Online Event Archive Recorded: April 1, 2026
The Fellowship for Equitable Development (FED) is an 8-month paid program that connects top-tier Master’s and Ph.D. students with leading community development organizations to cultivate the “leaders of tomorrow.”
Through this initiative, fellows receive a $20,000 stipend to work approximately 20 hours per week on high-impact projects addressing systemic challenges like climate change, wealth disparities, and housing shortages. By bridging the gap between academic research and grassroots advocacy, the program empowers participants to create tangible solutions for low-to-moderate income and BIPOC communities while gaining professional experience and access to the NCRC’s national network.
Speakers
Laura Bentley, Director, Grant Administration, Community Impact, NCRC
Dia Henderson, Program Manager, Community Impact, NCRC
Transcript:
NCRC video transcripts are produced by a third-party transcription service and may contain errors. They are lightly edited for style and clarity.
Bentley 0:06
Hi everyone. Thanks for joining us today. We’re going to go ahead and get started. So welcome to the 2026 Fellowship for Equitable Development informational webinar. This webinar is intended for students who are interested in becoming fellows for the program.
So we’re going to get going here. If you do have any questions, please go ahead and place those into the Q and A. And as we get started, just want to remind everyone about the NCRC code of conduct. So this code of conduct does apply to all gatherings, including this one. Secondly, this webinar is being recorded, and this will be available on the fellowship homepage, and we’ll be sharing that link in a moment. We do not permit any AI chat box, so please know that those will not be permitted in this session. But again, the recording will be made available for everyone to review afterwards. As I mentioned, any questions, please add those to the Q and A as opposed to the chat. We’ll be answering those throughout the session, and we will also make sure to go through that at the end as well, during our Q and A time. And using the Q and A feature means they won’t miss anything as well. You’ll see in the bottom right some essential links. The first is the NCRC homepage, and secondly is the homepage specific to the fellowship program. So that’s where you’d want to be checking for all the up-to-date information on the application when it’s released, etc.
Those of you who might not be familiar with us, we are a National Community Reinvestment Coalition, or NCRC, and we are a national network nonprofit of over 700 members, and we focus on a wide variety of topic areas, from housing counseling to health equity, research, etc, but all under the same roof and with the same mission of building wealth in low-wealth communities across our nation. So the fellowship program is one of our offerings, and as we move through the agenda today, we’ll be introducing ourselves, the community impact team within NCRC, we’ll be talking specifically about the fellowship program, the role of the fellow, benefits to fellows. We’ll be sharing some past projects. You can all get a sense of what those projects might look like. And we’ll be going forward with the fellowship timeline and also giving a preview of the fellow applications. You’ll know what to expect. And lastly, again, we’ll have that Q and A time at the end to address any questions.
My name is Laura Bentley, and I’m the director of grant administration with NCRC for our community impact team. And so that you all are familiar with our team members, we have Luis Ortiz, who is one of our program managers, and Dia Henderson, as well, as a second program manager for our team. Dia is the lead for the fellowship program. So for all of you who are joining us today, she would be your main point of contact. But just in case you’re running into Luis along the way, we are part of this particular team. At this point, I’m going to pass it over to Dia, who’ll be taking over the rest of the presentation and sharing with you more information about the fellowship.
Henderson 3:02
Thank you, Laura. Again, my name is Dia Henderson. I am one of the program managers for community impact, and I will be your lead for the Fellowship for Equitable Development. So we’re here to talk about what exactly is this fellowship. So we’re asking you all to be a part of the next generation of community development leaders. NCRC has this Fellowship for Equitable Development to help empower you all to tackle on the issues of tomorrow – even today – by spearheading some local community development projects that we have chosen. So as graduate-level students, we’re going to pair you with NCRC members, member organizations for the next eight months. It’s a pay fellowship, and you all are going to help drive real world impact in affordable housing, small business development, climate resilience, community health and wellness, racial wealth building and so much more. With these projects, we try to prioritize fellowship projects that really aim to move the needle on racial wealth building, community health and wellness and environmental justice through avenues of housing, small business and workforce development, specifically for BIPOC and LMI folk in our target geographies, which I will touch on in two seconds.
So this year, we had a very competitive application process, and we were able to choose eight fellowship projects in the following areas. So we anticipate having placements in Connecticut, Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, DC, DMV area. We are planning to announce those pretty soon. So please keep an eye out. But we are expecting there to be an in-person placement to these projects. So we ask that if you are in these areas, you fulfill that in-person placement.
