NewComm × Your School

What Fellowship Means

You don't lead because you're "qualified" by traditional standards—you lead because your community expertise is the most valuable credential. Your lived experience, cultural knowledge, and understanding of barriers that data alone cannot capture make you the architect, not the observer.

This is not an internship. This is not résumé-building. This is professional work with real authority, real budgets, and real consequences.

Who Becomes a Fellow

Eligibility Requirements

Primary Criterion: Lived Experience

• You must have lived experience in communities facing the challenges your project addresses
• This is non-negotiable and is what makes community-centered solutions authentic
• A student from the South Bronx who attends Stuyvesant qualifies as a Fellow
• A student from Manhattan's Upper East Side at a public school does not

Secondary Criterion: Demonstrated Commitment

• Most Fellows participated as Engaged Members during sophomore year
• You showed consistent contribution, follow-through, and leadership potential
• You understand NewComm's framework and values

Selection Process

Application (Spring of Sophomore Year)

• Written application explaining your connection to the community challenge
• Evidence of your engagement as an Engaged Member (if applicable)
• Vision for community-centered solutions
• References from teachers, coaches, or community leaders

Interview

• Discussion of your lived experience and community expertise
• Exploration of your understanding of asset-based (not deficit-based) approaches
• Assessment of your readiness for collaborative leadership with full authority

What Fellows Do: Core Responsibilities

The $10,000 Community Project

You co-lead a significant community intervention with up to three other Fellows from partner schools, working with a client organization focused on social impact (housing, education, health, etc.).

Full Decision-Making Authority

• You make final decisions on strategy, budget allocation, and implementation
• Adults coach and ask questions—they cannot override your decisions
• This isn't tokenism: you experience what it means to have genuine power

Budget Management ($10,000)

• You collectively manage a $10,000 budget with full financial accountability
• You decide how money gets spent to maximize community impact
• You track expenses, justify allocations, and ensure transparency
• Budget Committee (Engaged Members) supports you with tracking and analysis

Strategic Leadership

• You define the project's theory of change based on community needs
• You make pivots when strategies aren't working
• You lead Engaged Members across four committees who support your vision
• You present progress to stakeholders, defending your decisions with evidence

Community Partnership Development

• You build relationships with community organizations, residents, and leaders
• You negotiate partnerships and memoranda of understanding
• You ensure community voices shape the project, not just your assumptions
• External Partners Committee (Engaged Members) supports your outreach

Implementation & Accountability

• You execute the intervention, managing logistics, timelines, and quality
• You collect data on outcomes and community feedback
• You adapt in real-time when challenges arise
• Program Development Committee (Engaged Members) supports evaluation

Public Presentations

• You present to client organization leadership, funders, and community stakeholders
• You defend your choices, share learnings, and make recommendations
• Marketing & Advertising Committee (Engaged Members) supports documentation

Time Commitment

Full Year Commitment: September - June

• Design Phase (Sept-Apr): 6-8 hours/week including bi-weekly meetings with client organization, committee coordination, community research
• Implementation (May): 10-15 hours/week executing intervention and deploying full budget
• Assessment (June): 8-10 hours/week analyzing data, writing final reports, preparing presentations

What You Gain

Professional Credentials

• Proven experience managing $10,000 with full accountability
• Portfolio demonstrating measurable community impact
• Professional references from client organization leaders and NewComm coaches
• Documented leadership of cross-functional teams

Builder Identity Formation

• You internalize: "I am trusted with resources"
• "I belong in professional spaces"
• "My vision shapes outcomes"
• "I can lead complex projects from concept to completion"

Professional Networks

• Direct relationships with client organization leaders and subject matter experts
• Connections with community organizations and leaders
• Monthly Supper Clubs with industry professionals
• Access to mentors who treat you as an emerging colleague, not a student

Pathway to Industry Studios

• Top-performing Fellows become paid consultants senior year
• Earn consulting fees while building professional portfolios
• Work with mission-driven companies and organizations on community engagement strategies

The Difference Between Fellows and Engaged Members

Aspect	Fellows	Engaged Members
Authority	Full decision-making power	Support Fellows' decisions
Budget	Manage $10K collectively	Track spending, provide analysis
Leadership	Lead 24-person team	Contribute specialized work
Focus	Strategy, vision, outcomes	Execution, deliverables
Eligibility	Lived experience required	Open to all students
Compensation	Stipend for leadership	Unpaid internship

Why This Matters

Most youth programs position students as beneficiaries who need preparation. NewComm positions Fellows as experts whose community knowledge is the foundation for authentic solutions.

This is not inspiration or skill-building—it's systematic identity formation through repeated experiences of being trusted with networks, capital, and authority.

By junior year, you will have proven you can manage significant resources, lead teams, and deliver measurable community impact. That's not a résumé line—that's the builder identity that breaks intergenerational poverty cycles.

