What is the Curtis Fellowship?

Global Citizen is a community of people like you. People who want to take action to end extreme poverty.

At Global Citizen we encourage people to learn and take action on our platform; those actions apply pressure on world leaders to make commitments around the issues associated with extreme poverty: gender equality, food security, education, the environment, global health, citizenship, and sanitation. 

It opens for submission on Thursday February 18, 2021 at 9:00 AM EDT and closes on Friday, March 19, 2021 at 11:59 PM EDT.

You will be notified of your application status by Monday, April 19, 2021.

No, there are no academic requirements to be eligible for the Curtis Fellowship. 
Eligibility requirements are: 

• Ages 17-20 (by time of application)
• U.S. Citizen
• Limited past overseas travel
• Family household income of under $90,000 USD
• Those from minority and underrepresented communities are strongly encouraged to apply.

Unfortunately, at this time we are only able to accept applicants who are U.S. citizens. We hope to expand the program in the future! 

The letter of recommendation should come from someone who can speak about your motivation, ability to work in a team and potential to be an agent of change. Preferred letters will be from a teacher/professor, school administrator, community leader, or colleague. Guidelines for Recommendation letter.

Recommenders will receive a unique email link to upload their letter once applicants have submitted their final application via the platform. We suggest that recommendation letters be written in advance of receiving the unique email link to ensure that all application pieces are received by the deadline of March 19th, 2021.

If this is true for you, unfortunately, you would not be eligible. All applicants must be 17-20 years on the application deadline which is February 22nd, 2020. 

Only video URLs will be accepted. We suggest you upload your video to Youtube first. You can find instructions on how to upload a video to Youtube here.  Once your video(s) are uploaded to Youtube, you’ll copy and paste the URL into your application. 

Due to the high volume of applicants, we are not able to respond to questions about specific application feedback. We encourage all applicants to re-apply if not selected.

There will be between 6-10 Scholars. Four Global Citizen staff will oversee the program. Final staffing and numbers of attendees will be shared in the summer.

Global Citizen will support the scholars in professional and personal development through a deeper understanding of complex social issues and prepare the Curtis Fellows to become advocates of social change.

Fellows will be expected to spend about 2 hours per week engaging in group and individual activities that focus on professional development, personal growth, advocacy, cultural exposure, social justice and equity. This will include group discussions and working to apply skills in local communities. This may include writing advocacy pieces and engaging in political and community activism. After completion, you will be able to earn letters of recommendation, receive guidance on future endeavors and stay connected with other Curtis Fellow alumni.

The 2021 Curtis Fellowship was generously supported by Kelly Curtis, Vitalogy Foundation and Live Nation.

If you have any questions that are not answered on the award’s information page or in these FAQs, please email kellycurtisfellowship@globalpovertyproject.com. Regretfully we will only be able to respond to questions not answered here.