PROGRAMS / BOLT YOUTH LEADERS FELLOWSHIP
Change on your block, supported by people from it.
A for-credit leadership fellowship inside Philadelphia public high schools during the academic-year and an immersive leadership experience during the summer — designed and facilitated peer-to-peer by youth Coaches, and built around the issues fellows name themselves.
HOW IT WORKS
Youth coaches run the room
YLF is peer-to-peer by design. Youth Coaches — fellows who've been through the program — facilitate sessions for the next group of Fellows. Coaches are paid for that work.
The curriculum starts where fellows say it should. In our pre-program survey, over 85% of young people name gun violence as their top issue, so the opening unit takes it on directly: prevention, intervention, and long-term change, examined through the city budget and through what grassroots leaders are already doing about it.
Everything builds toward a Community Action Project, grounded in a theory of change the fellows write themselves.
THE FIVE COMPONENTS
What fellows learn.
01
Social and emotional learning
Naming what you're carrying and building the tools to work through it.
04
Personal finance
Budgeting, banking, and how money moves — in your life and in an organization.
02
Civic leadership
How the city works, who decides, and where a resident can actually apply pressure.
05
Peer-to-peer leadership
Facilitating for other young people, the skill that turns fellows into Coaches.
03
Workforce development
Résumés, interviews, and the professional habits that open doors after graduation.
THE CAPSTONE
Community action project
A real project on a real issue, built on a youth-developed theory of change.
TWO WAYS IN
Same fellowship, two entry points.
Academic-Year Fellowship
We partner directly with schools to bring leadership development into the classroom. Coaches — 10th grade and above — are trained first, then mentor their peers in civic classrooms. Each school runs 10–15 coaches, so guidance stays close.
It happens during the school day, so we can bring systemic change in partnership with the School District of Philadelphia.
- WhenSeptember – May
- WhereOur five partner high schools
- Commitment120 hours; schedule varies by school
- WhoStudents at a partner school, 10th grade and above for coaches
- ApplyApplications open in the summer
West Philadelphia High School · Olney High School · Academy at Palumbo · Sayre High School · Parkway Northwest
Summer Fellowship
An immersive leadership and career development experience open to public high school students from across Philadelphia — not just our partner schools.
Each summer, 10–15 selected coaches complete 20+ hours of preparation, then lead small groups of four to five fellows. Together they take on real problems, build social capital, and meet community leaders face to face.
- WhenJune – August, six weeks
- WhereA Philadelphia public school, location announced each spring
- Commitment120 hours; 9am–2pm, Monday through Thursday
- WhoAny Philadelphia public high school student
- PayStipend when meeting program requirements, in partnership with C2LPHL (City of Philadelphia & JEVS Human Services)
BOTH TRACKS
Mentors from your own neighborhood.
Graduates of the School for Grassroots Leadership are matched to fellows by neighborhood as mentors, guides, and advisors — in the summer program and during the school year alike.