The Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. The Knight Foundation works in 26 communities where brothers John S. and James L. Knight owned newspapers.

The Knight Foundation was the primary funder of the Center for Urban Redevelopment Excellence (CUREx) and is a major funder of the Detroit Revitalization Fellows, a program of Wayne State University.

The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) strengthens transatlantic cooperation on regional, national, and global challenges and opportunities in the spirit of the Marshall Plan. GMF contributes research and analysis and convenes leaders on transatlantic issues relevant to policymakers. GMF managed the Strong Cities Strong Communities program with Cleveland State University and Virginia Tech’s Metropolitan Institute from 2012 to 2014.

As one of Virginia Tech’s premier research initiatives, The Metropolitan Institute conducts basic and applied research on the dynamics of metropolitan complexities, such as demographics, environment, technology, design, transportation, and governance. With most of the globe’s population moving to urbanized areas, the major public policy challenges of this century will require a deeper understanding of how metropolitan complexities play out across multiple jurisdictions, locations, infrastructures, and stakeholders. The Institute was one of three managers of the SC2 program, along with the German Marshall Fund and Cleveland State University.

The Kresge Foundation states its mission simply: To promote human progress.The foundation works to create access and opportunity in underserved communities, improve the health of low-income people, support artistic expression,increase college achievement, assist in the revitalization of Detroit, and advance methods for addressing global climate change.

The foundation is a key supporter of the Detroit Revitalization Fellows.

The Detroit Revitalization Fellows are talented mid-career leaders stimulating progress within Detroit’s civic, community and economic development landscape. This select group of doers engages in a rigorous two-year leadership development program while serving full time at organizations working to further key programs and projects across Detroit and the region.

Detroit Revitalization Fellows is a program of Wayne State University’s Office of Economic Development.

The Center for Urban Redevelopment Excellence (CUREx) was intiated at the University of Pennsylvania with the support of Knight Foundation in 2003. Its aim was to place talented young professionals in fellowship with top redevelopment organizations through the country. Key activities during CUREx’s three-year existence included fellowships that contributed to the post-Katrina  recovery and revitalization of the City of New Orleans.

The Rockefeller Foundation is dedicated to promoting the well-being of humanity throughout the world, through initiatives to build greater resilience and advance more inclusive economies. It strives to catalyze and scale transformative innovations, convene sector-spanning partnerships, and create systemic change to benefit poor and vulnerable people around the world. The Rockefeller Foundation is a key funder of Strong Cities Strong Communities.

The Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) initiative, first announced in July 2011, seeks to strengthen neighborhoods, towns, cities, and regions around the country by enhancing the capacity of local governments to develop and execute their economic vision and strategies, providing necessary technical assistance and access to federal agency expertise, and creating new public and private sector partnerships.

The Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs is home to five growing undergraduate degree programs, two nationally accredited and ranked Masters Degree programs in Urban Planning and Public Administration, growing graduate programs in Nonprofit Management and Environmental Studies, and an interdisciplinary doctoral program. Consistently ranked as one of the top graduate schools for urban policy in the nation, CSU’s Levin College was also a co-manager of the SC2 program with the German Marshall Fund and Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech.

The Urban Institute believes in the power of evidence to improve lives and strengthen communities. Urban’s research, analyses, and recommendations spark solutions in programs and practice, helping expand opportunities for all people, reduce hardship among the most vulnerable, and strengthen the fiscal health of governments and effectiveness of public policies. Urban hosted the first-ever Urban Fellows symposium in Washington, D.C. in November 2014.

The Capital City Fellows Program (CCFP) is a mayoral initiative to attract recent graduates of master’s degree programs in public administration, public policy, urban planning and related fields to work for the city of Washington, DC. Candidates compete for 18-month fellowship appointments during which they may complete three six-month rotations in different city agencies, including: the Office of the Chief of Staff, Department of Human Resources, Office of Planning, Department of Transportation, Department of Health, Department of General Services, the District Department of the Environment, among many others.

Please watch this space for updates on fellowship programs across the United States.