic mentor.
- Complete all required pre-orientation forms.
Summer Quarter
- Submit a brief preliminary report
- Submit a final report, complete a program evaluation, and correspond with fellowship donor(s) as requested by fellowships program staff.
Fall Quarter
- Meet with academic mentor at least once.
- Present a summary of your summer experience/project at the Indigenous Communities Fellowship Forum.
- For project-based fellows, apply to present at the Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Public Service (SURPS).
- Participate in outreach activities to share the experience and help publicize the program.
Selection Process:
For those who seek assistance, advising is available through the NACC and the Haas Center to help students develop their applications and/or to identify potential partner organizations. Please reach out to Matthew Yellowtail (matthewy@stanford.edu) or a Cardinal Quarter Peer Advisor for an advising appointment.
Students are strongly encouraged to discuss ideas for placements with program staff well before the application deadline to identify appropriate/relevant opportunities and prepare effective application materials. Developing a suitable fellowship placement takes time, so it is important to start the application process early and consult with professors, advisors, and community partners regularly.
In addition to demonstrating the values listed in the program description, this fellowship is intended for individuals whose application, references, and interview demonstrate
- an integration of the fellowship experience with the applicant’s academic, personal and/or career goals
- prior demonstrated interest or involvement in the subject area, including related coursework
- a compelling match between applicant’s skills and interests and an organization’s work and needs
- strong potential for the fellowship experience to deepen a candidate’s understanding of an identified community issue or challenge
Complete applications are screened, finalists interviewed, and fellows selected by a committee with the intention to award fellowships within six weeks of the application deadline. Applicants should respond promptly (within 48 hours) via email to a fellowship offer, or the offer will be rescinded. Once an applicant accepts a fellowship offer, the student should promptly notify all other Stanford and non-Stanford programs to which they have applied that they have accepted another offer and to withdraw their candidacy.
The Native American Cultural Center and the Haas Center for Public Service partnered to launch the Indigenous Communities Fellowship as part of the Cardinal Quarter initiative. Funding has been generously provided by Native American Cultural Center and Haas Center donors as part of the Cardinal Quarter program.
For opportunities during the Fall, Winter, or Spring quarters, please see the Jane Stanford Fellowship For international opportunities, please see the International Service Fellowship.
