Community Food Systems Fellowship


2026 Community Food Systems Fellowship Applications are Open!

 


About the Fellowship 


The Community Food Systems Fellowship is an 18-month leadership program that aims to increase opportunities for diverse local food system leaders to build their skills, capacity, and networks through a series of community design labs on participatory engagement and human centered design approaches, monthly learning sessions with other food systems leaders, and individualized technical assistance.

Through these opportunities, the fellowship hopes to strengthen community engagement and leadership of caregivers/families, uplift strengths-based narratives, and foster collaborative leadership that scales community identified solutions and cross sector partnerships.

Emerging leaders who are committed to food justice and equity should consider applying to the Community Food Systems Fellowship. Selected fellows will receive a stipend and can also apply for project innovation grants that can total up to $5,000.

The Fellowship is a good fit for those who are committed to:

 

How to Apply 


Applicants can submit their applications through this portal. All applications and recommendations are due by November 10th, 2025 at 5:00 PM ET. 

Request for Applications   View FAQ


As a part of your application, you must provide at least one letter of recommendation. Up to three letters of recommendation may be submitted.

If written applications are not accessible for you, you can submit pre-recorded video or audio responses through the online application portal, or you can schedule an oral intake application session (available through November 3, 2025). Please contact foodsystems@vitalvillage.org if you have any questions regarding submission.

For questions about the application or fellowship, please contact foodsystems@vitalvillage.org.

You can read more about the 2026 Fellowship Application process by checking out the Request for Applications and FAQ. In addition, we encourage you to help spread the word about the application by using language from our outreach toolkit for the fellowship application.

 

Nominate a Fellow 


While nominations are not required, if you know of anyone that sounds like a good fit for the fellowship, you can nominate them here.

 

Key Dates and Deadlines

Up to 10 community leaders will be selected by December 2025 and invited to participate in the 2026 Fellowship program.

 


Previous and Current Fellowship Cohorts  

Congratulations to our fellows and alumni for completing an incredible journey of learning and growth! Learn more about previous and current cohorts here:

2022 Fellows   2023 Fellows   2024 Fellows   2025 Fellows

 

Advisory Partners 

Thank you to our advisory partners for their continued guidance and support of this program:

 

For questions, please contact jlaura@vitalvillage.org.
 
This program is supported by a grant through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.