What General Membership Is

General Membership is fully open to any student interested in learning about community-centered design from youth leaders who are experts in their communities.

No application. No selection process. No formal commitment required.

This is your opportunity to explore NewComm, see what Fellows are building, learn from community architects, and decide if you want to deepen your involvement through Engaged Membership or Fellowship.

What General Members Experience

Monthly Town Halls (2 hours/month, October–May)

These are structured learning experiences where you're a learner, not a helper—attending discussions led by young people who are experts in their communities.

Community Meal (30 minutes)

• Town Halls open with food sourced from the community
• Informal space to meet peers from across NYC's public and independent schools
• Connect with the month's guest speaker in a relaxed setting
• Build relationships across schools and neighborhoods

Guest Speaker (20 minutes)

Each Town Hall features a community leader sharing their work:

• Community organizers leading neighborhood initiatives
• Social entrepreneurs building community-centered organizations
• Corporate professionals doing meaningful community engagement
• Artists and designers using creative practice for community impact
• Alumni Fellows now pursuing community architecture careers

Fellow Project Presentation (40 minutes)

• Student Fellows present the current state of their $10K community project
• Not polished pitches—real work-in-progress sharing
• Challenges they're facing, learnings they've discovered, pivots they're considering
• You see what community-centered design actually looks like in practice

Structured Dialogue (20 minutes)

• General Members ask questions about Fellow work
• Guest speakers respond to what Fellows are building
• Model curiosity and learning from community expertise
• Understand how professionals think about community impact

Pathways Moment (10 minutes)

• Learn about opportunities to deepen involvement through Engaged Membership
• Hear about Weekly Roundtables (peer-led Math and English tutoring)
• Understand how General Members can transition to more active roles

Weekly Roundtables (Optional)

Peer-led tutoring sessions where students share specific strategies that helped them succeed academically in Math and English.

• Open to all students across all schools
• Not traditional tutoring—students teaching what actually worked for them
• Build academic skills while learning collaborative study strategies
• Strengthen relationships with peers across schools

Select Member Events (Occasional)

• Field trips to community organizations
• Select Supper Club networking opportunities with professionals
• Special workshops or discussions on community design topics

What You Gain

Exposure to Community-Centered Design

You learn what it means to follow the leadership of those with lived experience, not impose external solutions—a framework rarely taught in traditional curricula.

Cross-School Community Building

You build genuine relationships across NYC's educational ecosystem in spaces where community expertise is centered, not institutional prestige.

Access to Professional Networks

Through guest speakers and optional Supper Clubs, you meet community organizers, social entrepreneurs, and corporate leaders doing community-centered work.

Preparation for Deeper Involvement

General Members who want to contribute more actively can apply to become Engaged Members, joining professional committees where they'll produce deliverables supporting Fellow-led projects.

Portfolio Development (If You Progress)

Students who become Engaged Members build documented contributions to community impact projects—valuable for college applications and career development.

Time Commitment

Minimal and Flexible:

• Required: 2 hours/month (one Saturday morning Town Hall, October–May)
• Optional: Weekly Roundtables (1-2 hours/week if you choose to attend)
• Optional: Select Member Events (announced in advance)

No formal commitment—attend as much or as little as your schedule allows.

The Journey from General Member to Engaged Member

Sophomore Fall: Join as General Member

• Attend Town Halls
• Participate in Roundtables
• Learn the NewComm framework
• Observe what Fellows and Engaged Members are building

Sophomore Spring: Apply to Engaged Membership (Optional)

• If interested in deeper involvement, apply to join a committee
• Complete brief orientation
• Begin producing deliverables that support Fellow-led projects

Junior Year: Deepen Committee Expertise

• Build specialized skills in your committee area
• Support Fellow-led $10K projects with increasing independence
• Strengthen case for senior year consulting opportunities

Senior Year: Industry Studios Consulting (Selective)

• Top-performing Engaged Members (and Fellows) can become paid consultants
• Work with mission-driven companies and organizations
• Earn consulting fees while building professional portfolios

Why General Membership Matters

Most programs ask you to commit before you know what you're signing up for. NewComm invites you to experience community-centered design first—learning from Fellows who are leading real projects with real budgets and real community impact.

This isn't service-learning where you're positioned to help. It's learning from community experts who happen to be your peers.

Three Pathways, One Ecosystem

Membership Tier	Time Commitment	Focus	Who It's For
General Member	2 hrs/month	Learning & exploring	Anyone curious about community design
Engaged Member	6-8 hrs/week	Building expertise & supporting Fellows	Students ready for committee work
Fellow	8-15 hrs/week	Leading with full authority	Students with lived community experience

How to Get Started

1. Express Interest: Fill out simple interest form (no application required)
2. Attend First Town Hall: See what community-centered design looks like
3. Decide Your Level: Stay as General Member, explore Roundtables, or consider Engaged Membership

There's no pressure to commit to more. General Membership is valuable on its own.