2025–2027 Fellowship Selection Criteria

The Chil­dren and Fam­i­ly Fel­low­ship^® seeks tal­ent­ed, accom­plished and ambi­tious pro­fes­sion­als from across the coun­try who want to strength­en pub­lic and non­prof­it sys­tems in ways that make those sys­tems more effec­tive, effi­cient, equi­table and reli­able. The Foun­da­tion seeks peo­ple who strive for excel­lence and for mea­sur­able, equi­table results, who want to accel­er­ate their pro­fes­sion­al and per­son­al devel­op­ment and make a greater difference.

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 Fel­low­ship sem­i­nars and activ­i­ties dur­ing the Fel­low­ship term of April 2025 through March 2027;
• not be involved in anoth­er fel­low­ship pro­gram dur­ing the Chil­dren and Fam­i­ly Fel­low­ship peri­od, April 2025 through March 2027;
• not be seek­ing pub­lic office dur­ing the Chil­dren and Fam­i­ly Fel­low­ship peri­od, April 2025 through March 2027;
• 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 Annie E. Casey Foundation.

A Lead­er­ship Profile

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 equi­table 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 with­in their orga­ni­za­tions and can 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, youth and families.

Among the key com­mit­ments we seek for a suc­cess­ful Fel­low­ship can­di­date are: 

• Can­di­dates embrace the use of data to improve pro­grams, ser­vices, poli­cies 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 equi­table results that can be mon­i­tored and measured.
• Can­di­dates under­stand that to achieve 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.
• Can­di­dates 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 val­ues. They have the will to adapt by build­ing new orga­ni­za­tion­al norms and cul­ture that estab­lish the achieve­ment of equi­table results at the heart of the work. Can­di­dates under­stand the need to lead with clar­i­ty while grap­pling with ambi­gu­i­ty and adap­tive chal­lenges for which there are no easy answers.
• Can­di­dates rec­og­nize that their role is to sup­port fam­i­lies and young adults 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. Can­di­dates under­stand the need to be prox­i­mate to pop­u­la­tions on whose behalf they work.
• Can­di­dates are open to self-reflec­tion as part of per­son­al growth. They are will­ing to explore their blind spots, test assump­tions, receive feed­back and con­nect their per­son­al jour­ney and his­to­ry to their leadership.

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 sys­tems and com­mu­ni­ty change efforts that improve out­comes for large num­bers of chil­dren, youth 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. Also, they must com­mit to attend all com­po­nents of the Fel­low­ship opportunity.