 Let me introduce myself. My name is Alberto Rodriguez and I'm a similar program manager at the Public Interest Involved team here in New America. And I'm really happy to welcome you to this fellowship programs, Creating Pathways to Career and Public Interest Technology event. I am delighted to be joined by my great partners in the work of Public Interest Technology. But let me take a couple of seconds and just talk a little bit about what we do here at New America. The America Public Interest Technology team works with partners, including government agencies, the non-governmental organizations that focus groups, universities, policy makers, and other mission-driven organizations to develop the Public Interest Technology system. We strive to make this ecosystem accessible, transparent, diverse, equitable, and one of the key things is including new people and instilling new talent into the ecosystem. So that's why we are here with our fellows from Schmidt Futures and coding it forward. We'll be talking about a little bit of their programs and how are they bringing new talent into the Public Interest Technology ecosystem. So without further ado, let me introduce my fellow speakers. Daniel Holman is the manager of talent selection at Schmidt Futures. She is the founding selection leader for the Quad Fellowship, which is the first of its kind scholarship program for master's and doctoral students. I'll let her talk a little bit more about that. Prior to Schmidt, she served as a director of admissions at the Teague Fellowship. We also have with us Johnny Cooper, who is the manager of the Associate Product Manager Program, Altschmidt. And she leads both the cohort and the strategies of that program. She spent her career at the intersection of tech, public policy, and social impact. And prior to Schmidt, she was a product manager at Pi Metrics, a startup that uses AI and neuroscience to make higher and fair and predictive. Last but not least, we have Rachel Dodel, co-founder and executive director of coding forward. Back in 2017, she was part of the first cohort. And ever since, she's played an active role in the institution, created new programs, new additions for people that want to get into public service, and especially at the beginning of their careers. So let's hear a little bit more about them. I'll give them each a couple of minutes to talk about the projects and programs. And then we will jump into some questions where we will try to find common ground between both our problems of bringing new people in tech, and also what we can learn from each other. I'll leave the floor for Danielle. Thank you so much, Alberto, Vantisha, and the entire New America team really appreciate the time that we have to share about these exciting opportunities. So to kick off with the Quad Fellowship, we are an initiative of Schmidt Futures and work in collaboration with the Quad governments of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States to launch a fellowship program for prospective graduate students. So our goal is to really create a network of leading practitioners in STEM from across the four Quad countries to address the challenges of today and tomorrow. And so one of the ways that we do that is by sponsoring a graduate study, but also providing great programming for these talented folks that are thinking about, how do I combine my interest and passion for this field with the ability to create solutions to make the world better for others? The idea was ideated by the Quad leaders themselves. So last fall in September, President Biden, along with the prime ministers of the other three Quad governments, came together for the Quad Leaders Summit to think about ways in which they can address 21st century issues. And one of the ideas they created was a people-to-people exchange in a fellowship program and the TAP Schmidt Futures, which is a philanthropic initiative of Eric and Wendy Schmidt and known for really betting early on exceptional talent and creating talent programs to administer the fellowship. So that happened last September. They notified Schmidt Futures November that we would be honored to administer the fellowship. And we had to get something up and running right away. So we've been hitting the ground running in terms of launching the application. It's been open since March. And so the date that to remember is June 30. So we have just about a month left to apply. So we really hope that folks who are interested in this opportunity apply soon. And I'll talk a little bit more about what we offer. So first, we have a combination of financial and programmatic benefits. So the financial benefit is a $50,000 personal award that goes directly to the student to support their graduate study. And it's a really flexible award. It can go towards tuition, but it can also go towards room and board, education-related expenses, such as research, travel to education conferences. And it can be combined with other fellowship and scholarship funding that students may receive. So really flexible award. And there's also an opportunity for an additional needs-based funding of up to $25,000. So $75,000 total that students are eligible for. And in addition, we offer comprehensive programming during the fellowship year. So when fellows are announced, which will be end of October beginning of November, from there, they'll have access to our pre-programming while they'll be able to connect with other fellows from all across the four countries. They'll have a chance to get graduate application support. So at the time of applying, you may not have already been accepted to graduate school and might be applying for the following year of 2023-2024. So we'll have advisors to support that process and other workshops related to relevant topics. And then there is a residential experience, so a five-day trip in one of the four quad countries each year. It'll rotate each year. Next year, it'll be in Australia. All 100 fellows that will select will be able to come together to meet each other, which is, of course, fantastic, because it'll be going to different schools during the academic year. But also it's an opportunity for us to connect with STEM leaders from the different quad countries, bring them together to really be in community with our fellows. Certainly provide speaker series, but also to really engage with them on a more one-on-one personal level. There's mentorship opportunity and programming that we're building into the program. So we're really excited about the connections that our fellows will create through our programming. Because, of course, the financial benefit is helpful and important, but I really think it's the network and the long-lasting effects of being in community with other folks who are problem-solving in really interdisciplinary ways that are just going to move work forward and really be the most beneficial for our fellows. After the residential experience, all of the fellows will go on to their graduate programs. And then during their graduate year, they'll still continue to have access to virtual programming. And then we'll have a robust alumni programming. So the fellowship year is only one year, but really the connection as a quad fellow is supposed