Summer Community Service Fellowship Program

Summer Community Service Fellowship (SCSF) helps current students thinking about working in the public interest field. Through this program, Clubs and SIGs have the opportunity to provide a fellowship to a Harvard undergraduate working with a nonprofit host organization in their local community.  Participating Clubs and SIGs find the program to be an exciting and creative way to both support Harvard students and contribute to their home communities or industry. Club and SIG members particularly applaud the degree of “hands-on” engagement and interaction, as they can directly speak with students about their experiences, receive student reflection reports at the end of the summer, and make recommendations on fellowship award recipients to a selection committee representing Harvard University, the HAA, the Center for Public Service and Engaged Scholarship and hosting Clubs and SIGs.

SCSF Background

Established in 1992, the Summer Community Service Fellowship program allows Clubs and Shared Interest Groups to provide funding to Harvard College students who are working to improve their communities over the summer break. The program provides one of the largest sources of funding for summer public service for Harvard College undergraduates.

The funding, which runs in the amount of $4,000-$6000 per student for 10 weeks of full-time work, is designed to cover the costs of living for students, incentivizing them to pursue public service and removing financial burden that might prevent them from pursuing public service opportunities. Fellows may undertake an unpaid internship at a nonprofit organization or design their own public service project.

The SCSF program is co-managed by the HAA and the Center for Public Service and Engaged Scholarship which is a part of Phillips Brooks House.

How to Participate
Each fall, Clubs and SIGs interested in sponsoring a fellow must complete the participation form. The form requests basic information regarding your plans to participate, including who the contact person from your organization will be, the dollar amount the organization will provide, and your fellowship parameters, which may be uploaded as a separate document. Please note, the minimum funding participating Clubs and SIGs must provide is $4,000 per student.

Once the application deadline has passed, the HAA will be in touch with designated SCSF contacts directly to finalize details. All fellowship opportunities will be posted for students to view and apply for from mid-December until March 1. Clubs and SIGs will be informed in early March regarding the applications for their specific fellowship.

The application deadline for the 2022-2023 academic year has passed. Please check back next fall to participate in summer 2024 funding. 

If you have any questions about the Summer Community Service Fellowship program, please review the FAQs contact clubs@harvard.edu.