So what are you going to be doing? What is your role? We are asking that the fellows execute the tasks assigned by the host organization. So all host organizations submitted a work plan that clearly outlines the milestones and the deliverables, and I’ll also show you that in a little bit. But we’re asking that you complete those deliverables and do those tasks. We also ask that you fulfill the 20-hour per week part-time commitment. Then finally, we’re also asked that you again, have that in-person aspect. So we’re asking that you please show up to the fellowship projects in the workspace at least once a week. Each host organization has a schedule. Again, I’ll show you that in a little bit. They have a schedule of what days they might you know specifically want you to show up or want you to be in the office. And then NCRC has a few requirements also, so we ask that you participate in regular check-ins with me. This is just giving me some time to get to know you one but also just see how you’re progressing throughout the eight-month fellowship, and seeing what you’ve learned and what you’ve gained from this experience. We also ask that you attend monthly professional development training. So we have trainings that vary from leadership skills to also what it’s like to go from graduate to intern, fellow to professional space. So we develop these trainings to not only for you to get to know NCRC, but for you to really develop as a professional. We also are asking that you join virtual cohort meetings. Excuse me, eyelash, virtual cohort meetings. This is just a chance for you to get to know each other. Seeing that all of the placements are everywhere around the nation, we want our fellows to get to know each other before they join us at the Just Economy Conference. So that goes into our next requirement. We ask that you attend our Just Economy Conference. We host a conference every year. Next year, we’ll be in Washington, DC again in May, and this is just a chance for you all to not only meet, meet us, the staff, but also get to meet other nonprofit and community development leaders across our nation that are a part of our membership. Then, finally, we ask that you complete two reports, the intern report, and then the closeout. This is just giving me and Laura a better understanding of how the fellowship went and how is it going halfway through and at the end.
So those are two our few requirements, the benefits of being a Fellow. You have a few benefits. I think the best benefit, one of the best benefits, is you’re getting paid up to $20,000 in a stipend for your 20-hour commitment. You also are receiving high-quality training from our host organizations, and then also the people you’ll meet along the way, whether that be within NCRC or within your host organization. One of our fellows favorite parts is the free admission to the Just Economy Conference. So this includes admission, lodging and transport for those outside of the DMV area to our annual Just Economy Conference. And then finally, with some depending on some university policies, you may receive potential academic credit for fulfilling this fellowship.
So I just wanted to give you all an idea of what some of our past projects look like. So we have a fellow in Oregon right now working with Housing Oregon to really do some research and advance racial justice in homeownership, in small businesses in Portland, Oregon, and working with some banks to really bridge that gap, that racial wealth gap for bipoc communities. We also had a fellow last year working with the community foundation for Greater New Haven mission Investments company. That fellow is working to help map resources and really provide some technical assistance to small business owners in the New Haven, Connecticut area. And then finally, we have a fellow working with Hip Hop Caucus, who’s really addressing that green banking space and really focusing on climate finance issues, engaging with the community and really investing in those MDIs and CDFIs for BIPOC folk. So just to give you a visual what the process will look like. Like I said, we already had our members apply, and we are finalizing those projects. So from there, once the projects are posted, you all will be able to select projects on the application, these at. Applications will be reviewed by NCRC. The top candidates will be sent off to the host organization for their review. We both will do an interview, and then we will make the selections, and then finally, we would onboard you all along with your host organization. And then the fellowship will begin. To give you a little more specific dates on that timeline, April is your time to apply. So April 8 through May 8 will be your time period to apply. May, we are looking to at least or we are looking to select our finalists and begin our interviews in June, hopefully awarding and then agreement signed towards the end of June. August, we will have our host fellow orientation, onboarding meeting. And then September is when you officially begin your fellowship. February is when we’re looking for those interim reports to be due. And then may we have a busy May, but a fun May. May is the Just Economy Conference. And then the fellowship will be ending in May, following those with the closeout report.
So like I said, your application will be open April 8 through May 8. I did want to give you guys some insight of what that content might look like. So we’re asking for your current enrollment status. So we’re expecting that fellows have completed at least one semester of of graduate- or higher-level school. So we’re asking for transcripts. We are also asking to see if you are an international student. Also, we’re also asking for your address of where you’ll be staying through the eight months of the fellowship. So not necessarily where you’re from, but where are you going to be staying during the duration of the fellowship? Your current employment status, whether that be full-time, part-time or not currently working. Class schedule. I know that most schedules don’t come out until right before school year. So if you had a rough estimate of what that schedule may look like, or an idea of I know a lot of doctoral students, they’re in their dissertation at portion of their program, so they might not have real classes at that point. So if you have any idea of your class schedule, please let us know. A updated and most recent resume. Which project you would want. And then also describing your qualifications and why you would be the best to be selected for that organization and that project. And then finally, some optional demographic questions so we can get to know you a little bit better.
