Since 2015, a group of FRE member foundations has partnered with the Rockwood Leadership Institute to offer a fellowship program for 21st century leaders in reproductive health, rights and justice. The fellowship supports individual leadership and strengthens relationships among key actors in the field, thereby strengthening our movement overall.
Support for the Rockwood RHRJ Fellowship is a prime example of funders working together. The project originated within a group of FRE members that wanted to increase support for leaders in our movement. With the objective of nurturing relationships and creating conditions for collaboration across the sector, this fellowship focuses on building individual leadership skills, strengthening relationships within cohorts and creating fertile ground for partnerships.
FRE serves as the central organizing and administrative hub for this funding collaborative, which includes the following foundations:
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
An anonymous donor
Rockwood Leadership Institute programs lift the capacity of individual leaders, their organizations and the broad networks of policy, organizing, and service in which they work. Participants in the Rockwood Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice Fellowship receive leadership development training and learn concrete skills required for strong and resilient 21st century leadership and collaboration in this field over the long term.
These skills include learning tools and methodologies to:
- Create and sustain a compelling and powerful vision.
- Enhance active listening and speaking skills.
- Strengthen collaboration and partnership with colleagues.
- Develop habits that support career-long health and sustainability.
- Create healthy coalitions and organizational cultures that value difference.
- Develop skills for effective communication and managing difficult conversations with staff and partners.
- Lead and manage others for high-level performance.
A cornerstone of Rockwood's program is to cultivate equitable and collaborative leadership that reflects the diversity of the United States' rapidly shifting demographics—particularly leaders committed to long-term change and policy reform who can lift the voices of low-income communities and communities of color. FRE also prioritizes the needs and concerns of these communities. To that end, Fellowship cohorts are diverse in terms of race, age, ethnicity and gender identity. Geographic diversity is also an important element in the composition of each cohort.
For more information about Rockwood and the Reproductive Health Rights and Justice Fellowship, click here.