to be lifelong. And so we are really committed to making sure that we are cultivating this community by engaging our fellows long after they finish their fellowship year. We accept both masters and PhD students and both prospective and current students. So we are accepting folks for the 2023-2024 academic year. So that means if you're interested in applying for next year and are not yet in graduate school, you're eligible to apply. Or if you're a current graduate student, so a master's or PhD student, that will have at least one more year. So you'll be enrolled in the 2023-2024 academic year. This could also be a great opportunity for you. Related to the other eligibility requirements, students must be over 18 in order to apply, but there's no age maximum. So if you are interested in taking a kind of a professional gap or you already have one and you have a couple of years of professional experience and want to go back for your graduate study, this could be a great option for you. Applicants must be a citizen of one of the four quad countries, so Australia, India, Japan, or the United States. But you don't have to currently reside in one of those countries as long as you're a citizen. You have to have received your bachelor's degree by 2023. So by June of 2023, you will have to complete your undergraduate studies in order to start graduate studies in the fall. So that's one piece. And then Superior Academic Excellence. So we're really looking for folks that are excited about engaging in their discipline and field at the higher level academically and also thinking about the impact of that work more broadly. So we really consider both academic excellence and a passion for STEM and society to be our kind of dual pillars of our selection criteria that we look for. And then in addition to those things, we're thinking about folks who are excited to be a part of this cohort. So there's a reason we're not a quad prize. We really believe in the power of a network and a cohort and bringing people together. And so we want folks that are excited about being a part of this cross-country interdisciplinary program. And then lastly, an orientation towards results. So having a big idea is great. But being able to act on those ideas and get things done is really what we're looking for. So those are the eligibility requirements and some of the selection criteria. I'm happy to answer other questions about the program. And then I'll turn it over back to Alberto. Thank you, Daniel. That was a lot of information. But if folks want to check it out more, we will drop a link for the program in the chat. Let me then turn it on to Joni about the Associate Product Manager program. So Joni, Floor is yours. Great. Thank you so much, Alberto. And it's always fun being on panels with other folks at Schmidt Futures representing different programs. It gets me, I probably heard Danielle's pitch 20 times about the Quad Fellowship. And every time I hear it, I get very excited. But I work closely with Danielle at Schmidt Futures. And I specifically oversee the Associate Product Manager program at Schmidt Futures. And so in a nutshell, the APM program, what we do is recruit really bright, talented, recent graduates who really have a passion for applying their technical skills towards social good. And this is particularly in a product manager capacity and more than happy to share more about what a product manager is perhaps in the Q&A or later on in the session. But essentially how the program works. So we recruit kind of a cohort of 10 to 12 folks each year. They join Schmidt Futures. And this is a rotational program in nature. So they shop around three to four social impact projects over the course of two years in a product manager capacity. And something really cool about this program is not only do you get to work on hard problems, learn what product management is like in the social impact space, but you're also developing along the way and really get exposure to the different flavors of product management in the social impact space. So to give you an example of that, really our APM projects run the gamut. We've had APMs that have worked in the criminal justice space, that have worked in agriculture and education and happy to share more about project examples also later on in this conversation. So as mentioned, I view the program as twofold where you're really applying your technical skills towards these hard societal problems in partnership with social impact organizations. But at the end of the day, similar to the Quad Fellowship, this is a cohort-based program in nature. So very much cultivate programming where you foster a strong community of folks with minded technologists and really experts in the social impact space. And we've also been beefing up programming to really help you develop the product management skill set. So creating, as we speak, a product management bootcamp where we're partnering with a large product management provider and embedding specifically social impact curriculum into that bootcamp so that you can be ready to go as you embark on your product rotations with Schmidt Futures and with our external host organizations. In terms of the applicants we look for for the APM program, definitely looking for folks that have some kind of technical acumen. We note in our job description that majors and minors we target are in computer science as well as engineering. That being said, that is not a hard requirement. We also look for equivalent forms of experience. So if you majored in statistics, other forms of mathematics, data science, that is also something we very much welcome. We also love having folks that couple technical experience with more qualitative and liberal arts experiences. I probably am biased, but I feel like some of the most talented product managers and social impact I've worked with have both kind of a blend of technical acumen as well as kind of that liberal arts and kind of humanities perspective. Then in terms of kind of other hard requirements, so we look for folks that are recent graduates. We've had a couple of APMs that have a couple years of experience in joining the APM program. So you can be a recent graduate kind of graduating in 2023, or you could have graduated one to two years prior to that. And then just I echoed this a little bit previously, but in terms of what we look for in candidates, I think first and foremost kind of a passion for social impact and doing good in this world. And that's kind of our top baseline. And I'm sure Rachel and Danielle could attest to that for their programs as well. I think also kind of comfort in navigating ambiguity. Product management and technology in the social impact space is candidly super messy. It's an amazing and fulfilling experience, but having someone who's truly comfortable with navigating ambiguity certainly helps. And then also someone who's a learner and kind of curious at heart. As I mentioned, a part of the program, even though you're tactically applying your technical skills, the point of it is also to learn and kind of get exposure to different kinds of product management in the space. So someone who's willing to take risks within reason, to experiment and to really kind of push