Community Power Fellowship: Policy & Governance Research Fellow

For people ready to lead, not just participate.

Community Voices Heard is a member-led organization of low-income New Yorkers, led by and centering Black and brown women. Since 1994, our members have won on public housing, welfare reform, jobs, and participatory democracy by organizing the people closest to the problem. We organize statewide for working democracy, economic power, and housing justice, because when conditions change for Black and brown women, they change for everyone. Our vision is a New York where the people who live it hold the power to change it.

CVH is hiring Community Power Fellows to carry out research projects that directly feed our campaigns. This fellowship is built for CVH members, community leaders, graduate students, and people with deep lived experience of the issues we organize around. The tenant leader. The parent advocate. The returning citizen. The person who has been in the fight and is ready to shape strategy.

Fellows own a project from question to product. You will produce research that members, staff, and elected officials actually use.

Policy & Governance Research Fellow (1 position): Lead the "Black New Yorkers: where have we gone?" analysis, examining displacement, migration, and the policy conditions driving both. Deliverables include a written analysis and a presentation to members and partners.

What You Will Do

• Scope and carry your research project with support from a Placement Supervisor
• Meet monthly with a Member Mentor, an experienced CVH member leader
• Participate in at least one Albany or City Hall lobby day and one public testimony opportunity
• Join monthly cohort sessions on power and strategy, campaign development, public narrative, and policy and budget advocacy
• Present your project to members, staff, and partners at the end of the placement

What We Are Looking For

• 18 or older, living in or connected to CVH's geographies
• Lived experience with the issues CVH organizes around, valued as expertise
• Ability to gather information, organize findings, and explain them plainly
• Commitment to community and readiness to grow as a leader
• No degree or formal credential required

What We Provide

• $20.00 per hour, $6,400 across the placement
• Flexible scheduling with evening and weekend options
• Transportation reimbursement, meals at in-person sessions, and childcare support for required sessions
• Mentorship from a CVH member leader
• A written scope and pay terms before your first day
• Priority consideration for future CVH leadership roles and staff openings

This role involves regular access to confidential organizational financial information. The Fellow will sign and follow CVH's confidentiality agreement as a condition of the fellowship.