2026 Community Food Systems Fellowship — Applications Now Open!

If you are an emerging leader passionate about transforming local food systems, the 2026 Community Food Systems Fellowship offers a unique opportunity to deepen your skills, expand your network, and drive community-based change. This 18-month leadership program supports diverse local food system leaders through co-design labs, peer learning, technical assistance, and project funding. Selected fellows receive a stipend and may apply for innovation grants of up to $5,000.

🎓 Fellowship Summary

• Location: United States (includes US territories)

• Funder: Vital Village Network (Boston), supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

• Program Length: 18 months

• Target Group: Emerging leaders engaged in local food systems, community engagement, and equity initiatives

• Focus Areas:

  • Community food systems, local food justice, nutrition justice

  • Participatory engagement, human-centered design

  • Narrative change, data storytelling, impact measurement

  • Cross-sector collaboration (e.g. food, health, environment, policy)

• Coverage:

  • Fellowship stipend: USD 2,500 (to honor time for fellow participation)

  • Innovation / pilot project grant (optional): up to USD 2,500 (sometimes aggregated in reports as “up to $5,000”)

• Start / End Dates: Fellowship begins ~ January following selection, runs through June of the second year (i.e. January Year 1 → June Year 2)

• Application Deadline: November 10, 2025 at 5:00 PM ET (for the 2026 cohort)

• Eligible To: Applicants who are U.S.-based (including territories) and have an existing partnership with a nonprofit, coalition, network, group, cooperative, institution or organization focused on local food systems.

  
  

🧭 Fellowship Overview & Structure

The 2026 Community Food Systems Fellowship is structured to blend peer learning, co-design, project incubation, and individualized support.

Key components include:

1. Community Design Labs

   
   

   Fellows participate in two major design labs (cohort gatherings) that emphasize participatory engagement, human-centered design, and roadmap creation for collective action.

   • The first typically happens early in Year 1 (in-person launch)

   • The second aligns with a retreat / summit during Year 1’s latter half

2. Monthly Learning Sessions

   
   

   Virtual peer-led sessions (often 3 hours) held monthly, covering topics such as data storytelling, participatory research, narrative change, collaborative leadership, healing-centered frameworks, and food equity theory.

3. Individualized Coaching / Technical Assistance

   
   

   Fellows receive 1:1 check-ins (bi-monthly) and support to develop and implement an innovation pilot project.

4. Collective Cohort Project / Showcase

   
   

   Fellows will co-create a collective project or roadmap (drawing on cohort priorities) and present their final work during a cross-cohort showcase involving alumni, partners, and stakeholders.

5. Peer Groups & Alumni Mentorship

   
   

   Fellows are grouped based on interest, geography, or specialization, and connected to alumni mentors for ongoing support.

6. Project Implementation Phase (Final 6 months)

   
   

   After core learning, fellows spend final months applying what they’ve learned: implementing pilot projects, collecting data, and receiving support to bring them to fruition.

🎁 Benefits & What’s Covered

• Stipend: USD 2,500 (recognizing fellows’ time commitment)

• Innovation / Pilot Project Funding: Up to USD 2,500 (for research, participant incentives, local travel, project costs)

• Networking & Peer Learning: Access to a cohort of food systems leaders, alumni, and advisory partners

• Technical Support & Coaching: Tailored assistance in project design, data, narrative, and implementation

• Opportunity to Co-design: Fellows influence the direction of the fellowship’s collective action and roadmap

• Showcase & Visibility: Present at cross-cohort events to amplify work and build connections

✅ Eligibility Criteria

To be considered for the fellowship, applicants should:

1. Be based in the United States or U.S. territories (residency requirement).

2. Have an existing partnership with a nonprofit, coalition, network, group, cooperative, business, or local institution working in or focused on local food systems.

3. Demonstrate commitment, through past or current work, to:

   • Resilient and equitable local food systems

   • Community leadership, caregiver/family engagement

   • Food justice, nutrition justice, racial equity & social transformation

   • Impact measurement, storytelling, collaborative leadership

   • Addressing inequities within your community (e.g. geographic, economic, racial)

4. Be prepared to engage consistently over the fellowship’s 18 months, attending design labs, monthly sessions, check-ins, and completing deliverables

Vital Village also encourages diverse representation across race, geography, gender, age, disability, and socioeconomic status, especially voices from communities most impacted by food inequities.

📝 Application Procedure

1. Submit Online Application via the fellowship portal.

2. Recommendation Letter(s): At least one letter of recommendation is required; up to three may be submitted.

3. Alternate Formats: If written application is not accessible, you may submit pre-recorded audio/video responses or schedule an oral intake (by November 3, 2025) via coordination with the fellowship team (email: foodsystems@vitalvillage.org)

4. Finalist Interviews: Selected candidates will be invited for virtual interviews (December 8–12, 2025)

5. Selection: Up to 10 fellows will be selected by December 2025 to begin the 2026 cohort.

✏️ Tips for Strong Application

• Clearly connect your work to food justice, equity, and systems change

• Outline how you will leverage the fellowship to impact your community

• Provide a solid project idea or area you’d like to develop

• Show evidence of partnership or collaboration in the food space

• Use storytelling or narrative framing (if allowed) to convey your passion and vision

ℹ️ Additional Notes & Context

• The fellowship is explicitly U.S.-based, which means applicants from other countries (unless they reside in U.S. territories) will not be eligible.

• The fellowship’s design builds heavily on participatory methods, narrative change, and cohort-driven design—with fellows helping co-author collective direction and outputs.