December 12, 2025

The 2026 NLC Fellows aren’t asking for a seat at the table. They’re building their own.

This year’s cohort is 90% BIPOC, 61% women and gender-nonconforming leaders, and represents more than 20 industries. From nonprofits and schools to government offices and hospitals, this cohort isn’t waiting for change, they’re building it.

“Right now, the communities we serve need leaders who won’t back down,” said Karen Pandy-Cherry, President and CEO. “When rights are threatened and systems fail the people who need them most, we don’t retreat. We build power. The 2026 Fellows are stepping up exactly when their communities need them most.”

Starting in January, these Fellows join 15,000+ NLC alumni who are already reshaping communities across the country. Alumni who expanded voting access in their states. Who changed healthcare policy in three weeks flat. Who founded organizations that didn’t exist before they showed up.

The six-month NLC Institute starts where Fellows are. In chapters nationwide, they’ll develop skills that matter: collective impact, strategic communications, fundraising that works, organizing that moves people. Every session centers equity. Every trainer comes from local networks. Every lesson connects to what’s happening in their communities right now.

Fellows wrap up Institute with a capstone project that solves a real problem. Not a theoretical exercise. Actual community impact using the network and skills they built over six months.

One in four Fellows works in nonprofits. Others are in education, agriculture, healthcare, art or own their business. What connects them is their proximity to the communities they serve and their refusal to accept systems that don’t work.

“This cohort represents exactly the kind of leadership this moment demands,” said Ambar Mendez, Director of Programs and Operations. “They’re not learning to lead someday. They’re leading now.”

After NLC Institute, they join alumni like Jamarr Brown (NLC Atlanta 2011), leading Color Of Change PAC. Kamilia Landrum (NLC Detroit 2016), running the nation’s largest NAACP branch. Nada Al-Hanooti (NLC Detroit 2023), who helped organize Dearborn’s first Arab American and Muslim mayor. Pranoo Kumar (NLC Palm Beach 2024), who founded a social justice-centered children’s bookstore. Jin-Soo Huh (NLC Chicago 2024), Chair of Chicago’s Mayoral LGBTQ+ Advisory Council. Rachel Arfa (NLC Chicago 2013), the highest-ranking deaf government official in the country.

The work starts in January.