Become a Schweitzer Fellow
The New Orleans Schweitzer Fellows Program is an interdisciplinary, mentored fellowship program focused on health-related community service and leadership development. The mission of the U.S. Schweitzer Fellows Program® is to prepare the next generation of professionals to serve and empower vulnerable people to live healthier lives and create healthier communities. To accomplish this, Schweitzer Fellows:
- Use their skills and knowledge to develop entrepreneurial solutions to real-life problems;
- Engage with communities using cultural humility;
- Increase their understanding of the impact of social and environmental determinants of health;
- Build capacity for and commitment to improving the health status of individuals and communities and contribute to social change;
- Work collaboratively and across disciplines in pursuit of a common goal;
- Develop resiliency by learning how to care for yourself while serving others.
If you want to exercise leadership skills while working with community-based organizations and academic institutions to create sustainable change, then this program is for you!
Upon successful completion of the initial Fellowship year, Fellows become part of an alumni network of Fellows for Life – an interdisciplinary corps of professionals who are dedicated to and skilled in meeting the health needs of underserved communities.
1. Eligibility
2. Required Fellowship Activities
3. Project Guidelines & Mentor Roles
1. Eligibility
To be eligible for the New Orleans Schweitzer Fellowship, applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Applicants must be enrolled in a graduate or professional degree-granting program from an accredited academic institution in the Greater New Orleans area. (Applicants who reside in New Orleans and are enrolled in a graduate program elsewhere may contact the Program Director to determine if they are eligible for a waiver to this requirement.)
- Applicants must be enrolled in a qualified academic program of study throughout the Fellowship year which is April to April. (Applicants scheduled for a winter graduation should contact the Program Director to determine if they are eligible for a waiver to this requirement. Typically, the Applicant must demonstrate that they will continue to reside in the Greater New Orleans area for the remainder of the Fellowship year in order to complete their project and participate in other Fellowship activities.)
- While the applicant’s field of study does not have to be traditionally health-related, his/her proposed service project must focus on health and/or the social determinants of health. Past Fellows have addressed health from a wide variety of perspectives and disciplines including, but not limited to, dentistry, education, engineering, law, medicine, music, nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physical therapy, public health, and social work.
2. Required Fellowship Activities
- Orientation Retreat: Fellows attend an Orientation (July; date and time TBD)
- Community Project: Working in collaboration with a local non-profit, health, or social service agency, each Fellow will design and carry out a community project of at least 200 hours that addresses an unmet community health need. Each Fellow will work under the supervision of a Site Mentor from the participating agency and an Academic Mentor of the student’s choice from the student’s current academic institution. The Program Director is available to provide support and guidance throughout the Fellowship year. The 200 project hours must be conducted separately from any academic course requirement. Monthly meetings and other Fellowship programming/reports are not part of the required 200 hours. At least half of the 200 hours must be spent in direct, face-to-face contact with the population being served. These direct service hours do not include administrative duties or research. In designing a project, applicants should carefully consider the issues of evaluation and sustainability and include their ideas for addressing these aspects of the project.
- Monthly Meetings: Monthly meetings provide the Fellows with leadership development, skills-based workshops, interdisciplinary discussions, time for reflection on community service, and an opportunity to network with like-minded students from diverse fields as well as professionals in areas of interest to them. With the assistance of the Program Director, each Fellows takes the lead for planning and facilitating a monthly meeting during the Fellowship year. Meetings are typically held the last Sunday of the month for two hours in the evening.
- Reports: Fellows submit monthly reports about their activities and a comprehensive written final report to their Program Director, Academic Mentor, and Site Mentor.
- Midyear Retreat: Fellows attend a half-day retreat during the middle of their Fellowship year (typically at Saturday in October) focused on balancing personal and professional demands and project sustainability.
- Evaluation: Fellows are required to complete a pre- and post- survey for the Fellowship (the pre-survey must be completed prior to attending Orientation and the post-survey must be completed within 30 days of the end of the Fellowship year). Each Fellow’s Site Mentor also must complete a final site mentor survey. These surveys are in addition to each Fellow’s evaluation plan for his/her individual project.
- Public Outreach: Fellows work together in groups to organize one or more public outreach activities that may take the form of public symposia and/or group service activities.