the boundaries of what's possible both for Schmidt-Euchers and our partner organizations, it is something we certainly look for. And then in terms of kind of deadlines to keep an eye out for, so our application is currently live, which is very exciting for our 2023 APM cohort. Applications, we're accepting applications, I believe through August 1st, and then we'll kick off the interview process at the end of August, early September, and we hope to deliver offers to folks kind of midfall surrounding mid to end of October. So happy to dive into any aspect of what I just mentioned. And yeah, thank you so much again, Alberto, for having us and having the APM program represented. I'll turn it back to you. Thank you. Well, it's definitely super interesting to see how the community aspect and the community building is shaping up in your programs. And before I turn to Rachel, I just wanna say that also another piece and another view that the Public Interest Ecology team is looking for is how to build that community outside of the, so we love to hear about the span many other fellowship programs. Rachel, I'll leave it up to you to wrap us up on this first section of the talk. Sure, thank you so much for having me. And again, thanks to the whole New America team for hosting us this afternoon. I'm Rachel Jodell, I'm one of the co-founders of Putting It Forward and currently serve as the organization's executive director. For those of you unfamiliar, Putting It Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building new opportunities and pathways for engaging early career technologists in the public interest technology space. We're also funded by Schmidt Futures, so we're definitely keeping it in the Schmidt family this afternoon, so I'm super excited to be on this panel. In terms of our programs and how we're building these pathways that I'm talking about, we run two different primary programs at the moment. The first is the Civic Digital Fellowship, which I think folks are more familiar with. We launched that back in 2017 as a response to some of our own problems when we were students. At the time, we were college students looking to work in government with a technical background, but unfortunately, there just really were not any internship opportunities and I think the field of public interest technology was still in a very early stage that was still looking to build new ways for folks to get involved. So we approached some of our mentors and asked them, hey, how can we do this? How can we become technologists in the government? And we were fortunate that they were willing to take a bet on our idea and help us build out a fellowship model. Our first cohort had 14 students at the US Census Bureau compared to our cohort that's starting in just two weeks, which has 160 students, 10 different federal agencies and 33 different host offices across three states, three counties and over 10 different cities. So we've grown quite rapidly over the past five or so years. And in terms of who we bring into our programs and what they do, we really work with a range of students, folks who are in boot camp and certificate programs. We also work with undergraduate students as well as graduate students. So no matter what kind of stage you're at in your academic journey, there is likely an opportunity for you. I'm also thrilled to share that we were able to open up our program at the state and local level to non-US citizens. So if you're someone who's studying on an F1 or a J1 visa or you're a permanent resident, you're more than welcome to also apply to our Civic Innovation Corps program, which is at the state and local level. In terms of what our programs cover, we hire predominantly software engineers, product managers, designers and data scientists to work on challenges across federal, state and local government for about a 10-week period over the course of the summer. As I mentioned, our programs are starting relatively soon. This summer, they're running from June 13th until August 19th. So we do not currently have applications open, but I will share some more information in the chat about subscribing to our newsletter so that in case you are interested in learning the next round opens in the fall, you'll be the first to know when that happens. Thank you, Rachel. So as our audience is hearing, there's a lot of opportunities for newcomers into this field. And what I mean by this field is this overcompensating and relatively recalling public interest technology. So I notice, let me just jump straight into the questions to all of you. I notice again that an interesting part is that you are targeting early careers and graduates. Rachel did mention that that was part of the problem solving. But what is it that you are searching for when you're focusing on the youth, on newcomers into the field? How did you get into that decision? Let me ask Joni, would you start with this? Sure, absolutely. I think very much echoing Rachel. One of the reasons why we focused on early career folks as the inflection point for the APM program is that we noticed that there just weren't enough pathways that exist into this type of field and social impact. So kind of that void in the system really kind of inspired us to think more about what are some concrete pathways and programs that we can create to really kind of catch this talent at a key inflection point, an example in graduating school and give them the proper training and experiences they need to further pursue careers in public interest tech, hopefully for the rest of their lives to some capacity. So I think the void in pathways not existing certainly stuck out to us. I think also just meeting the moment, I think Gen Z is one of the most altruistic generations we've had to date. They're incredibly fired up. They want to apply their talents towards social good. So recognizing this is a very powerful inflection point given where our society is at today and making sure these folks have those experiences and skills to really make a difference in the hard problems that we all face. Thank you. Danielle, I mean, what about the Quad Fellowship? I know that I mean, given that you're focusing on grad students and doctoral students, you're still early career. What was it that brought you here? Yes, and I see what we are seeking to do with Quad really in tandem with what both the APM program and coding it forward do. So it's about how do we give excited, motivated, talented folks practical experience to prepare for careers in public interest and prepare to solve big challenges that'll make lives better for others. And so one way to do that is through experience. So through internships and career pathways. And another way to do that is to upskill through graduate study. And so whether it's someone getting their masters or their PhD to really hone in on their skills within their discipline to really elevate advanced research, I think that's really in tandem with the professional experience that they get in other opportunities. So I think that's how all of our programs intersect. And I think that's a part of the reason to target early career folks. I will say the Quad Fellowship, while we anticipate that most of our applicants will be earlier in their