Fellowship - The 19th
Apply for a 19th News Fellowship
The 19th is recruiting for its 2026-2027 cohort of the Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Fellowship.
Applications for the 2026-2027 Frances Ellen Watkins Harper fellowship are open until March 20, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. PST. Meet our 2025-26 fellows, as well as our 2024-25 fellows and see their work. You can also learn about 2023-24 fellows and their work. Plus, here’s a look at the work of our 2022-23 inaugural fellowship cohort.
Join a virtual information session to learn more about the fellowship’s tracks and benefits, practical tips for a strong application, plus hear from fellows and get questions answered.
March 10: Inside the Fellowship with Kari Cobham, 19th director of fellowships. RSVP here.
Named for the “mother of African-American journalism,” the program was launched in 2022 to provide recent graduates, mid-career alums and former students of Historically Black Colleges and Universities with yearlong, salaried fellowships with full benefits in reporting, audience engagement and news product. In 2026, The 19th is also launching a development track. Learn more about Frances Ellen Watkins Harper below.
About the program
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Fellows will spend a year working in reporting, audience engagement, news product and development with full-time salaries and benefits. Fellows are embedded in their respective teams and receive mentorship and professional development. We also provide career coaching to prepare fellows for their path after their fellowship.
(JEREMY TAURIAC for the 19th)
Fellowship tracks
Our cohorts include two reporting fellows, one audience engagement fellow, one development fellow and one news product fellow.
NEW! This year, we’re launching a development track. The new track introduces fellows to the business side of nonprofit journalism — an area that has historically lacked representation — while building the fundraising talent essential to sustaining independent newsrooms. Designed for mission-aligned candidates with some experience in news, nonprofits, campaigns or fundraising, this learning-focused year offers hands-on exposure to how diversified nonprofit funding models and news revenue work at The 19th.
The development fellow will build practical skills in donor engagement, fundraising strategy and impact-driven storytelling, while gaining cross-departmental insight into how teams collaborate to support public-service journalism and protect editorial independence.
(JEREMY TAURIAC for the 19th)
Fellows in the development track should expect to gain more experience in:
Working across departments to help produce and execute The 19th’s annual membership campaigns
Collecting, organizing and analyzing data to help inform the team’s fundraising and membership strategy
Writing effective messaging that highlights The 19th’s journalism and mission across the organization’s products and platforms; approaching fundraising asks with a strong level of confidence
Building and sustaining relationships with readers and donors virtually and in person
Gaining a clear understanding of a diversified nonprofit news development model, specifically through rotations with other members of the development and finance teams
Fellows in the reporting track should expect to gain more experience in:
Covering issues deeply through original reporting, researched context and nuanced framing
Pitching stories they want to follow through the lens of gender, policy and politics
Collaborating with editors and reporters on breaking news and ongoing coverage of issues central to our audiences
Identifying and developing areas of expertise within their reporting
Exploring storytelling across digital platforms, in-person events and on-the-ground reporting
Centering the voices and experiences of people on the margins, who are often affected the most at the intersections of gender, politics and policy
See stories reported on by 2024/25, 2023/2024 and 2022/2023 fellows.
Fellows in the audience engagement track should expect to gain more experience in:
(JEREMY TAURIAC for the 19th)
Pitching, producing and reporting out audience-centric stories that live first and foremost on Instagram. For example, our story about gender parity in top grossing films or a Reel about Florida A&M University’s (FAMU) first woman head drum major
Optimizing and distributing journalism across platforms — on our site, via search, on social and in newsletters — to meet different audiences where they are
Collaborating with reporters, editors and the creative team to craft accurate, compelling headlines, social and newsletter copy, and visuals on deadline
Working with different roles across editorial, event and product teams to execute audience engagement projects
Using key newsroom platforms and tools to draft and schedule social media posts, update our homepage, monitor real-time metrics and trending topics, and produce an article or newsletter
This year, fellows in the news product track should expect to gain more experience in:
Using design thinking to generate product ideas that meet audience needs, align with our mission and advance business goals
Defining new features and experiments to test on our products, including our website, newsletters and aggregation apps such as Apple News
Writing requirements and working with our technology team to test and ship products
Measuring and defining the impact of our features and experiments
Conducting user research and synthesizing learnings
Contribute to roadmapping and quarterly planning
Communicating goals and plans with stakeholders and triaging their feedback
The fellowship year
The fellowship year kicks off in the fall with an opening retreat for new fellows, held in conjunction with a 19th event in a different city every year. Both new and outgoing fellows have the chance to connect and community build. New fellows have sessions that set them up for the year and beyond, like building influence and managing up, while outgoing fellows celebrate the end of their fellowship.
(Sahar Coston-Hardy for The 19th)
Key features of the fellowship:
A year of learning. In addition to being embedded on their respective teams, fellows experience a robust curriculum of relevant training throughout the fellowship, shaped in tandem with the cohort’s input. Previous workshops have included coping with trauma and burnout, networking, negotiating salary, refreshing résumés and portfolios, insights from hiring managers, mental wellness and financial literacy. Trainers have hailed from AJ+, American Press Institute, KHN, The New York Times, Poynter, WHYY, URL Media, The Poynter Institute and more.
