Public Policy Fellowship Program

For the last 40 years, CHCI has forged a critical pathway to Educate, Empower, and Connect our nation’s future Latino leaders, creating a transformative and lasting Impact on Latino youth and our nation. Learn more about CHCI’s history.

CHCI hosts a platform of leadership development programs, which equip emerging young Latino leaders with the tools they need to be successful in the public and private sectors. Through our educational and leadership development programs, CHCI is committed to our mission of Developing the Next Generation of Latino Leaders®.

The 2025-2026 Public Policy Fellowship Program application is due at 11:59 pm Eastern Time on December 15, 2024.

Please keep your responses to a maximum of 600 words each.

• The CHCI Public Policy Fellowship Program requires your degree be conferred within three years of the program’s prospective start. For the 2025-2026 application cycle, you should have completed your degree between May 2022 and August 1, 2025. You are also only eligible if you do not plan to enroll in a graduate program at the same time as the fellowship.  

• Important note: If you are in an accelerated master’s program, completing your fifth year to earn a master’s degree, you are not eligible for the public policy fellowship. We encourage you to apply for the CHCI Postgraduate fellowship program.  

No, if you are in an accelerated master’s program, earning a bachelor’s and a master’s degree at graduation, you are not eligible for the public policy fellowship. We encourage you to apply for the CHCI Postgraduate fellowship program. 

A complete application consists of:

• A one-page PDF version of your resume or your curriculum vitae
• Your most recent unofficial transcript
• One professional recommendation
• At least four essays (300-600 words each)

CHCI’s Public Policy Fellowship Program requires one professional recommender to complete a recommendation questionnaire. You should identify and ask your recommenders to complete a recommendation as early as possible in the application process. Be mindful of who you identify as a potential recommender – be sure the provider indicates having a positive working relationship with you and speaks well to your interests in public policy. 

• Please return to your application page and press the “Save for Later” button. This will allow our application system to consider your application active for your recommender to provide their letter on your behalf. You may need to populate required fields before saving if you have not already done so. “N/A” is acceptable in our system until you go to submit your application. 

• If your recommender continues to have issues, please have them email programs@chci.org   

• We encourage all applicants to apply as early as possible to allow us to facilitate the review process more easily. 

• Please note, the application system shuts down at 11:59 pm Eastern Time on December 15, 2024, and will no longer be accessible after that time.  

CHCI utilizes two rounds of interviews in the selection process.

• Semi-finalists will be invited to record an asynchronous interview using CHCI’s online interview portal, hosted by VidCruiter.
• Finalists will complete an additional live interview with program staff. 

Interview questions ask about a candidate’s leadership experience, work style, specific interests in public policy, and prospects for the Latino community. There are no trick questions; we use the interviews to get to know candidates on a deeper level, get a feel for how they will handle the unique work environment of Capitol Hill, and help us to create a cohort with diverse interests, approaches, and experiences.

A candidate is selected based on their demonstrated leadership experience, commitment to advancing the Latino community, quality of writing, recommendation, and resume. Candidates are reviewed after the closing of each application stage by program alumni, members of the CHCI Board of Directors and Advisory Council, and CHCI staff. While we strive to provide a timely decision to all candidates, this time period can vary between applications.

While we are always interested in individuals with a public policy background, we are also very interested in candidates who have subject matter expertise. Most years, some fellowship slots are reserved for individuals with expertise and/or experience in:

• Business and related fields, including finance, economics, and accounting
• Communications and journalism
• Engineering and hard sciences
• Health
• Technology, computer science, cybersecurity, and/or data systems
• Energy

We encourage anyone interested in better understanding how public policy impacts their area of expertise to apply, regardless of their major!

Your essays are the best opportunity to tell us about you. We understand that each applicant’s story is unique; we encourage you to take advantage of this space to indicate how you have exercised leadership in your family or community and how that has contributed to your interests in public policy. Please also ask a friend, professor, or mentor to review your essays in advance or to help you brainstorm what to talk about. 

Applicants interested in making an investment in the Latino community and/or working on policies that affect the Latino population are welcome to apply to any and all CHCI programs.

Yes. Applicants are not required to disclose their citizenship status during the application process. Once admitted, CHCI would ask for that disclosure for onboarding purposes. Any DACA applicant accepted must have their permit at the start of the program and maintain valid employment authorization for the program’s duration. 

Public Policy Fellowship experiences vary from placement to placement. Fellowship placements are intended to align closely with the fellow’s background and interests in public policy. Fellows are expected to put forth their best efforts in any placement and proactively search for opportunities to demonstrate their work capabilities, in addition to learning from and working with the legislative staff in the office. 

Public Policy Fellows are placed based on their professional and academic backgrounds, along with their interests in public policy, with at least one half of the full program term being on Capitol Hill. Admitted fellows enter the placement process soon after accepting their fellowship offer and work closely with CHCI staff to determine a placement option(s). Fellows also have the option to pursue a placement off Capitol Hill during the program at a federal agency, think tank, nonprofit, or corporate office.

Public Policy Fellows are placed based on their professional and academic backgrounds, along with their interests in public policy, with at least one half of the full program term being on Capitol Hill. Admitted fellows enter the placement process soon after accepting their fellowship offer and work closely with CHCI staff to determine a placement option. Fellows also have the option to pursue a placement off Capitol Hill during the program, which – in odd-numbered years – would occur during the second half of the program.

No. CHCI does not provide permanent housing for fellows during the nine months of the program. CHCI program staff will share resources and connect all incoming fellows during summer onboarding to support the facilitation of their independent housing search.  

• This happens sometimes, particularly with schools out-of-country. Please send the following information on your school to our programs team, programs@chci.org: 

• School Name 

• City, State, Country