Oh, actually, I did want to go back and show you all a work plan and a project profile. Okay, so this is an example of what the project profiles will look like on our homepage. At the top, you will see the name and the address, again, with that in-person aspect, we are asking that you are relatively within the area of your selected project or host organization. We also have provided an official title for the fellow. So you won’t just be a community impact or NCRC fellow, but you will have an official title. We also give you a synopsis of what the organization does and who they are, and then also the project description and responsibilities for what the fellow will be doing. We also, on the host application, asked them to identify any qualifications and skills they’d be looking for in a fellow so we have listed those also on the project profile, along with their preferred schedule of when their team might meet in person or when they would like you in person versus on online or virtual. We also provide additional information like, what is the topic, whether it be housing, small business or workforce, if this is a new or continuing project, and then how you will be paid, whether as a w2, part-time employee ,or a 1099 contractor. We also attach the work plan to the project profile. So at the top you’ll see the deliverables you’re asked to complete by the end of the the fellowship, and then it also is just broken down by month of what are some milestones and activities that you’ll be going through and conducting to complete and reach those deliverables. And this also includes when the closeout and interim reports are. And at the bottom is just a few requirements, reminding you all of the 20 hours per week and the minimum once a week in the office requirements. So, I did want to show you all that, just to give you an idea what that would look like.
So as we wrap up, I did want to just highlight again that the fellow application will be opening April 8 and will be closing may 8, at 5pm Eastern. The application link will be at the top of our homepage, and then also this webinar will be attached to the homepage, also, if you wanted to go back for reference. So if you have any questions that I didn’t cover, didn’t answer in this session, please contact us at impact@ncrc.org, again, if you want to stay updated or just wanted to get the gist of what the fellowship actually is, please go to our fellowship homepage, where you will find again, this webinar, the application link, and then also those project profiles and their descriptions. And then, if you had any questions about the Just Economy Conference or anything NCRC membership-related, please contact our membership team. They’d be happy to answer any questions you may have. So at this time, I think Haley might have dropped the link, I’m not sure, but there should be a survey in the chat. If you could all complete that just to give us any feedback, that’d be great, but also we’d be taking questions at this point.
Bentley 16:33
Yeah, so I have been looking through the Q and A and thus far, all the questions have been answered, but we’re going to stay on the line for a little bit longer, in case folks are looking to type anything in now that link to the survey has just been dropped into your chat, so you’ll see that there, and that’s really helpful for us. We want to make sure that these webinars are providing useful information for you all, making sure that you have a full grasp of what the process looks like, and so if you’d be able to just take a second there and let us know if there’s anything we can do in the future to make sure that these are as effective and understandable as possible. We really appreciate that. In terms of the questions that I have shared answers to, I do just want to raise those up as well, in case folks haven’t seen that in the Q and A . The first question is, are you required to be a student at the time of the application? And so the, I don’t know if you want to mention that.
Henderson 17:26
Yeah, so I can go back to…so like I said, we are asking for your student enrollment status. We are requesting that you submit transcripts. The requirement for us is that you have completed at least one semester of a graduate or higher level semester, so you do have to have had a semester under your belt to apply and to be eligible for the fellowship.
Bentley 17:55
Yeah, exactly. Secondly, there was someone just checking if there are any California placements at this time. So if you want to pop back to the geography slide really quick, Dia. So as you’ll see, that there is not a California placement anticipated at this round. I do just want to mention that our geographies do differ from year to year. So if your location is not on this list, but you still find yourself, you know, be in a graduate program and otherwise eligible for following rounds. Please know that this is not always the list of geographies. We do vary across the nation, so we just invite you to sign up for our newsletter, say following our social media and in future rounds, these may be different placements as well. We had a question here, Dia, just to confirm if someone lives in a state other than the ones listed, would they not be eligible? And I think it might just be helpful to highlight the in-person requirement and what we’re looking for there.
Henderson 18:53
Yeah. So for the in person requirement, we are asking that you stay in those areas that in person, like I said, that in person aspect is going to give you a better idea of what it’s like working in a in an office and having that that help right there next to you, versus just being virtual, which can make it a little bit more difficult when you’re just all virtual and not having that one on one connection with your supervisor in that team. So we are asking that you have that in person to to build those relationships and get that experience.