Growing your journalism network. The 19th supports fellows’ career progression by coordinating networking opportunities for fellows with journalists and hiring managers in media throughout the year via networking mixers and hiring manager panels. The 19th covers one year of membership in the National Association of Black Journalists as well as fellows’ attendance to NABJ’s annual convention and career fair during their fellowship year.
(JEREMY TAURIAC for the 19th)
Legendary retreats. Fellows have an opening retreat at the start of the fellowship year to prepare them for the year ahead. As part of the retreat, they also attend a 19th event. Previous fellows have been to Atlanta, New Orleans and New York. At the midpoint of the fellowship, usually in early spring, fellows have a midyear retreat in Philadelphia where program namesake Frances Ellen Watkins Harper once lived. This retreat focuses on fellows’ next career move with résumé and portfolio workshops, a networking mixer and more.
In late spring, fellows join the rest of The 19th staff at an all-staff retreat that focuses on learning, strategy and fun. Fellows have been to New Orleans, Chicago and Denver. Finally, fellows end the fellowship year with a fall celebration where they also connect with new fellows who are just beginning their year. In all, fellows attend four retreats – three fellowship-related and one with all 19th staff. Accommodations for remote participation are also available.
Finding your career path. All fellows receive 1:1 goal-setting and coaching from The 19th’s founding director of fellowships, with support from people operations and very committed staff across the organization. Fellows also receive six months of coaching through the Digital Women Leaders network in the final three months of the fellowship and three months after the fellowship as they transition in their careers.
Fellows are supported by URL Media in landing their next journalism role. This includes personalized coaching, help identifying roles and connecting with employers, salary and offer guidance, visibility in URL’s extensive news networks and long-term career planning. Fellowship alums have gone on to land competitive roles at The Marshall Project, The Trace, The Baltimore Banner, MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, URL Media and Nonprofit Quarterly.
Professional development. Like all 19th staff, fellows receive a professional development stipend (more on full benefits below) and are encouraged to seek out growth and learning opportunities. Previous fellows have completed Coursera courses and attended journalism conferences and seminars.
A bonus benefit. Fellows go through detailed and constructive performance reviews mid-fellowship to expose them to the process, so they are comfortable doing so in future roles. Fellows receive a one-time merit bonus once reviews are complete.
(JEREMY TAURIAC for the 19th)
Who can apply
Eligible candidates should be any one of the following:
A recent graduate (within two years of graduation), early-career (three to four years’ experience) or mid-career alum (5-10 years’ experience) of an HBCU
A graduating senior of an HBCU with a graduation date prior to the anticipated fellowship start date of September 2026
An individual who attended an HBCU for at least two years, and either transferred or did not graduate
All applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States. This can include conditional student/work visas, provided The 19th will not be required to take additional steps in sponsorship
To be considered for a fellowship, applicants must have attended an HBCU for at least two years — no exceptions. Applications that don’t meet this requirement do not move forward. We also verify both HBCU attendance and employment eligibility.
Eligible candidates should also have the following:
Some relevant experience or applicable skills in their chosen fellowship track
A genuine and articulated interest in growing their career and working long-term in journalism
Alignment with The 19th’s values and community guidelines
(Sahar Coston-Hardy for The 19th)
Fellowship Benefits
$1,500 merit bonus midway through the fellowship
$1,000 professional development stipend, which previous fellows have used to do online courses or attend journalism conferences
$480 work-from-home stipend and $480 wellness stipend ($960 total) paid over the course of the year
$100/month for coworking space membership (optional)
An Apple Macbook laptop, which fellows keep after the fellowship ($1,300-$1,500 value)
Access to the fellowship’s hardship fund (up to $5,000 per fellow)
Membership to the National Association of Black Journalists and attendance to their annual convention and career fair
A mentor in their fellowship track through the Digital Women Leaders network
Support from URL Media in landing their next journalism role
Fellows will also be eligible for most 19th employment benefits, including:
Vacation Time Off (20 days per year)
Sick Time Off (10 days per year)
Personal Days (6 days per year)
Paid Holidays (20 days in 2026)
Paid Family Leave (100% up to 6 months)
Caregiver leave (100% up to 4 months)
401(k) Plan (up to 3.5% matching on 6% contribution)
Flexible Spending Plan (for qualifying medical or child care expenses)
Health Savings Account
Health, vision, and dental insurance (100% covered by The 19th for employee/60% for dependents)
Long Term and Short Term Disability insurance
Life insurance
Company expense account
How to apply
When submitting an application, prospective fellows will need to submit the following:
A cover letter of 500 words or less explaining why you want to work at The 19th, how our mission aligns with your career goals and interests, and what impact this fellowship would have on your career goals
Your résumé
Relevant samples of your work
Feel free to reach out to jobs@19thnews.org if you have any questions not answered in the Frequently Asked Questions on this page.
