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FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE MOONSHOT FELLOWSHIP

The Moonshot Innovation Space is a 9-month program for innovative leaders in the Metro Denver area who are working to positively impact youth* across a variety of sectors such as education, healthcare, local government, environment/sustainability, housing, food, the arts, and more. Moonshot Fellows’ solutions are responsive to and inclusive of the intersectional identities of youth; address the root causes–rather than symptoms–of a problem identified by the impacted community; and are co-designed with the community most impacted.

During the program, Moonshot Fellows participate in a variety of weekly workshops and hands-on learning on subjects like leadership, planning pilots, creating budgets, designing practices of self-care, and collaborating with community members.

Learn more about the Moonshot Innovation Space:

 

What makes Moonshot unique?

We invest in local, underrepresented leadership.

Working harder, faster, more efficiently with the same overrepresented leadership won’t close the opportunity gap for youth of color.

We believe it is imperative to invest in leaders who come from the communities they want to serve to ensure long-lasting, sustainable change.

We care deeply about the leaders themselves, and about their growth.

A strong solution design is necessary but insufficient. We invest equal amounts of time in the leader as we do in the design of an idea. Even if a Moonshot Fellow ends up deciding to pursue a different path than what they originally set off with, we believe that the lessons they’ve learned here will help sustain and empower them on the journey to create lasting positive change for youth in our communities.

We co-create with youth and families.

Our Fellows have good ideas. So do their communities. We create opportunities for Moonshot Fellows to source community need and co-design their ideas with youth and families, and frequently solicit feedback from them to make ideas better.

Watch this video to get an inside look at one of our early pilot days, or read how Beau Houston designed two pilot programs for high school Black female athletes.

 

 

Join the Moonshot Innovation Space

We typically have a three-round application process (written application, recorded video interview, group in-person interview) in the spring, resulting in the selection of 18-20 Fellows, who will start the program at the end of the summer and go through the academic year.

 

Features of the Moonshot Innovation Space

The Moonshot Innovation Space supports leaders by providing access to resources and opportunities. Our newly redesigned program focuses attention on four pillars**:

 
 

SQUADS

As a member of Moonshot Innovation Space, you'll gain an invaluable network comprised of a cohort of values-aligned leaders focused on community solutions design, alongside access to mentors and coaches dedicated to fostering a sense of belonging, bridging community connections, and providing personalized guidance and support.

Moonshot Fellow Miles Iton (Cohort 6) reflected, “My biggest takeaway from the Moonshot experience thus far would have to be embracing the transformative power of community when it comes to building your own thing.”

 

SKILLS

Through the Moonshot Innovation Space, you will develop liberatory leadership knowledge, skills, and mindsets essential for leadership in learning and continuous improvement, strategic and operational excellence, and effective people leadership, equipping you to lead transformational change with confidence and agility.

Leaders like Destiny Hardney (Cohort 5) are able to build their vision, and then empower others to do so. “Right now our team is really excited to scale because we have so many opportunities coming our way,” she shared. One of the components I’m really excited about is to hiring on participants to facilitate throughout the community.”

 

SPACES

As a Moonshot Fellow, you'll access specially curated design spaces that serve as enabling environments, where you can build trust, deepen your political analysis, ideate, and take risks. These spaces, supported by strategic partnerships, provide the ideal setting for exercising creativity and passion, ensuring both your success as a leader and the impact of the community solutions you're designing.

 

SUSTAINABILITY

Upon completing the fellowship, Moonshot Fellows continue to receive sustainability support. First, through our Alumni Services, which includes access to mini-grants, mental health resources, and consulting services with a panel of experts.

Secondly, Fellows engage with an extended community of support across cohorts, ensuring both the personal well-being of our leaders and the enduring impact of their solutions on youth outcomes. For example, Moonshot Fellow Cristina Chacon (Cohort 2) began her Moonshot journey exploring the idea of starting her own program. A few years later, she’s now working for another Fellow-founded organization, YEBO. Whether formally or casually, online or in-person, frequently or on occasion, Moonshot Fellows have co-built and sustain an enduring community.

 

What inspired this redesign?

*If this sounds a bit different than what you previously knew or heard about the Moonshot Fellowship, that’s because it is! We spent all of 2023 reflecting, researching, and redesigning our program, all while involving the voices and insights of alumni from our program. The end result? A new version of the Moonshot fellowship experience that invites a wider range of leaders (not just founders) from more fields (not just education) that can positively impact youth, a program we’re now calling the Moonshot Innovation Space. Read more about that process on our blog.

**During our program redesign phase, we researched what other brilliant thinkers were already doing. We resonated deeply with the Movement Leadership Stool Framework, which was developed by Deepa Iyer, the Building Movement Project, and Solidarity Is. The Squads, Skills, Spaces, and Sustainability features are heavily inspired by their work. We are grateful that they are willing to share their insights publicly, and that we can honor their work in our programming.