Design-Thinking workshop held in Hibbing to construct project scopes with stakeholders from across Iron Range
Constructing project scopes with local stakeholders in Hibbing, MN using LFA Convergent Leadership Model
"Lead for Minnesota is the catalyst that is bringing stakeholders across our communities and the Iron Range together for a common goal: to make our communities vibrant and sustainable. It has inspired and re-energized our communities beyond measure."
- Jennifer Hoffman, Hibbing City Counselor & President of the Hibbing Foundation
Why
Host?
Welcome Diverse, Trained Talent
Fellows possess extraordinary integrity, drive, and commitment to public service. Each has access to a variety of mentors, trainings and conferences. Fellows receive a world-class training in public administration from faculty at UNC Chapel Hill, Harvard, Tufts, Georgetown, BU and other top schools, helping bolster their ability to contribute.
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Address Immediate Workforce Challenges
Our training is designed to make our Fellows real contributors in your organization from the start. You should challenge the Fellows to tackle significant, tough problems.​ For outstanding host organizations that cannot pay for the full cost of the Fellow's scholarship, we may be able to work with your organization to raise funds through community philanthropies.
Make a Long-Term Investment
Fellows are encouraged to work with partners in the community, including public institutions, small businesses and community-based nonprofits for four of the next seven years. Some will also be helping mentor, teach, or otherwise engage high school students. ​Fellows are selected for their demonstrated commitment to the community or region.
Connect With Civically-Minded Organizations
We believe it is important that we connect our host institutions and organizational partners to one another. As such, all hosts are invited to join our online community of forward-thinking community organizations. All hosts will also benefit from the resources of our university partners.
What We Look For
In Hosts
Frequently asked questions
How do you choose host organizations for the Hometown Fellowship?
What is the cost to host a Fellow?
Who employs the Fellows?
For all legal purposes, the Fellow is not an employee or a contractor of Lead for America/Lead for Minnesota nor of the host organization. The Fellow is paid via scholarships from LFA per the rules of the IRS Fellowship classification due to the educational purpose of the program. Simply, host organizations provide financial contributions to LFA, and LFA provides the scholarship funds directly to the Fellows.
What does it mean to host a Fellow along a "track"?
LFMN offers 5 fellowship tracks: 1) General Local & Tribal Government; 2) Main Street | Economic Development; 3) Civic Artist | Creative Placemaking & Community Engagement; 4) Rural Resilience | Environmental Resilience & Sustainability; and 5) Propose-Your-Own.
What is the timeline for hosting?
For the Fall 2020 fellowship, we recruit for Fellows and host placements from October 2019-March 2020, with four fellow recruitment cycles throughout those months. We recommend host organizations apply to host as early in the recruitment cycle as possible so our team has ample time to recruit specifically for their community.