CU will select Fellows by assessing their “civic leadership potential,” as well as how they affect the diversity of the Fellow cohort.

How do we determine whether a candidate has civic leadership potential? We define and will assess each candidate across four dimensions:

Self-mastery: How developed is their self-awareness and social/emotional/spiritual intelligence? Do they have moral and civic virtues such as concern for the rights and welfare of others, social responsibility, tolerance and respect, and belief in the capacity to make a difference? Can they engage in self-inquiry to under their position, privilege, and power? Do they practice mindfulness or meditation or other forms of self-care?
Civics knowledge: Do they have a grasp and an appreciation of history and the fundamental processes of American democracy? Do they have an understanding and awareness of public and community issues? Are they able to obtain information and think critically and dialectically?
Systems-orientation: Are they able to understand and embrace a long-term, strategic thinking, and collective leadership approach? Do they understand complex adaptive systems? Are they able to work with diverse worldviews? Are they fundamentally committed to and prioritizing the health and vitality of human systems?
Systems-change experience: Have they played a substantial role in promoting or institutionalizing an idea, practice, law, or technology that improves public processes and systems, promotes engagement between communities and governments, and improves the lives of individual citizens?

We will score each candidate across each dimension by reviewing a combination of:

The candidate’s responses to essay prompts
A detailed evaluation of the candidate’s civic literacy and action civics experience by civic educators and mentors

In addition to weighing a candidate’s civic leadership potential, we will consider how they affect the diversity of the Fellow cohort across a number of dimensions, including location of residence (e.g. state, city, urban vs rural), socioeconomics, gender, race, and ethnicity. These diversity dimensions matter because a civic engagement disparity exists whereby poorer, minority, immigrant and non-college bound youth participate less in civic activities than wealthier, White, non-immigrant and college bound youth (Levinson, 2010).

Fellow selection will be made in February 2020.

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