Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellowship (United States)

The Hunger Center’s Approach

• Hunger is a multifaceted and far-reaching problem—and the movement to end it should be, too.
  • They believe that governments, nonprofits, educational institutions, corporations, philanthropy, and individuals all have a role to play, and a variety of approaches and strategies are required to solve hunger and poverty.
• Any lasting solution to hunger must be led by people with first-hand experience.
  • They invest in developing the leadership of people who have experienced hunger and poverty and people of color—who are disproportionately affected by hunger—as designers, implementers, and evaluators of anti-hunger programs and projects.
• Breakdowns in understanding and differences in perspective on the root causes of the problem stand in the way of scalable solutions.
  • They focus on bridging the gap between community-based work and public policy, highlighting the ways that each can inform and strengthen the other.

Financial Package and Benefits

• Financial Package
  • The Hunger Center establishes its financial packages for fellows based on their location, taking into consideration the cost of living at both the field and policy placements. One resource they consider when setting financial packages is the MIT Living Wage Calculator. Emerson Fellows typically receive financial packages of no less than $48,000 over the duration of the fellowship.
• Graduate School Partnerships
  • Emerson alums pursuing masters’ degrees in public health or public policy at select institutions of higher learning are eligible for significant discounts on tuition. As of 2023 the Hunger Center maintains partnerships with Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College and the University of Virginia’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.
• Other Benefits Emerson Fellows also gain:
  • Membership in a dynamic learning community of fellows;
  • Connection to an extensive network of alums, partners, and experts;
  • Experience working with community and policy leaders;
  • Training, mentoring, and leadership development; and
  • Project management experience.

How Does the Fellowship Work?

• During their year in the program fellows develop their leadership skills and gain hands-on experience through placements with host organizations at the local, state, regional, and national levels.
• Field Placements
  • For the first six months Emerson Fellows are placed with organizations across the U.S. with a local or regional focus, including food banks, anti-hunger/ anti-poverty advocacy groups, food policy councils, research institutions, and state, local, and regional government agencies.
• Policy Placements
  • For the second half of the fellowship, Emerson Fellows shift their focus to national anti-hunger and anti-poverty policy through placements with national advocacy groups, think tanks, and federal government agencies.

Selection Criteria

• Here are some of the qualities that successful applicants to the Emerson Fellowship possess:
  • A commitment to ending hunger and poverty in the United States
  • An ability to adjust and adapt to new situations
  • A commitment to racial equity and social justice
  • Demonstrated leadership qualities and skills
  • An ability to solve problems in creative and innovative ways
  • Enthusiasm for learning from a wide variety of individuals with expertise in the area anti-hunger/anti-poverty space
  • A willingness to search for new models in anti-hunger and anti-poverty work
  • A lived experience with hunger and poverty
  • Experience working in low-income communities
  • Excitement about peer learning in a tightknit community of fellows
  • Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent experience
  • U.S. citizenship or permanent legal residency (required)

For more information, visit Congressional Hunger Center.