rigorous. restorative. reimagining.
That’s how Fellows sum up their Mosaic experience.
Here, we’ll dive into all the details about the Mosaic Fellowship — from its purpose and pedagogy to program dates and mo’!
MO’questions? Drop us a line!
PIECING TOGETHER PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL GROWTH
In the words of Fellows, the Mosaic Fellowship fosters deep personal and professional growth through “examinations of self, community, and society.”
The Mosaic Fellowship convenes cohorts of approximately 20 leaders — interdisciplinary and intergenerational by design. The program spans 12 months, featuring immersive retreats, virtual seminars, and a mixed pedagogy that includes:
Text-based dialogue
Leadership case studies
Toolbox building workshops
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The goal? To strengthen both our individual and collective power to drive transformative community change — while supporting and sustaining one another in the challenging work of changemaking.
“The Mosaic Fellowship changed my life and my leadership forever.”
MOSAIC CHANGEMAKER
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RIGOR
PRESENCEAt its core, Mosaic is a peer learning community. Fellows commit to attending every seminar — no exceptions. Before applying, you’ll know the exact program dates for the year and have the chance to assess whether you can fully commit if selected.
PREPARATION
Before each seminar, you’ll receive a package with assigned homework, which often includes a mix of book chapters, films, and podcasts. You commit to completing all the homework before each seminar.
PARTICIPATION
Mosaic uses what we call the Mo’cratic Method — a Mosaic twist on the classic Socratic approach. These text-based discussions require you to show up ready to share insights, wrestle with big questions, and contribute to the collective learning.
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RESTORATION
“I felt so cared for, seen, heard, and valued.” The Mosaic Fellowship strives to offer a space where every Fellow feels exactly that.We understand the work of social change is demanding. We know you’re often overworked — and undervalued. We know the weight of the world can feel unrelenting. We know isolation, self-doubt, and burnout are all too real.
When we say ‘fellowship,’ we truly mean it. We invite you to join a community that will help restore your sense of hope, health, and healing. We invite you to pause, step away from the grind, and focus on reflection and renewal.
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REIMAGINATION
To achieve meaningful community transformation, we must first transform ourselves. We need to critically examine our own long-held values, beliefs, and ways of seeing the world — and our place within it. Mosaic Fellows are invited to learn — and unlearn — in order to imagine new possibilities for both ourselves and our communities.In the shared quest to build a just world, Mosaic Fellows will be guided to confront what binds us together and what sets us apart. As Audre Lorde said, “Without community, there is no liberation … but community must not mean a shedding of our differences, nor the pathetic pretense that these differences do not exist.” Mosaic Fellows will be encouraged to create a collective that embraces these differences as both tensions and sources of new encounters and possibilities.
The Mo’cratic Method — a Mosaic twist on Socratic dialogue — uses guided discussions to spark deep reflection and active learning.
How will other Mosaic Changemakers change me?
Over the course of 12 months, through immersive seminars and virtual gatherings, Mosaic Changemakers convene to:
Pause the doing and prioritize reflection.
Learn each other’s histories, uncover shared struggles and values, and forge deep bonds.
Deepen our knowledge and critical analysis of social movements and the leaders who fuel them.
Reflect on our own leadership values, journeys, and aspirations.
Affirm our multiple identities and experiences as sources of power to lead transformative change.
Fortify our individual and collective resolve to fight racism, anti-Blackness, and injustice.
Restore and recharge our hope, health, and healing.
What’s the profile of a
Mosaic Changemaker?
Each cohort brings together an interdisciplinary and intergenerational group of outstanding Black, Brown, and Gold leaders. Our goal is to curate cohorts of 20 changemakers as vibrant as the mosaic of our communities:
Changemakers who live and work in the U.S. South (for the Mosaic Fellowship South cohort) or in Tennessee (for the Mosaic Fellowship Tennessee cohort).
Changemakers with a track record of driving meaningful community change for at least 10 years.
Changemakers from the nonprofit, public, and private sectors who are making a positive impact in education, health, civil rights, arts and culture, philanthropy, academia, and beyond.
Changemakers who represent diverse backgrounds, including—but not limited to—geography, age, religion, socioeconomic status, gender identity, sexual orientation, immigration status, and ability.
Established and emerging changemakers who have reached or are nearing a career inflection point, seeking space to reflect, deepen their impact, and broaden their network of support.
Changemakers with a track record of high integrity, maturity, openness, and dependability.
What else makes a
Mosaic Changemaker?
GROWTH TENSIONS & INTENSIONS. We seek leaders who bring an authentic intention to stretch over the course of the year — leaning into what we call growth tensions:
CONVICTION + CURIOSITY. Mosaic Fellows recognize that multicultural coalition-building is messy and meaningful, experimental and imperative, troubling and transformative. They believe change emerges from like hearts, not like minds. They come to Mosaic seeking to balance self-interests with curiosity, humility and the pursuit of solidarity.
INDEPENDENCE + INTERDEPENDENCE. Mosaic Fellows value self-determination and nurture the uniqueness of the piece of the mosaic they, and their communities or organizations, represent. They also value the larger “we” and come to Mosaic to strengthen the collaborative muscle to connect teams, organizations, sectors and communities.
ACTION + REFLECTION. Mosaic Fellows are doers and want to find new ideas to solve old, entrenched problems. They are motivated to implement solutions. They also understand the importance in changemaking of reflection, of intellectual inquiry. They come to Mosaic to create that thinking space and practice.