career, we're also excited about potential applicants that are pivoting. And really what we're excited about is the energy and the new energy that people have towards public interest. And how are they going to apply that to answer really tough challenges and to kind of do innovative work? That's what we're excited about. Thank you, Danela and Rachel. You were part of that cohort. So both as a director and someone who was there, like what do you think the youth brings to this, those 10 programs? Sure. I think when we were initially starting our program, something that we really noticed on college campuses is that big tech companies and hot startups are everywhere on campus recruiting technology students all the time, but there were almost no social impact organizations dedicated to recruiting and retaining talent in the technology space. So we just started to notice, hey, we're interested in using our skills in this kind of way, but who's out there working on these things that we care about, which is why we started to recognize that there was a void. And as we started to do more research, particularly in the public service space, we found out that there's actually a huge gap in the talent pipeline, especially in federal government. Presently only 3% of federal government employees are under the age of 30 and 14% of federal government employees are eligible to retire in the next few years, which means that our public service workforce is currently aging out of their jobs and we really need to be focusing on recruiting the next generation of individuals to come in and bring a new perspective to public service. So there's a lot of folks who are working on this problem. We decided to tackle it from the early career perspective since that's what we knew and that's where we were coming from. And like Danielle mentioned as well, we also welcome folks who are changing careers, despite being an undergrad when we started our program, we've had fellows to range in age from 18 years old all the way to 40 years old. So if you're someone watching this who's gone back to school, who's in a certificate program or is thinking about how you can maybe use some of your skills in a new and exciting way, we definitely welcome an application from you as well. Thank you. I wanna ask everyone another question, which is, I mean, you're new programs, but can you share some success stories? So either some pains or some stories from the people that have gone through your programs and have done an impact. Let me ask, I'm actually gonna start with you Rachel on this one. Any kind of stories that you would like to share other than yours? Sure, we have quite a few amazing success stories and I'll also share a link to our GitHub, which is where all of the previous projects and presentations are hosted from our fellows. But one of my favorite stories is a fellow named Christian Mascardi who actually currently still works at the US Census Bureau and a few years ago, Christian was one of our fellows at the time working on a very specific economic survey which essentially classified commodities into different codes. There's something called the NAICS code, which I won't get into kind of all the details there, but essentially it's important economic information that US Census Bureau has to collect on every kind of company that conducts business so we can better understand how our economy functions. And it's a six-digit code. Folks often get it wrong when filling out surveys because there are a lot of codes and it gets very confusing about which one your business might be categorized in. And at the time the Census Bureau was actually using people to manually check every single survey response to make sure that the codes were entered correctly or if a code wasn't included figuring out how to categorize a particular business, which is obviously incredibly time consuming. It's a waste of resources and there's a better way to do that, right? As technologists, we know that we can automate things. So Christian came in and built an algorithm which ended up accurately predicting the codes. I think the accuracy rate was 96% and is actually able to be applied to other surveys but the Census Bureau conducts as well and my understanding some other agencies are currently adopting similar technologies and that ended up saving the Census Bureau, I believe close to $2 million in taxpayer funds just for human resources alone and 10 weeks. This is a 10-week internship program and that is what some of them are able to accomplish. So I think it really goes to show when you bring in folks with different perspectives or cutting edge skills, there's a lot of incredible work that can be done that frees up the amazing public servants at the US Census Bureau to focus on things that can't be automated and that technology can't be used more. So that's personally one of my favorite success stories. Christian is now, like I said, still at the Census Bureau and he's actually managed several of our fellows over the past years as well. So it's been a great kind of full circle moment for him to be an early career manager helping bring in the next generation as well. That's amazing. Sorry, Rachel, thank you for sharing it. Johnny, I know that APM has already a set of cohorts. Any kind of story that you could share over there? Yeah, when you asked this question, Alberto, my mind went in like six different directions. I think I always think about the success stories of each of the APMs that we bring in. But I think of success in two ways. I think the first being success APMs have on their social impact projects during the APM program of the course of two years and then kind of what their post-APM program pathways look like and where they had next. So on the first piece, I alluded to this a little bit in the introduction, but it's pretty incredible how much progress and kind of success an APM can make in such a targeted amount of time in partnership with social impact organizations. So for additional context, our APMs are on projects for about six to nine months, doing some really incredible work across a variety of different domains and problem spaces. So to give you an example, one of our senior APMs, Annalise, partnered with a criminal justice nonprofit tech startup called Recidiviz and what she did is worked with the team on building out tools so that parole and probation officers could better triage their cases so that they can understand the current state of their populations and ultimately better support incarcerated individuals and hopefully even reduce the Recidivizm rates. So that's one kind of example of an APM project. I think completely on the other side of the spectrum, we have another APM project led by one of our former APMs, Sam, who partnered with Duolingo, which is one of the largest language learning platforms in the world. And he headed up as a PM of variety of analytics and experimentation driven tools where he kind of tested what type of functionality would be best kind of absorbed by learners so that they can better learn and apply kind of language skills, whether it be in university or wherever they travel. So those are two fundamentally different paths and kind of success stories within those APM