Now Accepting Applications through March 9, 2026, at 5pm PT.
Hopelab is accepting applications for the Public Voices Fellowship on Youth Well-being and Power, in partnership with The OpEd Project.
The year-long Fellowship provides a cohort of 20 thought leaders from a wide range of backgrounds with extraordinary support, leadership skills, and knowledge to ensure their ideas shape not only their fields but also the greater public conversations of our age.
Hopelab envisions a future in which young people have equitable opportunities to live joyful, purposeful lives. We believe strongly in elevating the voices of young people, researchers, and practitioners focused on youth mental health and well-being.
The goal of this Fellowship is to give participants the tools to develop content that amplifies youth mental health research, supports youth-informed policy initiatives, and elevates diverse innovators.
Using time-tested methods of transformational learning, fellows explore how credibility works, how ideas spread, when and why minds change, and how ideas play out over time and space. Selected fellows will join intense, results-oriented activities around their own knowledge and impact. They will receive high-level support from journalist coaches and have access to resources and support to become influential on a large scale. Other participating institutions include The Ford Foundation, the Ms. Foundation for Women, Stanford University, the Center for Global Policy Solutions, Emory University, and many more. Fellows join a national network of peers, enabling knowledge sharing and innovation across institutions.
Fellows have published op-eds in high-impact venues and gone on to publish history-changing books. They have briefed Congress, advised the White House, launched new research studies and centers, and sparked national and international debate. They have written books, collaborated on research grants, and driven policy change. The resulting impact of their ideas entering public consciousness has been expansive and is hard to overstate.
Applications open.
Finalists are notified and will be invited to attend commitment calls with The OpEd Project team. Acceptance will be sent by the end of the monnth.
Public announcement of the fellowship cohort and fellowship launch in San Francisco.
Fellows participate in four convenings (one in-person and three virtual), scheduled for April 22-23 (in San Francisco), June 17-18 (virtual), September 16-17 (virtual), and December 2-3 (virtual).
Fellows are matched with senior journalists and columnists who provide dedicated one-on-one coaching throughout the year.
Fellows can join monthly virtual events featuring public thinkers and influencers and receive weekly customized email support and news alerts.
Upon completion of the fellowship, they have access to a powerful network of peers, as well as to The OpEd Project’s national network of high-level journalist mentors.