The BCF will provide:

• Opportunities to reflect, learn, and grow as you create a positive impact in your community.
• Learning spaces to help you think critically about power, privilege, and change.
• Training and workshops for skills you can use at Brown and beyond.
• Access to mentors, advisers, and a network of local community partners.
• Leadership opportunities.
• Opportunity to join a cohort of students who share a commitment to advancing justice.
• A sense of belonging and support.
• Opportunity to participate in an all expenses paid trip to Jackson, MS (Bonner trip)
• (If eligible) A stipend to help support your work every semester that you are part of the program.
   

If you join the BCF, you will commit to:

• Participate in the program for your four years at Brown, for approximately 114 hours per semester (around 6 hours/week). 
• Engage in regular community and civic engagement opportunities
• Attend all BCF activities, which include:
  • A Bonner pre-orientation
  • Weekly learning community sessions
  • Bonner All-Call meetings
  • One engaged summer (around 180 hours)
• Reflect, learn, and grow as you engage with different communities and peers.
   

You will find different community and civic engagement opportunities when you join the BCF. These opportunities may include:

• Volunteer opportunities (short and long term)
• Internships or other community-identified projects 
• Community-Based Learning and Research courses (CBLR)
• Leadership roles within the Bonner program and Swearer Center
• Other ways to serve the community that you identify

Every academic year, we recruit a cohort of students from the incoming class of first-year students. The Bonner Community Fellowship application for the Class of 2026 will open in UFunds soon. Applicants will need their Brown credentials to log into UFunds to access the Bonner application.

Bonner Application Short Essay Questions Review:

• The Bonner Community Fellowship is for students who have a passion for social justice and community engagement. What are some issues you are passionate about? What work or learning have you done to address them?
• Power, privilege, and the intersection of identities inform and affect our personal and professional lives. Please share an example when you had to consider them in your community engagement work. What did you do? How did they affect you?
• The BCF seeks to support students to demonstrate leadership as they create a positive impact in their communities. Describe a time where you've demonstrated leadership. What did you learn about your leadership style? What worked? What would you do differently if you encountered a similar situation?
• The BCF is a cohort experience that complements and enhances your academic learning. What are some things you hope to gain from this experience and from your peers? Describe a time when you learned from your peers in a group or cohort setting.
• The BCF is a 4-year commitment for all participants. How do you approach and maintain long-term commitments? Describe a time when you committed yourself to a long-term opportunity. What did you learn about yourself? How did you stay committed, especially when you felt it was hard to do so?
• In the BCF you will find a variety of community and civic engagement opportunities. What type of opportunities are you most interested in and why?
  • Some examples include short and long-term internships, Academic and Community-Based Learning and Research courses, leadership roles within the BCF, etc. You can also include other types of opportunities that aren't listed here.