Barr Extends Timeline for 2019 Fellows

The Barr Fellowship celebrates and supports a network of civic leaders committed to Greater Boston. Since 2005, Barr has generally named a new class of Barr Fellows every other year. The most recent class of Barr Fellows was announced in June 2019. Given the impact of COVID-19, Barr has decided to defer the selection of our next class of Barr Fellows.

The Class of 2019 was ready to embark on their Learning Journey to Jordan in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic brought much of the world to a halt. A ten-day trip outside of the U.S. is a unique element of the Barr Fellowship, designed to strengthen relationships and foster shared learning among Fellows. This journey and other experiences core to the Fellowship (such as in-person retreats and three-month sabbaticals), have all been deferred for the 2019 Class.

We remain committed to providing the full Fellowship experience for them and future classes. This commitment means providing the 2019 Fellows their learning journey when it is safe to do so and supporting these leaders and their organizations when the Fellows take their sabbaticals.

In the meantime, the Fellows and their organizations continue to manage increased demands as they have stepped in to help children, families and communities – those that have most often been marginalized and underserved by systems that don’t meet their needs – to weather the current crisis. The monthly virtual convenings facilitated by Barr’s programmatic partners at Interaction Institute for Social Change provide opportunities for real-time peer coaching and support as Fellows navigate financial pressures and transitions in service, support their teams and their own personal care, and envision new ways of being and operating in the future.

Investing in leaders is a core value of the Barr Foundation, and we remain committed to supporting a diverse group of effective, visionary, and collaborative leaders through the Fellowship for years to come.

Investing in leaders is a core value of the Barr Foundation, and we remain committed to supporting a diverse group of effective, visionary, and collaborative leaders through the Fellowship for years to come. We look forward to sharing more about the 2019 Class experience as it evolves.

Looking ahead it's helpful to note that Barr will not extend a traditional selection process beyond the class of 2019. Given our rapidly changing world context, we’ve decided to take a brief pause to better understand the significant challenges leaders are managing and how Barr can be helpful. We do anticipate sharing more information in the months ahead.

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