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Lead For Nebraska Announces Fellowship Application for 2022
Lead For Nebraska Announces Fellowship Application for 2022
Fellows will serve in positions of leadership in communities across Nebraska to help address critical local and state challenges
Auburn, NE – Lead For Nebraska (LFNE) and the national nonprofit Lead For America (LFA) today announced their 2022 Fellowship application for Nebraska. Selected AmeriCorps Fellows will address Nebraska’s most pressing challenges at the local level and join a national cohort of other leaders committed to supporting the communities they call home. The Fellowship application closes on April 15, 2022.
Lead For America is a national service program building the next generation of leaders for our country, starting in American communities across all 50 states. All Fellows serve in a paid, full-time service AmeriCorps Fellowship alongside a local leader in their hometown or home state for one year, before advancing into positions of community, state, and national leadership. Since 2018, LFA has placed over 215 Fellows across 35 states, including five Nebraska Fellows that started in 2021. Past Nebraska Fellows have served to address the state’s most pressing challenges, from rural broadband to public health and economic development in communities like Humboldt, Auburn, and Lincoln.
“Our country has rarely been more divided than it is today and from public health to the economy and foreign affairs, America is facing significant challenges,” said Joe Nail, CEO and co-founder of Lead For America. “But at times of dysfunction on a national level, reform and renewal has often arisen from the local level and a new generation of leadership. Lead For America aims to build a leadership force of our nation’s most outstanding young leaders, committed to serving the places they call home and stitching our country back together by building bridges across lines of difference. We believe that there is common ground, mutual respect, and even friendship to be found through shared commitment to place and to national service.”
As a part of their Fellowship experience, Fellows serve full-time with a local Nebraska nonprofit or government entity – city or county level – to address a critical community challenge alongside the mentorship of a local leader. Fellows also take part in a premier training program throughout the Fellowship. They begin their journey with Lead For America’s 12-day Summer Institute in Washington DC where they learn about American history, the most significant challenges facing our country today, how to build relationships across lines of difference, and how to be an effective local leader in the community they call home. Fellows continue this training with trips to LFA’s headquarters in Kansas and visiting other Fellows in their home communities. During their Fellowship, Fellows take time to learn from residents about the challenges and opportunities in their community and are tasked with creating a project to address one of their learnings. Overall, the Fellowship serves as a launching pad for a lifetime of leadership and service to country and community.
“Our Lead for Nebraska AmeriCorps Fellows are playing a critical role in building capacity for rural communities in Nebraska,” said Lead for Nebraska Executive Director Brent Comstock. “Current AmeriCorps Fellows are tackling challenges in everything from digital literacy, connecting rural communities with broadband internet expansion to unserved and underserved areas, to public health disparities and COVID-19 response. To date, our AmeriCorps Fellows have impacted residents across the state and we are excited to continue this monumental movement with our new cohort who will continue to empower rural development statewide.”
Lead For Nebraska AmeriCorps Fellows will tackle critical challenges facing the state, like rural economic development, broadband expansion and public health, from Cambridge and Holdrege to Lincoln.
The following organizations will host Fellows in their communities that candidates can apply to serve with:
- Cambridge Economic Development Board (Cambridge) is looking for an Economic Development Fellow
- South Central Economic Development District (Holdrege) is looking for a Community Development Fellow
- Nebraska Hospital Association (Lincoln) is looking for a Health Data Fellow
- Northeast Nebraska Economic Development District and Siouxland Interstate Metropolitan Planning Council (Norfolk) are looking for an Economic Development Fellow
- Valley County Health Systems (Ord) is looking for a Community Outreach Fellow
- Pierce County Economic Development Group (Pierce County) is looking for an Economic Development Fellow
- Ravenna Economic Development Board and Chamber (Ravenna) are looking for an Economic Development Fellow
The Fellowship application closes on April 15, 2022. Fellows will begin their one-year commitment to service in August 2022 and finish in July 2023. After graduating, Fellows will continue to be a part of Lead For America’s network of local, state, and national leaders.