Speaker 1 19:35
Thanks. Let’s see here, we had a question just to confirm as well if, if a person was graduating this May, would they be ineligible? And the answer to that is, yes, unfortunately, you would be ineligible. As dia mentioned, you need to be currently enrolled. But congratulations to anyone who’s graduating soon. We have a question here as well. Can multiple fellows be selected for one placement? I’ll just say that in the past, we have had situations of multiple fellows in one placement organization for this round. We don’t anticipate for that to be the case. And if that changes, that would be communicated with applicants who are finalists in the selection process. But at this time, we don’t anticipate that. Let’s see. Now we have a question. When the application opens, we’ll have the addresses of the host institutions. Do you want to speak to that, Dia, of what additional information they can expect between now and the application?
Henderson 20:29
Yes, so within the next couple of days, we will be publishing and announcing the specific locations with the cities and the areas that we are or that we have chosen host organization so that will be on the website, attached to the project profiles, and then also on the application when you can select which projects you are interested in.
Bentley 20:55
Exactly. Okay, we have a question here just about the geographies come on to clarify on the website, they saw some additional other geographies listed, and so that’s something that will be updated as we publish those final selection of host projects. So good catch there we did for our host application phase. It’s just finishing up. We had a slightly wider net of target geographies. But of course, it’s a competitive process, and we just have room for eight slots this time around. And so we have windowed those projects down. And so these eight that you see on the screen are the locations where we anticipate projects for this time around, but good catch, and that will be updated again by the time that the application launches, so that you’ll have the exact location of the projects and those work plans that dia was showing earlier. All of that information will be refreshed on the website to make sure it’s up to date for that application. We have a question about, what if, to dia, what if you’ve received, let’s say, a master’s in a in the particular area already, but you are now enrolled in a different program. Would you be eligible even though you, you know, have one degree, but you’re pursuing another at this time?
Henderson 22:19
Well, one, congratulations for degree. Again, as long as you have that one semester minimum under your belt. So that means, like you’ve already completed a semester of this new program that you that you’re in, you would be eligible. Is not as much as, oh, I’ve already had a degree. Am I eligible with Morris? Have you completed a semester within this new program? But you having the degree in economic development definitely does align with some of the qualifications some of the host organizations may be looking for.
Bentley 23:05
Yeah, so we have a question that is for somebody who, for example, is living in New Jersey, or will be in New Jersey at the time of the application. And so they’re mentioning, you they could, in theory, you know, take a train somewhere else, say to Connecticut or Washington, DC, and so would they be eligible? In that situation? We’re looking for folks to be located, really, within the hour or even half an hour, of a host placement. And the reason for that is because we are looking for that in-person schedule to be something that is convenient for both parties. And so what we found in the past is if folks really have to do a significant amount of travel to make it to their host placement, it just becomes difficult for that to be a fruitful relationship. Sometimes, you know, an additional opportunity will come into your or will come up for our host organizations. They want to invite you to something. They want you to see a client visit. And so this can be really enriching experiences, or they are doing a staff event on a different day. And so when folks are located nearby, it makes those additional opportunities accessible and facilitates a stronger relationship. So we’re looking for you to be in the near vicinity of that host organization, and to make sure that you’re comfortable with that commute, just to make sure that that is a really an ideal match on both sides.
See, I think that that was the last question coming in, so we’ll leave it up for a second. Dia, do you want to pop back to that how to contact us page, and folks can just make any note of our email if you have, again, any specific questions to your situation that you want to address separately. We can definitely support you in that afterwards. And then I know also in the chat, you’ll see some information that was entered that mentioned about the Just Economy Conference for this year coming up with just a couple weeks, so might be short notice for some of you, but again, if you want to get to know us, if you want to just learn about the different work that NCRC is doing, and learn from all of our member organizations, so there’s over 1000 people who attend this conference, from bankers to nonprofit community development professionals, other emerging leaders. Our current cohort of fellows can be a great opportunity to learn, join the informational sessions, listen to our incredible mainstage speakers, and also just be able to connect again with our team and other folks in the industry. So that’s in there as well, in case anyone is interested. Students do have discounted tickets. And with that, I’m going to pass it back to you, Dia, I don’t see any other questions that have come in.
Henderson 25:50
Sounds good. Well, thank you all for joining us today, like Laura just mentioned, and I have up now. If you have any questions, please contact us, and we will get back to you with those answers. Please keep a lookout on those updates to the website. Again, the updates will include the projects for you all to observe, and then also the application link. So just keep an eye on that, and then also the specific cities and areas where we will have host organizations. Thank you all. I hope you all have a great day.