projects that APMs have had. And I think just touching quickly on the second point of where APMs go next, I think success for the APM program is if APMs continue their careers in public interest. And we've been amazed at how many folks after the APM program have continued to do that. So Sam, for example, is now a full-time product manager at Duolingo. We've actually had a couple of APMs that have gone on to start their own ventures at kind of the intersection of tech and social impact. And then we've had other APMs as well that have taken on kind of strategy roles and enlarge our social enterprises. So kind of looking at the career paths that our APMs have taken so far, one really cool thing we've learned is that the product management skill set our APMs develop in the program could actually be applied to a variety of different functions in the social impact space. So one kind of natural trajectory is that, you know, an APM continues on as a product manager in social impact, but they could also pivot to a strategy role or a policy role or start their own company in social impact. So that from my perspective is definitely a win, kind of having folks continue to grow within the space and take a variety of roles on that really continue to get at core problems our society faces. That's a really good view in. And Adele, I know that Quad is just starting with, let me rephrase it a little bit for you. How do you think, how does success look like for a future fellow in this? Cause I mean, you guys are bringing in people from different countries. So I think that that was a little bit tricky. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? Sure. So I will say our success story is being able to launch this program. So it's a little more of an internal success story so far since we don't have our cohort of fellows yet. But as mentioned, when we were kind of selected to administer the fellowship, we were more or less given, you know some bullet points of what they wanted and thankfully some wonderful corporate sponsors. But beyond that, it was kind of, we had to kind of go for it while bless a little and figuring everything out. And so being able to kind of get the application out there and then also work in community with our government partners with nonprofits in every country. So I actually just came back from a whirlwind tour of Japan, Australia and India connecting with university and government partners to really support the fellowship. So I would say the success story is how exciting and collaborative, excited and collaborative with a collaborative spirit. People are interested in this program. Universities of all four countries are really committed to being sources of talent for this opportunity. And so I think in terms of what success can look like for fellows, I think there's so much capacity to do really great things in this fellowship because the energy around it is really strong both for folks who will pursue their graduate studies in the United States, but then also for coming back. So a lot of the universities talked about, what if someone did their masters in the US and then came back for their PhD in Australia or they did a research internship or a visiting opportunity in Japan. What if they, following their graduate studies they pursue a full-time opportunity at a major public interest corporate in India. So I think there's just a lot of momentum around the fellowship which makes it a really exciting place to be. It's not a hard sell, which is exciting. And I think that for fellows that are motivated and want to take advantage of this opportunity, the sky's the limit. I think the people that are watching us here and they're gonna watch us later on YouTube, I think that this is one of the key finders. You will get to write that success story with the team and I'm more than excited to see what comes next. I'll have one last question from my end and I have a couple of questions that have come on through the chat. So I am going to ask this director to Joni and Rachel Daniel, you can jump in. We're, I'm hearing a lot of creating this community, creating this network. But in part, Joni, your fellows go into different places afterwards and Rachel also coding it forward fellows are all over the federal government right now. But can you tell us a little bit about how they interest and intersected with their places of work, specifically Joni within Schmidt and the places that they worked at and Rachel, how did they intersect with the government offices that were placed? Joni? Sure, happy to. So kind of at the core of APM work is very much the idea of co-creation. So with the APM program, APMs can have internal Schmidt projects, but actually the majority of their time over the course of two years is with external social impact organizations. And I think in part because of this model that makes the idea of co-creation even more important. And what I mean by co-creation is not just, you know an APM or a tech person operating in a silo to deliver a technology solution for a social impact organization. It's truly working hand in hand with the communities that are impacted by this technology with the host organizations themselves. So that in partnership with these folks we could collectively deliver technology that furthers a social good. I think that's something that we are particularly mindful of especially since our program is rotational in nature. We really want to build the capacity of social impact organizations so that when our APMs rotate to another project their previous host organizations can continue the momentum around their technology solutions. So that's the first thing. And then I think more tactically I think something really interesting and cool about the APM program is that you have this intimate APM cohort at Schmidt features of 10 to 12 folks but also to the extent folks feel comfortable. I know COVID has shaken things up a little bit. We very much value kind of our APMs going on the ground and meeting their teams in the States and kind of in the regions that they're in. So pre-COVID and we're coming back to the state a little bit more now. APMs tended to travel one to two times a month on site working side by side with their teams also doing kind of discovery sprints and user research sprints in the communities that they work with. So I think that's one really interesting element as well. The home base of the APM program is in New York at the Schmidt Futures office but we very much value coupling that with on the ground experience and working side by side with the partner organizations they do projects with. Rachel, same question. How do your fellows are interacted with? In this case, now state governments but also federal ones. Sure, yeah. So across all of our government partners state, local, federal every single fellow is assigned a manager. So we make sure that starting on day one the fellow has some monsters there to support them across their journey during the 10 weeks. We personally as students prior to this program had internship experiences where he walked in the door someone handed you a laptop and gave you maybe three sentences of directions and said, go at it which is not the experience we wanted our fellows to have. We really