A Bush Fellowship provides an individual with opportunities to increase their understanding of, capacity for, and practice of leadership to work with others to improve the quality of life in their community. The work of the Fellowship is to blend opportunities for personal development with efforts to effectively engage with others to create positive change within their communities.
The Bush Foundation is currently accepting applications for new fellows from all over Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. If you care deeply about your community and are committed to making it a better place, a Bush Fellowship could be just what you need to take your leadership to the next level in the service of your community. Continue reading for more information about the opportunity and application deadlines, and click to learn even more!
The Bush Fellowship is based on four core principles:
- Know yourself. Without understanding your strengths, weaknesses, intentions and motivations it can be difficult to effectively work with others.
- Know your community. Actively listening, reflecting, and building and nurturing relationships accesses a community’s knowledge and resources.
- Mobilize. People need to care enough to take action.
- Manage conflict. Answers are often found among the differences between people.
During the Fellowship, Bush Fellows are expected to pursue experiential and formal learning opportunities that touch on each of these core principles. At the end of the Fellowship, the program expects them to:
- Have increased self-awareness.
- Have a deeper understanding of their community.
- Be more experienced and skilled at mobilizing stakeholders.
- Have greater understanding and appreciation of the role of conflict in bringing about positive change within a community and increased experience in working through conflict.
Who should apply for a Bush Fellowship? The program is looking for individuals who:
- Care deeply about their communities and have a vision to start from for how those communities can be better places for everyone.
- Desire to work with others—even those with whom they disagree—to create a shared vision for their community, and are committed to working with others to make that vision a reality.
- Are passionate about learning and committed to improving their effectiveness in service of improved quality of life in their community.
- Understand that risk, failure, and conflict provide valuable learning and are necessary for making progress.
Upcoming deadlines:
| Application Deadline | Finalist Interview Dates |
| Round 1 – Deadline January 18, 2013 | April 25 or 29 |
| Round 2 – Deadline March 22, 2013 | June 20 or 24 |
| Round 3 – Deadline May 24, 2013 | August 19 or 22 |
Click here for eligibility requirements, selection criteria and additional information. You can also learn about the program’s history and see 2011 and 2012 Bush Fellows in the program.
We also suggest reading a blog post from Martha Lee, Manager for Advancing Solutions at Bush Foundation, where she reflects on the duration and framing of the Bush Fellowship experience.
