ProgramsColin Powell Fellowship Public Service Consulting Projects (Spring 2027)

Colin Powell Fellowship Public Service Consulting Projects (Spring 2027)

Program Overview
Program Title Colin Powell Fellowship Public Service Consulting Projects (Spring 2027)
Organization The Colin Powell School for Civic & Global Leadership at The City College of New York
# of Students Enrolled
0
# of Projects Running
0 Project/s Added (of 3 Projects Expected)

Program Timeline

Project Duration

Start Date: 02/01/27      End Date: 05/14/27

3 months
Collaboration Overview
About Students

Participants are 15 undergraduate Colin Powell Fellows in Leadership and Public Service at The City College of New York.

The Colin Powell Fellowship is an intensive two-year undergraduate program for students committed to careers in government, nonprofit organizations, and other forms of public service. Fellows participate in four semesters of seminars as well as two required internships, creating a sustained pathway from academic exploration to professional public service experience.

The Fellowship is intentionally interdisciplinary and open to students from any CCNY school or major. The current first-year cohort reflects that breadth, with students studying fields including Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, International Studies, History, Anthropology, Business, Architecture, Computer Science, and environmental and earth systems disciplines.

This interdisciplinary composition is a strength of the consulting experience. Rather than approaching public problems from only one academic discipline, project teams can combine perspectives from the social sciences, humanities, business, technology, design, and the built environment.

During the Fall seminar, fellows examine urgent public problems and explore how public service can create change. Students develop critical analysis, writing, public speaking, discussion facilitation, research, professional networking, and leadership skills. They also engage with guest speakers representing different public service careers and complete an informational interview with a professional working in an area of interest.
The Spring project experience is intended to help fellows translate those capabilities into professional practice by working collaboratively with a real organization before continuing into the Fellowship's required internship experiences.

Student Level:   Bachelor Degree

Student Time Commitment:   Full Time

Team Structure:   2 - 6

Program Goals
Through the Public Service Consulting Project, students will:
  • Apply critical thinking and research skills to a real public service, nonprofit, government, civic, or social-impact challenge.
  • Develop a deeper understanding of how organizations address complex social, economic, political, and community problems.
  • Translate an ambiguous organizational challenge into focused research questions and a manageable project plan.
  • Conduct credible secondary research using government, academic, nonprofit, policy, industry, and other appropriate sources.
  • Analyze existing programs, policies, services, strategies, or interventions and assess their strengths, limitations, and effectiveness.
  • Use qualitative and quantitative evidence appropriately to support analysis and recommendations.
  • Identify stakeholder needs, community perspectives, institutional constraints, implementation barriers, and opportunities for improvement.
  • Compare approaches used by peer organizations, jurisdictions, communities, or programs where appropriate.
  • Develop practical, evidence-based recommendations that reflect the organization's mission, resources, stakeholders, and operating environment.
  • Consider issues of equity, access, social impact, and unintended consequences when evaluating proposed solutions.
  • Strengthen teamwork, project management, communication, professional writing, presentation, and client-engagement skills.
  • Learn how professionals collaborate across disciplines and organizations to address public problems.
  • Gain meaningful resume-ready experience working directly with a public service organization.
  • Build professional confidence and career awareness in preparation for future government, nonprofit, civic, advocacy, policy, and public service internships and careers.
These objectives build directly on the first-year Fellowship seminar's emphasis on urgent public problems, career preparation, critical analysis, writing, public speaking, leadership, and active participation in public debate.
Format Structure

Multiple Projects Multiple Teams
Format Title Public Service Consulting Project
Format Description
The Colin Powell Fellowship Public Service Consulting Project is an applied, team-based experience connecting undergraduate Colin Powell Fellows at The City College of New York with government agencies, nonprofit organizations, advocacy groups, foundations, community-based organizations, and other mission-driven partners working to address pressing public problems.

During the Spring 2027 semester, approximately 15 first-year Colin Powell Fellows will work in three teams of approximately five students, with each team collaborating with a different Industry Partner on a meaningful public service challenge. The experience is designed to give students an opportunity to move beyond studying public problems and begin contributing directly to organizations working to solve them.

