I am excited to welcome applications for the second year of NASHPs Emerging Leaders of Color (ELC) Fellowship Program. NASHP is committed to addressing equity in our work across states and the ELC Fellowship is central to this commitment. We are looking for those who are inspired to learn more about state health policy and to work with us to ensure that our state governments can better reflect the communities that they serve.
In late 2020, NASHP launched the ELC Fellowship to help improve the accessibility of state health policy careers for people of color, particularly those from communities most impacted by health disparities.
Through the ELC fellowship, NASHP equips emerging and aspiring state health policy leaders of color with the tools to enter state government and lead the development and administration of more equitable policy informed by their own lived experiences. These tools include guided learning opportunities and hands-on experiences as well as a community to share support and educational/ professional opportunities.
Central to this experience is the pairing of each fellow with a current state leader of color who can help them learn about, and navigate, the realm of state policy.
Last year, we were so pleased to have three fellows. The inaugural cohort of ELC Fellows meaningfully contributed to a diverse array of projects, particularly with health equity implications, alongside their state advisors, including:
- Aligning early childhood health and Medicaid
- Improving Medicaid coverage of fertility preservation services
- Designing departmental diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts
- Developing an agency health equity strategy
- Implementing Medicaid coverage of doulas
- Increasing follow-up for postpartum care
- Improving provider and member messaging for contraceptive care
Given the success of last years program, this year NASHP is expanding the ELC Fellowship to accept up to ten fellows and each fellow will receive a stipend of $6,300. Fellows will be partnered with a state leader of color to take on a project of mutual interest. Fellows will also have the opportunity to engage in NASHPs ongoing work, including a visit to Washington, DC and attending NASHPs annual conference in Seattle, Washington.
The NASHP staff, corporate board and Academy members are looking forward to the launch of this years ELC Fellowship. I know we will have another impressive class of fellows this year and we are all excited to partner with them. We will announce the 2022 class of fellows by April 12, 2022.
