Read More on The Boston Foundation
The Boston Neighborhood Fellows Program was created by an anonymous donor in partnership with The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI) in 1990, and has been folded into the Boston Foundation’s Grassroots strategy, headed by Natanja Craig-Oquendo.
Each new “class” of approximately 10 Fellows is nominated by past Fellows, civic leaders and key partners. The Fellows are selected by the Foundation for a two-year program designed to recognize and empower some of the people making change happen across Greater Boston, often without fanfare or acclaim.
“Over 27 years, the Boston Neighborhood Fellows Program has recognized more than 150 grassroots leaders,” says Orlando Watkins, Vice President for Programs at the Boston Foundation. “These are people doing the hard, quiet, on-the-ground work that helps lift our communities and all of us.”
The Fellows receive a two-year grant of $2,500 each year, along with leadership development and other training. That includes one-on-one coaching and group sessions as Fellows work on their individual professional goals. The stipend, the monthly learning, events, retreats and coaching together provide a total two-year investment of approximately $15,000 per year per Boston Neighborhood Fellow.
Fellows play an ambassador role too, and will help the Boston Foundation surface its next class of Boston Neighborhood Fellows. And starting in 2017, Fellows are integral in designing and leading our next round of Collaborate Boston, a $100,000 prize competition that encourages new forms of grassroots collaboration to solve key problems.
For 2017, the Neighborhood Fellows helped select the Collaborate Boston theme—intergenerational partnerships—and will play a critical role in publicizing the opportunity, evaluating applications and selecting the winning collaborations. About the 2017 Neighborhood Fellows, Director of Grassroots Initiatives Natanja Craig-Oquendo says, “Once again, in the tradition of Boston Neighborhood Fellows, this is a powerful group of people, from varied backgrounds, in a variety of roles, who have one remarkable thing in common: a commitment to make their community—our community—a better, safer, more equitable place.”
Darrin Howell
Union Organizer/Youth Mentor
Darrin Howell is a union organizer with SEIU1199, representing thousands of healthcare workers. As Executive Director of Drive Boston, he draws from his own experience as a young man from an urban neighborhood—and the discrimination he faced finding and keeping work because of a CORI record—in his work mentoring at-risk youth, helping steer them away from crime and toward positive activities, especially career development. He served as Director of Constituent Services under City Councilor Chuck Turner, where he mastered the various resources, programs, services and agencies that can assist residents. He has become an expert on violence prevention, leading a number of initiatives to reduce crime and recidivism, including serving as the lead author on a report examining homicides throughout the city, and spearheading programs to bring together victims and perpetrators of violence to create “ambassadors of peace.” Understanding the challenges facing children of incarcerated parents, he organizes a toy drive each holiday season and collects thousands of toys for distribution to those children.