believe that it's important for folks to have internship and fellowship experiences where they're actively mentored where they're able to grow personally and professionally and where there's meaningful work created. We don't think it's fair to the students we don't think it's fair to our government partners to not have those clear intentions in mind when starting the program. Because there's only such a short period of time we really encourage our managers to work with our fellows actively throughout the 10 weeks. So starting on day one there's tons of meetings and introductions and opportunities to really get to know your team plug in with stakeholders and understand how they might be using the product you're building or how they might be interacting with a particular tool or a policy maker who might understand how government is delivered to folks. Then throughout the following weeks we really make sure that managers are actively working alongside fellows. Our program is remote right now so that often looks like a lot of Zoom calls a lot of Slack messages and checking in but really making sure folks sort of get that face to face time. Beyond that we also have midpoint check-ins so formal opportunities for feedback which we think are really important professional skills for the fellows to learn throughout their 10 weeks with us because feedback is something you'll take with you for your entire professional career and understanding how to not only give feedback but also receive it we think is the super important skill. And then at the end of the summer as well we have a demo day opportunity where all of our fellows have a chance to present their work not only to their managers but also to stakeholders throughout the office to make sure that folks really understand the impact of what was created. Similar to the other fellowships on the call we also do have external communities which I didn't mention. So we have an entire cohort community this summer it's 150 fellows where folks can also interact professionally outside of the office troubleshoot problems together work on issues and this summer I'm super excited because we're partnering with another nonprofit organization second day which is dedicated to strengthening the talent pipeline and the social impact space and they're helping us develop an all new custom professional development curriculum for our fellows so that they can learn more about professional skills and networking navigating complex work environment as well so that they can be better equipped to work with their managers in the workplace. Thank you. Daniel let me just ask you how a little bit it's basically the same question but I know that that Quad has a whole programmatic event right they go to something before something to rank just to focus the experience on your fellows can you talk us a little bit about that? To make sure I understand the question how we plan to focus the what is the programic experience like for the fellows? Yes. Sure yeah so as mentioned I think the real benefit of the program beyond the financial benefit is going to be the programmatic elements because it's a way for our fellows to receive mentoring to really engage in their field of study beyond the academics but really create a space for them to think about the kind of social impact of their work. I think there's as we've been kind of doing our tours and talking to prospective students there's been a lot of excitement to Rachel's point into Joni's point about you know I have this technical skill this acumen and interest but I really want to apply it towards towards doing something good but it doesn't feel like there are that many pathways for that and so our program is really built around the idea that not only are there pathways but we're trying to really enforce the fact that you should be doing this work it is great to really apply your skills towards you know bettering quality of life for others. So I think our program is really focused on how do we create opportunities for folks to develop skills such as communication so scientific communication how do you communicate your research findings to the public in an accessible way how do you develop the leadership skills for you to be able to you know advance in your work you know bringing in policy makers about you know how do we kind of create more conversations and fluid discussions between researchers and policy makers to really make sure that our kind of science and tech related policies are really informed so there's so many things outside of the kind of the academic preparation that our students are getting in their graduate studies themselves and that we hope to supplement to really prepare them for what's next in their career and then really kind of tapping into the network that we create across the country so you know all four governments are democracies and we really believe in the power of bringing folks from these four democracies together to think about how do we you know approach challenges that are certainly global challenges but then also regional challenges we're hoping that our fellows are excited about returning to their countries and making an impact there so how can we provide opportunities for that too so all of that is kind of the the ideas that inform our programming in terms of the structure both virtual and in-person programming will be a part of the process most of it will be virtual because of kind of the nature of folks from all over the world kind of studying in different universities but we do believe in kind of the power of in-person touch points as well so that'll be incorporated in the process. Well we did learn that from COVID so I think two years have taught us a lot about that so thank you for asking my questions but now it's starting to answer the seven, eight, 10 questions that the audience has given us and I'm gonna start most of them are anonymous so I'm just gonna start with one that says for the APM program and coding and forward fellowships but I'll ask for what too what kind of experience do you value more in applicants? Do you value more research or industry internships or any other kind of journey would you want to start? Sure it's a great question my perspective and speaking from an APM program perspective is that I think whether it's industry experience or research experience they're both great so long as you can show kind of your value your expertise some kind of experience that marries the technical would be able to collaborate to communicate with partners is awesome. So I don't think we have a preference one over the other I think it is great to this question to be able to dive super deep into the weeds of kind of technical projects but at the same time it is equally important to take a step back have that kind of 30,000 foot view and kind of have the skills to understand how all the pieces fit together. So hopefully that provides more context there isn't a set like here as a person we look for with XYZ requirements and in big tech and in government I think very much we look at candidates in a holistic way also to ensure that we have a diverse diversity of perspectives in our cohort so there could be folks that come from research there could be other