What is the Mosaic
Fellowship tuition?
The Mosaic Fellowship is a high-caliber, intensive, and immersive leadership program with a true cost of approximately $20,000 per fellow. Thanks to generous philanthropic support, participants pay only a fraction of this amount — based on their organization’s size — and no one is turned away due to financial constraints.
WE MEAN IT! The ability to pay the tuition fee will not affect the selection process or prevent your participation if selected.
That said, as a matter of principle, we request a nominal tuition fee from the fellow’s organization. This shared contribution reflects a partnership of purpose, balancing Mosaic's philanthropic investment in the program with the fellow’s organization’s investment in its leader.
The Mosaic Fellowship tuition is based on the employer's annual operating budget:
$5,000 for organizations with budgets of $5M+
$2,500 for organizations with budgets of $2.5M–$5M
$1,000 for organizations with budgets under $2.5M
Fellows are also responsible for their own transportation to and from the in-person seminar retreats.
Please reach out if you have questions about affordability. Don’t let the tuition fee stop you from applying.
“The process of writing the Mosaic application led to deep reflection. What does my leadership look like in my 40s and beyond?”
MOSAIC APPLICANT
What’s the Fellowship
time commitment?
At its core, Mosaic is a peer learning community. Mosaic Fellows commit to themselves, and to their cohort members, to attend every seminar, without exceptions.
KEEP IT REAL! The Mosaic Fellowship requires a significant time commitment, totaling nearly 19 seminar days —plus time for homework— over the course of the year.
In addition to assessing the time commitment, you should also ask yourself about headspace. What else is going on in your personal and professional life? Will you be able to make Mosaic a priority? Is this your year to benefit and contribute the most?
Before applying, please carefully review the program dates and confirm you do not have any conflicts. If you decide to apply, please tentatively save all program dates on your calendar in order to avoid conflicts should you be selected to join a cohort. You will know final selection decisions by early December.
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Seminar I (in person):
February 4-7, 2025Seminar II (virtual):
April 11, 2025Seminar III (in person):
June 29-July 3, 2025Seminar IV (virtual):
August 22, 2025Seminar V (in person):
September 23-26, 2025Seminar VI (virtual):
November 7, 2025Seminar VII (in person):
December 15-18, 2025
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Seminar I (in person):
January 27-30, 2025Seminar II (virtual):
March 7, 2025Seminar III (in person):
April 28-May 2, 2025Seminar IV (virtual):
July 25, 2025Seminar V (in person):
September 23-26, 2025Seminar VI (virtual):
November 7, 2025Seminar VII (in person):
December 8-11, 2025
How are Mosaic Changemakers selected?
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It all begins with the online application, which typically opens each September. The application is organized in six parts. It may sound long, but please don't be discouraged. Most parts are easy to complete:
PART I Basic Eligibility Quiz
Yes/No questions
PART II Contact Information
Basic contact information
PART III Professional References
Basic contact information
PART IV Demographics & Identity
Check-a-box questions
PART V Changemaking Experience
Narrative questions + Resume
PART VI Personal Insights
Check-a-box questions and short video -
Your application is thoroughly reviewed by the Mosaic Selection Committee, which is comprised of our staff team and Mosaic Alumni.
When we review your application, we seek to understand your individual story and simultaneously assess how you might distinctly contribute to the cohort we are forming.
"Why now?" is another important question that guides our selection process. We want to understand the inflection point in your leadership journey you are facing at this moment. And, equally important, we want to know how the Mosaic Fellowship might support you at this juncture. Hint: Those are two key questions we ask you to answer!
We review your application using a rubric that focuses on the following areas:
— Program Fit and Readiness
— Leadership Tipping Point
— Potential to Benefit
— Potential to Contribute
— Changemaking PotentialThe rubric follows this scale for each assessment area: Disqualifying (1), Marginal (2), Satisfactory (3), Strong (4), Exemplary (5)
We don’t use the scores rigidly. The rubric is simply a tool that gives the selection committee consistency and a way to focus our assessment and deliberations. The scores are secondary to the rich discussion they elicit about each applicant through the course of several committee meetings.
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After reviewing and assessing all applications, should you be selected to move forward in the process, the Mosaic Selection Committee will extend an invitation for a 25-minute interview via video conference.
You will be interviewed by at least one member of the Mosaic staff team plus one of the Mosaic Alumni serving in the selection committee.
The purpose of the interview is to get to know you better and to expand on your answers in the application. We reserve a few minutes at the end to give you the opportunity to ask us questions.
For consistency and fairness, we ask all finalists the same questions.
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After we conduct all the interviews, the Selection Committee meets once again to share results of the interviews and to select the top finalists for whom references will be checked before being invited to join the Mosaic Fellows cohort.
This is why we request two professional references in the application. We recommend you confirm your references before applying. They should be able to speak concretely about your track record of high integrity, dependability, openness and maturity to participate and contribute in a program like the Mosaic Fellowship.
The Mosaic team will schedule a call with at least one of your references.
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Congratulations! After checking your references and if no concerns were identified, you will receive an invitation to join the next Mosaic Fellowship cohort. You will have a few days to accept and confirm your participation.
As official affirmation of your commitment, we will ask you to submit:
Personal commitment fee of $100
Fellow Commitment Form
Organization Commitment Form
