For Nonprofit & Civic Professionals
Fellowship for Nonprofit & Civic Professionals
The ICJS Fellowship for Nonprofit & Civic Professionals is a 9-month intensive program for local, nonprofit and civic leaders to study and dialogue together. The fellowship draws on the rich resources of diverse religious traditions to inform and inspire participants’ work, helping them discover how interreligious engagement can strengthen their efforts to create a more just Baltimore and how religious pluralism is key to a democratic society.
The Fellowship brings together Baltimore’s civic and nonprofit leaders to enhance and deepen their work through interreligious dialogue. Fellows engage in conversations across their diverse faiths (including non-religious individuals) and their wide-ranging professional backgrounds—from advocacy and arts to mental and public health and government.
Throughout the fellowship, fellows explore how authentic encounter with the other can transform both our professional leadership and our shared public life. By engaging Muslim, Christian, and Jewish perspectives, along with current thinking on interreligious dialogue, participants discover how to weave interreligious understanding into their organizational goals.
The fellowship is directed by Molly Silverstein, with support provided by ICJS resident interreligious scholars.
Our next ICJS Fellowship for Nonprofit & Civic Professionals cohort begin in person in October, 2026. If you are interested in applying or learning more, fill out the form below:
Program Benefits and Commitments
Fellowship Benefits
- Participate in a diverse adult learning community
- Network with other professionals in the nonprofit/civic sector
- Design and share a project specifically tailored to your community
- Learn skills for engaging in dialogue across difference
- Gain inspiration, clarity, and intention that you can bring back to your work
- Receive a stipend upon completing the fellowship
Fellow Commitments
- Attend monthly meetings in person (October 2025-June 2026)
- Prepare and present an original project to bring back to your community
- Write a reflection piece for Nonprofit & Civic Professional Voices and/or have a filmed conversation about your experience in the program
- Engage with religion in the public square by attending five external learning experiences
Building Civic Leadership Across Difference
Molly Silverstein, Program Director for the ICJS Fellowship for Nonprofit and Civic Professionals, speaks about her path into interreligious work, what distinguishes this fellowship in the civic landscape, and why interreligious learning is essential for leaders working to build a multireligious democracy.
Fellowship for Nonprofit and Civic Leaders Rosters
Coming Together as a Community of Believers
“If we could somehow invigorate a whole community of believers in this city to understand that the destiny of Baltimore is waiting for us all to come together…we could make some great changes in this city.“
—Leon F. Pinkett III, ICJS 2021 Fellow
Nonprofit & Civic Professional Voices
Listening as an Act of Justice
In January 2024, 15 weeks after the eruption of violence in Gaza, ICJS convened an interreligious dialogue about the conflict. I felt called to attend, though I was unsure of what to expect. Everyone, it seemed, was struggling in their own way with the shock and dismay evoked by the news that had been coming…
Following God’s Love Command, One Act of Micro-Justice at a Time
As a trained community organizer, pastor, and Episcopal priest, I began this fellowship confident in my capacity to listen and in the collective power of listening to move us ever closer to living out God’s vision for a peaceful and just world. What is, after all, God’s command to love God and neighbor in practical…
In Islam, the Path of Sacrifice and Charity Leads to Justice
We Muslims believe that sacrifice and helping those in need is essential to the fabric of a just society. My time as a Justice Leaders Fellow inspired me to think deeply about the concept of charity in my religion, Islam, as it coalesces with those of Christianity and Judaism. It brought back memories of learning…
Transformative Connections: Embracing differences and strengthening faith through the ICJS Fellowship
I joined the ICJS Justice Leaders Fellowship (JLF) with the hope of building a stronger connection between my Jewish ethnicity and my Christian faith. With this cohort’s focus on economic justice I was excited to gain a deeper understanding of how both faith traditions approach economic justice. I was especially interested in learning more about…