folks that have done internships in big tech and in industry so hopefully that answers the question but happy to dive into anything else that would be helpful. Yeah and just to add on I mean, Joanie pretty much gave the answer that I was gonna give but from putting it forward perspective we do look at candidates on a few different kind of qualities obviously your technical know how is one but we don't care where that comes from it could be working on a really complex classroom project it could be working on a research project it could be previous internship experiences as long as you're able to demonstrate your skills and show that you know your stuff we're looking for all sorts of experiences and I've had that represented in our cohort so far we're also looking for folks that kind of have the emotional intelligence if you will to work in these really challenging environments it can be hard to work in government and public service and public interest technology more broadly there are not always easy answers to the problems you're trying to solve and sometimes it's not clear on what the next step is to take or how you might solve a particular problem so we're looking for folks who are kind of comfortable navigating ambiguous environments figuring out how to work with folks from different backgrounds you're not always going to be working with the technologists in this space your manager might not even be technical themselves so we're looking for folks who kind of have that emotional intelligence to navigate a wider range of scenarios that might be thrown at them and then we're also looking for folks who are really passionate about public service who show a demonstrated interest in working in this field so for us it's not just about how good are you at coding that's not the only skill we're looking for we're also looking for people who care about what happens once their code is implemented how is the government service delivered how does this thing function who's affected by what you're building and what are the negative consequences that could happen if you build it incorrectly so we're looking for folks who care about looking at these issues from a variety of lenses and who are great technologists but also folks who are really dedicated to making a difference and to thinking about others as well I can actually answer that question because it comes up a lot even for Quad whether you need previous research experience to be a competitive applicant for the program it certainly helps but it's not required we understand that this is a program for folks who are aspiring to masters in PhD programs so they might not have had a ton of research experience already however if you've done a senior thesis in your undergraduate studies or have already had some experience I think that's fantastic I'll kind of lift up that selection criterion that I mentioned before related to orientation towards results we're excited about folks that want to get things done so whether you've done that in an academic and research capacity that's fantastic but we also really value strong extracurricular experience so if whether you let a student organization or had professional experience that demonstrates a track record of having positive results and being able to make an impact and you wanna apply that towards your graduate studies I think that's what is going to excite us and we'll really pop in the application process thank you, thank you for all for those answers I have a couple more questions and I will ask the three of you if we keep it short because there are a lot and I wanna get to most of them so the first one, this is just for APM those APM program accept applicants on non-immigrant visas who have to meet certain requirements who work in the US short answer is yes we definitely have international sponsorship and we very much welcome international folks to join our program and have had APMs to date that have done so and Rachel putting it forward I'll, it's in the new process it's still, they can't, right? Sure, so I'll answer this it's a bit of a complex answer our federal program which is the Civic Digital Fellowship only accepts US citizens because you have to pass a background check and security clearance process however our state and local program which is the Civic Innovation Core does accept international students we have had several thus far we do not offer sponsorship unfortunately but if you are someone who is on an F1 or J1 visa and is able to get CPT or OPT through your university you are more than welcome to apply and we're happy to help you through the paperwork process as well. Thank you, Rachel the next question that I have here is and there's a lot of interest how do they connect with past fellows both from the APN and according to forward and is there any way to connect with them in the future? I'm happy to kick that off we don't have like a precise place where you can go and contact our fellows we try and respect the fact that a lot of them have full-time jobs and commitments now and outside of our programs and our busy students themselves instead what I really encourage you to do is visit our blog we've had a ton of blogs published from first person perspectives with our alumni fellows I think it's a really great place to get to know the program a little bit better we also host a range of information sessions throughout the fall so again I would encourage you to subscribe to our newsletter we'll be publishing all of our information sessions there which include several of our alumni fellows and it's a great opportunity to get to meet them face to face and ask them questions as well unfortunately it's just not possible right now given the amount of demands that we have to connect folks one on one since we do want to be respectful of our fellows' time and other commitments And I can answer briefly on the APM program side very similar to what Rachel just said we don't have a formal structure in place to connect prospective applicants with APM alumni but we do have some upcoming info sessions where they will be co-led by current APMs so that is an opportunity to learn more about their experiences if folks are interested in implying to the program Thank you and I'm having some questions to say that say they want to connect with our speakers with the Nail Rachel and Joanie after the webinar so after the webinar we will send them an email with contact information with all the links that we have so that we could connect but I am more than sure that all of those three websites APM, Quad, and CIF also have a lot of information for how to get in contact with the team So this one is really interesting so we have an incoming college freshman and he's interested in all of the three programs and he's asking what should he be doing to craft my best application possible for your programs Joanie Well I'll just say my first reaction to that is that is amazing as someone who's in their first year of university kind of starting to think about applying to these programs that's really awesome in terms of the APM program so just in terms of some top-line qualifications we look for folks that are recent graduates so a little bit farther along in their career and university trajectories