- Recruitment: In the fall of each year, Fellows work with the Program Director to organize information sessions about the Schweitzer Fellows Program and present information at their schools about their Fellowship experiences.
- Celebration of Service: New Fellows are introduced at this event, typically held in April. At the end of the Fellowship year, we honor the outgoing cohort of Fellows who speak about their projects’ goals and accomplishments.
3. Project Guidelines & Mentor Roles
Proposals for Fellowship projects should meet the following guidelines.
Project Focus:
- Projects must address the health or social needs of an underserved population in the Greater New Orleans area. Schweitzer Fellows focus on health as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO): a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Rooted in this holistic understanding of health, Schweitzer projects address not only clinical health issues, but also the social determinants of health—defined by the WHO as the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, and which are mostly responsible for health inequities.
- Projects should provide a direct service that addresses local and/or national health priorities that are relevant to the community members and organization being served. Applicants may refer to the New Orleans Community Health Assessment or Healthy People 2030 to identify pressing health needs. In some program years, ASF NOLA may suggest specific priorities depending on the public health context in Greater New Orleans; please refer to the application for more details. Prospective applicants should investigate and reflect on unmet local health-related needs, and think through the ways in which their own energies and talents might contribute, even in small ways, to ameliorating one or more of these problems.
- Be of enduring value to the community/agency served. The project proposal should include a brief discussion about sustainability of the project at the end of the Fellowship year.
- Projects should be focused on direct service. Research, fundraising, and policy-based projects are not considered eligible. However, Fellows may opt to include research, fundraising, or policy components if they wish. Fellows must submit any protocols for concurrent research projects to the Fellow’s university Institutional Review Board (IRB) by July 5 of their Fellowship year to prevent delays with project implementation.
- Applicants should be creative in developing their proposal in keeping with Dr. Schweitzer’s directive that everyone should find their own Lambaréné — their own special place to serve and way of serving. Applicants may find inspiration by reviewing project descriptions for current or past Fellows, but should not simply duplicate or continue one that has been carried out previously. Applicants proposing to continue an existing Fellowship project or community program must demonstrate how the project will be expanded or enhanced.
Project Design & Implementation:
- Fellows should be prepared to collaborate with a local community agency to design and implement their service project. Applicants are encouraged to communicate with potential community partners prior to submitting their applications and to be specific in their proposals about their relationships with their community partners. See additional details below about the role of project Site Mentors.
- Students may apply for the Fellowship individually or together with another applicant. Partner projects are typically larger in scope and/or complexity. Applications for partner projects must demonstrate the need for two Fellows to meet the project goals versus one. Each Fellow in a partner project must meet all the individual Fellowship requirements including 200 hours of service completed by each Fellow (400 total service hours for the project). Each Fellow in a partner project will receive the same stipend granted to individual Fellows in their cohort.
- At their own discretion and with approval from their academic institution and degree program, Fellows may opt to pursue academic credit or fulfill an academic program requirement through Fellowship-related activities. It is solely the Fellow’s responsibility to assess and complete any requirements of their academic program. Regardless of any academic credit or requirements, all typical Fellowship responsibilities must be fulfilled.
Site Mentor
- Prior to applying, applicants are encouraged to identify a prospective site mentor at the agency where they propose to conduct their project.
- Site Mentor responsibilities include: assist the Fellow with shaping the initial project plan, attend a one-hour orientation for mentors at the beginning of the Fellowship year, orient the Fellow to the partner organization, review the Fellow’s monthly reflections, meet with the Fellow as needed and provide practical guidance on project implementation, support the Fellow’s ongoing personal & professional development, attend the Celebration of Service, and complete a site mentor survey at the conclusion of the Fellowship year.
Academic Mentor:
- Prior to applying, applicants are also encouraged to identify an academic mentor at their university.
- Academic Mentor responsibilities include: assist the Fellow with shaping the initial project plan, attend a one-hour orientation for mentors at the beginning of the Fellowship year, assist the Fellow with the IRB process if needed/desired, review the Fellow’s monthly reflections, meet with the Fellow as needed and provide practical guidance on project implementation, support the Fellow’s ongoing personal & professional development, and attend the Celebration of Service at the conclusion of the Fellowship year.