Dear John,

In 2019, when I first launched 50CAN's National Voices Fellowship to address the twin concerns of rising political tensions in America and the need to cultivate new leaders who believe in reaching past partisan differences for the good of children, I never imagined that the program would bring together such a diverse, passionate group of people who want to build the future of American education.

Since that time, with my partner Ned Stanley, our VP of Communications, the 50CAN staff and a committed group of funders, we've been humbled to have the opportunity to serve as guides to over 35 impressive education leaders as they navigate the waters of media, advocacy, communications and policy.

National Voices is our signature effort to identify the next generation of compelling advocates and spokespeople, who are willing to work across political and racial divides to protect the gains of the last quarter century of education policymaking while also embracing the risk-taking necessary to create the education systems of the future. Today, we're excited to announce that applications are open for the fifth cohort of the National Voices Fellowship and will be accepted until Tuesday, November 8.

Our past cohorts of Fellows have been featured in print, on podcasts and radio, as speakers at conferences and in academic journals. They've used their voices to fight for increased options for parents and children, for greater transparency in how public systems function and public dollars are spent and in spurring the imagination of the public on what our schools could be if we can embrace goal-oriented change and a bold vision for the future. To date, the National Voices Fellows have been featured in The New York Times, EdWeek, Axios, The 74 Million, EdSurge, the New York Daily News, Fox News, the Star-Telegram, Heard Tell Radio, Bloomberg, The Dispatch, Real Clear Education and many more.

We encourage you to forward this email to friends or colleagues you believe would be a good fit for the fellowship. If you have any questions, please reach out via an email to [email protected]g

Thank you for your continued interest and support. I look forward to introducing you to the 2023 cohort soon. And stay tuned, because we've heard the repeated call that our work needs even more messengers. We're cooking up some surprises on that end that we'll be sharing before the year is out.