that being said in order to kind of set yourself up for the APM program and this type of fellowship experience I would say the same thing as a kind of the type of experience we try and give our APMs like very much find opportunities to explore what public interest technology looks like over the next couple of years for you so as Rachel alluded to there are many different ways you can do that that could be in an extracurricular activity that could be taking a public interest oriented course so really kind of experimenting and exploring what this space looks like and applying your skills in a variety of different environments is what I'd recommend I think also subtle plug for the APM program we're trying to do a better job at kind of publishing content regarding the APM program providing kind of more updates on the Schmidt Future side in terms of our work and fellowship opportunities so as you continue to explore kind of this space and think about what's next that could also be another way to learn more about how our fellowship programs are evolving and kind of the opportunities that are coming up on our side I think everything Joni just said is right I'll also just say as someone who's freshman year of college was not not that long ago I would say to just pursue your passions especially as an incoming freshman in college it's a wonderful time to have some academic freedom that high school doesn't necessarily offer so I'd really encourage you to explore new courses like Joni said if there's a pit course at your school or even a CF class I think that's a great place to start to make sure that it really aligns with your academic passions and interests and I'd also say explore a range of organizations on campus I had no idea what I was doing my first year of college and I think you'll find that most of your peers don't either despite how much it feels like everyone has it together I'd really encourage you to get out there exploring different organizations take different classes and different subjects and see if this does align with your interests and if it does from an academic perspective and an extracurricular perspective that's awesome but also know that there really is no one pathway into public interest technology that's right or wrong and I'd encourage you to look into a breadth of opportunities especially going into your first year My piece of advice is very tactical go to office hours so I think when we were an adult and you realize like wait when I was in college I could have just gone into a leader in the field that I'm interested in and asked them questions and they were like we're sitting there wanting me to ask questions I have access to them at a set time I think you don't have that in the same way in your adult life so it's a really great opportunity not just to get to know your professors on a kind of oh they might write a lot of recommendation kind of level it's really just the best way to learn about what you're interested in is to talk to people in the field about their experiences about the recommendations that they might have about next steps, what you should pursue so getting to know your professors and then also getting to know other professors outside of the classes that you might take but within the field that you're interested in will help you figure out what you want to do next and then also will help you develop the relationships that'll be important for your academic and professional career so definitely take advantage of office hours it can feel intimidating but they have them for a reason and I think it's a great opportunity perfect, well I'll ask one more question this is directed at Joni and Danielle and one last question so this one is is there any program in Schmidt Futures that supports new non-profit ventures in the space of public interest technology? It's a little bit broad but just want to see if there's something else that you would see? Yeah, I think that's a great question and Joni, feel free to jump in as well we have a lot of different innovation funds meaning that different programs with Schmidt Futures will have opportunities to sponsor ventures based on kind of the mission alignment and so for example, related to social impact ventures we have an entrepreneurship and residence program that runs impact competition so for ventures that are looking for funding to kind of scale their work they run every so often so I don't know when the next one is so you would need to subscribe to their newsletter but all that to say if you search our website for the types of programs that we have there's very likely an opportunity for a fund or a competition that might come up within that program so signing up for the newsletters of the programs is kind of the best way to stay in touch about those things. Perfect. Well, these questions keep coming in I will ask this one because I think it's a short one I am currently enrolling in an online master's program that is accredited. Does that count as eligible to be for the Civic Digital Health for the Civic Digital Fellowship? It's hard to say without knowing exactly what you're referencing but if it is a program that is accredited by the U.S. Department of Education yes, that is completely fine we don't care if your classes are in person or online. Perfect. Well, we still have I just have a couple minutes left with you so I'm just going to ask this one question to the three of you would you mind repeating key dates so that there's the last thing that we say in this public sector and the people really understand that and where can they find Rachel? Sure, I'm happy to start, yeah. Well, you can find us online at codingitforward.com pretty simple and easy all of our links are on our website whether you're interested in finding more information on our programs they're following us on social media I'd also recommend subscribing to our newsletter which is at codingitforward.com slash subscribe also drop that in the chat our newsletter goes out on a bi-weekly basis we plug a ton of amazing early career opportunities in the public interest technology space as well as resources and news and in terms of important dates for our programs as I mentioned our programs won't open applications again until early winter so we don't have the exact date in mind just yet but definitely keep your eyes peeled and subscribe to our newsletter so that you'll be the first to know when that does happen. Joni. Awesome, just dropped this in the comments but I included our APM program website which shares more about the APM program and in terms of a key date the deadline for our upcoming fall 2023 cohort is August 1st so currently accepting applications so be sure to get that in over the next two months. And lastly, Danielle. Yes, last but not least but the earliest deadline June 30th so for the Quad Fellowship the application is the end of this month. If you're interested hop on our website today poke around, get started so that you can submit it by June 30th. Thanks so much. Well with that I thank you all for being here that I thank your audience for joining us today and I hope that at least we have new applicants from all across the US and all across the world and quite that get to join. Thank you so much.