Building a Fully-Resourced Community – Feb 28

Posted by Bergel Institute on January 27, 2026

Bergel Institute seeks proposals to build a fully resourced community

The Bergel Institute offers fellowships to individuals of all ages who wish to spend a year in intensive study and project development in a subject area that aligns with the advancement of human knowledge and the human condition. Applicants do not have to be enrolled in or associated with a school or academic program of any kind, though applicants may also be enrolled in a graduate program at an institution anywhere in the world.

Building a Fully-Resourced Community

This fellowship gives you the opportunity to identify one place in the United States and focus on ensuring it has the resources required for residents to gain economic stability and independence. The work is practical and coalition-driven. Rather than debating systems in the abstract, Fellows will begin immediately by recruiting and securing community partners, which may include healthy food manufacturers or grocery stores, health care providers, financial institutions, and local employers.

Fellows will use the institute’s Poverty Action Guide as a foundation to identify the barriers keeping families in poverty and to design an implementation-ready plan. The work will focus on the conditions that most directly shape long-term stability, including employment, education, basic needs, transportation, child care, health, housing, savings, and safety. By the end of the fellowship, the fellow will produce a pilot model and roadmap that can be adapted and replicated in other communities.

Fellowships run from June to May and are primarily virtual, with two paid institute visits to the home office in Florida as the only in-person expectations during the fellowship year. Fellows spend the year conducting intensive research and project development, supported by institute staff, with monthly meetings and quarterly progress reports to help maintain momentum.

The fellowship is also intended to function as an incubator, providing time, guidance, and structure for work that continues beyond the fellowship year.

Fellows receive a stipend of $30,000. Fellows travel to the Institute twice during the fellowship year to present to leadership: once in August at the end of Q1, and again in May at the end of the fellowship year. The May presentation focuses on what was accomplished during the year and the fellow’s plans for next steps. Travel and lodging for both presentations are covered by the institute.

Final work may take many forms, including detailed manuscripts, the launch of a business or organization, video series, documentary films, etc. Upon completion of the fellowship year, all fellows are required to serve as mentors for future fellows, ensuring that accumulated knowledge and experiences are passed to their successors.

Applicants of all ages are eligible. Applicants do not need to be enrolled in or associated with any academic institution, though graduate students at institutions anywhere in the world may apply.

Learn more and apply here.

Deadline: February 28, 2026