To learn more about Lead For America, visit its website at: www.leadforamerica.org
To apply to the 2022 Fellowship, visit the application page at: leadforamerica.pinpointhq.com/en
Lead For America is a national service program building the next generation of leaders for our country and communities across all 50 states. Through LFA’s flagship Hometown Fellowship, Fellows serve in a paid, full-time AmeriCorps Fellowship alongside a local leader in their hometown or home state for one year, before advancing into positions of community, state, and national leadership for decades to come. Since 2018, Lead For America has created over 200 paid, full-time Fellowships for outstanding young leaders nationwide. In 2021, Lead For America launched its largest cohort yet of 115 Fellows. LFA has been featured prominently in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, CBS This Morning, and Forbes. Altogether, LFA has raised more than $10 million in just three years to launch the civic leadership careers of hundreds––soon to be thousands––of our nation’s most outstanding young people. LFA is proud that 100% of alumni remain committed to careers in public service and civic leadership, and nearly 90% remain committed to the communities they call home.
Lead for Nebraska is Bringing American Connection Corps to Nebraska
The Rural Impact Hub and Lead for Nebraska (LFNE) are pleased to share a partnership with the American Connection Corps (ACC). This 10-state initiative focused on rural broadband expansion and connectivity will place fellows within a network of over 50 others doing work throughout the country.
Lead for Nebraska is a fellowship organization that recruits, trains, and places young leaders ages 21-30 to serve in paid two-year fellowships to strengthen local organizations in Nebraska. Our specific focus is centered around expanding rural broadband access, digital literacy, and general economic development for our rural communities.
Learn more about the American Connection Corp project here, or contact rebecca@bcomonline.com to set up a call.
Interested in hosting a fellow or becoming a fellow?
Read about the ACC program
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AGDAILY
Lead for Nebraska Receives Planning Grant from ServeNE/AmeriCorps
Lead for Nebraska has been awarded a planning grant to fund the establishment of the statewide fellowship program focusing on rural broadband expansion, digital literacy and economic development in greater Nebraska.
“This planning grant is a huge investment in the future of Nebraska. It will help us serve our state and provides much-needed support to communities our fellows will serve,” said Rebecca Johnson, director of rural partnerships and program leader with the Rural Impact Hub and Lead for Nebraska of the grant.
Interested in becoming a fellow or learning how a community you serve can invest in its future?
Rural Impact Hub Announces Statewide Fellowship Program Lead for Nebraska
The Rural Impact Hub announced the launch of a statewide initiative called Lead for Nebraska (LFNE) this week. This partnership, with the nationally recognized nonprofit Lead for America (LFA), will bring 18 fellows to host sites across the state to empower their communities, promote the growth of broadband internet access, digital literacy and help spur economic growth across the state.
Beginning in March 2021, the Rural Impact Hub, headquartered in Auburn, Nebraska, will be accepting applications for host communities and fellowship positions statewide. Young adults, recent college graduates, and communities interested in hosting a fellow can learn more here.
“Our vision at the Rural Impact Hub is rooted in using community engagement and entrepreneurial thinking for the betterment of all rural Nebraska communities,” said Rural Impact Hub founder Brent Comstock. “Our mission has been led by two principles – engage people for community growth and give young people in the state a path back to their communities where they can make an impact. These ideals have led us to form a strong partnership with Lead for America.”
Based in Dodge City, Kansas, the national organization, Lead for America seeks to direct homegrown talent where it’s needed most — in towns and counties where challenges outpace resources available. LFA has more than 90 fellows in 81 communities across the country. Combined, these fellows have leveraged more than $17 million for their communities and impacted the lives of more than 13.5 million people.
“Lead for America is thrilled to partner with BCom Solutions and the Rural Impact Hub to cultivate Nebraska’s next generation of community-rooted, transformational leaders,” said Lead for America CEO Joe Nail. “Carrying forward the mission of the Rural Impact Hub to strengthen the economic and relational fabric of communities across the state, we believe that Lead For Nebraska will challenge the narrative that you have to leave rural America to make an impact, building thriving and resilient communities for all Nebraskans.”
During a two-year term, fellows will partner with communities to tackle one of the greatest challenges for rural Nebraska – the digital divide. Fellows will help communities gather resources and create a strategy to bring broadband to rural communities, increasing digital literacy to leverage access for those who have it all while spurring economic development.
Rebecca Johnson who leads programming for the Rural Impact Hub, said of the mission, “Now more than ever, we see the need for equitable broadband access for all Nebraska communities. By increasing and leveraging rural broadband access, economic development and engagement, Lead For Nebraska, its host communities and fellows will help rural communities focus on growth in a digital era.”
Learn more about Lead For Nebraska and how you or your community can get involved here or by emailing the program director, Rebecca Johnson, at rebecca@bcomonline.com.
