The High Road Fellowship is an annual program with common features every year:
- Creative individual project work
- Group experience of urban immersion in arts, culture, history, neighborhoods, politics and economy of a great rust belt city
- Skill building, teamwork and leadership development
- Application of academic learning to practical reality
Every year is also unique as the High Road is a journey through current events, new development projects, evolving challenges, and everyday innovation and change.
Fellows in work in Buffalo through June and July, earning up to $4000 for eight 35-hour weeks. Students work on a specific project with their partner organizations 7.5 hours per day, Monday through Thursday. Every Friday the students as a group are immersed in the city life of Buffalo, with neighborhood walking tours, field trips and cultural experiences; meetings with guest experts and civic leaders; and sharing their weekly journals, project experiences and research. Each spring, a required two-credit pre-course is offered. The course introduces fellows to the types of innovative organizations they’ll be working with—those creating the community resources and capacities needed to redirect investment and control of economic development for the benefit of all. The course emphasizes issues like ethical citizenship, intercultural competence and community power dynamics.