Fellowship for Emerging Leaders in Public Service

Applications for the 2024 FELPS program closed on September 12, 2023 at noon. 

About the Fellowship for Emerging Leaders in Public Service

The Fellowship for Emerging Leaders in Public Service (FELPS) is a unique leadership and career accelerator program for early-career professionals in public service. The Fellowship recognizes the strong commitment to public service that Fellows have demonstrated and strengthens this commitment by providing professional development and networking opportunities to help Fellows think intentionally and strategically about their own leadership and careers.

FELPS is intentionally designed for communities of color and works to support the dismantling of oppressive systems that operate in the public service space. The FELPS curriculum was modified, beginning with the 2021 Fellowship, to give it an explicitly anti-racist and intersectional focus with race and identity centered in sessions. 

FELPS is one of the first programs that actively guides and engages emerging leaders in a process that encourages self-directed career development. This process encourages Fellows to explore the facets of public service most appealing to them while simultaneously presenting them with the exciting and challenging options that a modern-day public service career offers. The Fellowship is part of a broader commitment by the NYU Changemaker Center and NYU Wagner to educate and prepare the next generation of diverse public service leaders.

FELPS anchors next generation public service leaders by:

  • Inspiring Fellows to reconnect with their initial excitement and commitment to public service in their daily work and use that motivation as they advance their careers.
  • Engaging Fellows in a series of dynamic conversations and explorations that strengthen this commitment while challenging them to ask, "What's next?"
  • Connecting Fellows with leaders in public service, to make them aware of career paths they can take and to provide networking opportunities.
  • Providing Fellows with opportunities to reflect upon the experience as they shape their career development in an action-orientated manner.

Overview

The 2024 fellowship runs from November 2023 through May 2024. Fellows will come together in-person for a series of workshops two to three times each month on evenings and weekends to:

  • Hear from senior experts in the public service field about their own career trajectories and the leadership lessons they have learned along the way;
  • Gain a clear assessment of their own assets, knowledge base and skill set and evaluate how they can apply these in their current roles;
  • Develop a career plan based on personal assessments and professional goals; and 
  • Build a network of peers and mentors who can offer insight and guidance over the course of their careers.