2019-21 Candidate Eligibility and Characteristics

Every three years, the Fel­low­ship accepts nom­i­na­tions and appli­ca­tions. The last appli­ca­tion process end­ed on Sep­tem­ber 7, 2018. The Foun­da­tion is not seek­ing Fel­lows can­di­dates at this time.

The Chil­dren and Fam­i­ly Fel­low­ship seeks high­ly qual­i­fied indi­vid­u­als who have made a dif­fer­ence in improv­ing the life cir­cum­stances of America’s chil­dren and fam­i­lies, the com­mu­ni­ties in which they live or the sys­tems that serve them.

Eli­gi­bil­i­ty Requirements

The can­di­dates we are look­ing for have a min­i­mum of 10 years of pro­fes­sion­al expe­ri­ence in the social sec­tor, with increas­ing lev­els of respon­si­bil­i­ty serv­ing chil­dren and fam­i­lies (for exam­ple, direc­tors, deputies, pro­gram man­agers, depart­ment heads and exec­u­tives). They have a strong record of achieve­ment and career advance­ment, with sights on even high­er lev­els of effec­tive­ness and influ­ence. Can­di­dates have demon­strat­ed a com­mit­ment to assist­ing under­served com­mu­ni­ties, reduc­ing racial dis­par­i­ties and man­ag­ing a diverse work­force. They under­stand the val­ue of hav­ing client pop­u­la­tions reflect­ed in the diver­si­ty of employ­ee pop­u­la­tions and how race, eth­nic­i­ty, class, gen­der, sex­u­al ori­en­ta­tion and lan­guage affect ser­vice deliv­ery, pol­i­cy, prac­tice, advo­ca­cy and lead­er­ship decisions.

Basic Cri­te­ria

To be eli­gi­ble for the Chil­dren and Fam­i­ly Fel­low­ship, an appli­cant must:

• have 10 years or more pro­fes­sion­al work expe­ri­ence in fields that serve chil­dren and fam­i­lies (exclud­ing vol­un­teer time and unpaid internships);
• hold a posi­tion with sig­nif­i­cant man­age­ment respon­si­bil­i­ty (for exam­ple, pro­gram man­agers, deputies, depart­ment heads, direc­tors, exec­u­tives) or have held such a posi­tion recently;
• be work­ing in the Unit­ed States on domes­tic issues;
• have work expe­ri­ence in roles of increas­ing responsibility;
• be able to attend all sem­i­nars and activ­i­ties dur­ing the Fel­low­ship term of April 2019 through Jan­u­ary 2021;
• not be involved in anoth­er fel­low­ship pro­gram dur­ing the Chil­dren and Fam­i­ly Fel­low­ship peri­od, April 2019 through Jan­u­ary 2021;
• not be seek­ing pub­lic office dur­ing the Chil­dren and Fam­i­ly Fel­low­ship peri­od, April 2019 through Jan­u­ary 2021;
• not be cur­rent­ly seek­ing employ­ment at the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion; and
• not be an imme­di­ate fam­i­ly mem­ber of a board mem­ber or senior leader of the Casey Foundation.

Char­ac­ter­is­tics of Ide­al Candidates

Strong can­di­dates demon­strate a vari­ety of lead­er­ship qual­i­ties and show evi­dence of even greater lead­er­ship poten­tial. They have a vision for change and the dri­ve to improve out­comes. They are capa­ble of pro­mot­ing col­lab­o­ra­tion and coop­er­a­tion across dis­ci­plines and among diverse groups and of man­ag­ing and insti­tu­tion­al­iz­ing change. They inno­vate, take and man­age risks, lis­ten and learn, inspire oth­ers and per­se­vere, often against great odds. They have sig­nif­i­cant influ­ence and the oppor­tu­ni­ty to imme­di­ate­ly apply the con­cepts learned through the Fel­low­ship with­in their orga­ni­za­tions. The Fel­low­ship seeks peo­ple who can trans­late their beliefs into action, think strate­gi­cal­ly, get things done and mea­sure the dif­fer­ence they are mak­ing for chil­dren and families.

Ambi­tious Career Goals
The Fel­low­ship wants lead­ers who are ready for sig­nif­i­cant pro­fes­sion­al chal­lenges and expand­ed lead­er­ship roles — in major com­mu­ni­ty-build­ing ini­tia­tives and in pub­lic sys­tems. They should not sim­ply aspire to the next rung on the orga­ni­za­tion­al lad­der. They have ambi­tious career goals and want increas­ing respon­si­bil­i­ty for lead­ing sys­tem reforms and com­mu­ni­ty change efforts that improve out­comes for large num­bers of chil­dren and families.

At a Piv­otal Point in Careers
The Casey Fel­low­ship is not for every­one. We seek the right peo­ple, but also peo­ple at the right moment in their careers. Fel­lows must be pre­pared to par­tic­i­pate in the pro­gram — com­mit­ting the time and ener­gy to take full advan­tage of the Fel­low­ship oppor­tu­ni­ty while bal­anc­ing the demands of their cur­rent positions.

The Fel­lows Mindset

To be a suc­cess­ful can­di­date, we ask that Fel­low­ship candidates:

• Embrace the use of data to improve pro­grams, ser­vices and the sys­tems in which they oper­ate and to achieve results. They are inter­est­ed in employ­ing evi­dence-based prac­tice. They rec­og­nize that col­lab­o­ra­tive lead­er­ship and part­ner­ships are essen­tial to achiev­ing results. They act with urgency and are com­mit­ted to pro­duc­ing results that can be mon­i­tored and measured.
   
• Under­stand that achiev­ing equi­table oppor­tu­ni­ties for all chil­dren requires address­ing deeply entrenched sys­temic and struc­tur­al inequities. They do not shy away from hard con­ver­sa­tions around race and are will­ing to exam­ine their own bias­es and men­tal mod­els. They work to imple­ment high­ly impact­ful tar­get­ed and uni­ver­sal strate­gies to close dis­par­i­ties and use influ­ence and pol­i­cy to address struc­tur­al bar­ri­ers to all chil­dren achiev­ing their potential.
   
• Under­stand that the hard work of chang­ing the cul­ture of orga­ni­za­tions and sys­tems in order to achieve results often requires strate­gies to change deeply held atti­tudes, habits and ulti­mate­ly val­ues. They have the will to adapt by build­ing new orga­ni­za­tion­al norms and cul­ture that estab­lish the achieve­ment of results at the heart of the work.
   
• Rec­og­nize that their role is to sup­port fam­i­lies in real­iz­ing the aspi­ra­tions they have for them­selves and their chil­dren, and that ser­vices and sup­ports to fam­i­lies are most effec­tive when the fam­i­ly is a full part­ner in deci­sions about the family.