The projects build on the fellows' Fall seminar, which explores public problems, leadership, public service, racial and economic inequality, environmental and climate justice, poverty, voting rights, social movements, and careers in government and the nonprofit sector. The seminar emphasizes critical analysis, writing, public speaking, professional development, and helping students understand where they can personally contribute to social change.

Projects should present students with a real organizational question, public problem, programmatic challenge, policy issue, or strategic opportunity that does not already have a predetermined answer. Depending on the organization and challenge, students may conduct background and policy research, analyze programs or services, examine community or stakeholder needs, benchmark peer organizations or jurisdictions, interpret available data, evaluate existing approaches, identify gaps, and develop practical recommendations.

The Fall seminar already asks fellows to analyze a government or nonprofit program or policy, assess its effectiveness using evidence or data, identify where it falls short, and recommend improvements. The Spring consulting experience extends that analytical foundation into a live collaboration where students can work directly with an organization and contribute to an active public service challenge.

Potential outputs may include research briefs, policy or program analyses, stakeholder maps, benchmarking studies, community needs assessments, program evaluation frameworks, recommendations for improving programs or services, outreach and engagement strategies, implementation roadmaps, presentations, or other deliverables appropriate to the partner's needs.

The objective is not to replace professional staff or assign students mission-critical work. Instead, the program gives organizations a motivated interdisciplinary student team that can provide additional research capacity, fresh perspectives, and structured analysis while giving fellows meaningful professional experience before they continue into the Fellowship's required internship experiences.
Benefits For Industry Partners
Participating organizations receive structured support from a team of interdisciplinary, public-service-oriented students while helping prepare emerging leaders for careers in government, nonprofits, civic organizations, and other mission-driven institutions.

Additional Research and Analysis Capacity
Student teams can investigate important questions that organizational staff may recognize as valuable but lack sufficient time or capacity to explore thoroughly.

Program and Policy Insight
Students can examine existing programs, policies, initiatives, or services; evaluate available evidence; identify gaps or limitations; benchmark comparable approaches; and develop recommendations for improvement.

Community and Stakeholder Perspective
Projects can help organizations better understand the needs, experiences, priorities, and barriers facing specific communities, constituents, program participants, or stakeholder groups.

Fresh, Interdisciplinary Thinking
The Fellowship is open to students from every academic discipline at CCNY. Partners benefit from teams that may combine perspectives from political science, psychology, sociology, international studies, business, architecture, technology, environmental fields, and other areas.

Practical Deliverables
Depending on the challenge, partners may receive research briefs, comparative analyses, stakeholder assessments, program evaluations, recommendations, implementation plans, presentations, engagement strategies, or other decision-support materials.

Talent and Workforce Development
Partners gain early exposure to motivated undergraduate students who have already made a significant commitment to careers in public service and who will continue through internships and professional development as part of their Fellowship.

Mentorship and Community Impact
Industry Partners help emerging public service leaders understand how complex problems are addressed in practice while simultaneously receiving useful student research and perspective.
Project Modality Fully Remote
Industry Partner Requirements to Participate
Project Topics Corporate Social Responsibility Innovation International Affairs Operations Organizational Culture Political Organization, Policy Change, and Advocacy Research, Analysis, Evaluation Strategic Planning
Target Industries Aerospace & Defense Agriculture & Farming Arts & Recreation Biotech & Pharmaceuticals Computers & Hardware Construction, Repair & Maitenance Consulting & Professional Services Consumer Products & Services Education & Ed-Tech Energy & Utilities Fashion & Apparel Finance & Investment Food & Beverage Government Health Care & Life Sciences Insurance Manufacturing & Industrial Media, Publishing & Content Natural Resources Non-Profit & Social Impact Public Works Real Estate Restaurants, Bars & Food Services Retail & E-Commerce Semiconductor Software, AI & Data Sports & Entertainment Sustainability & Climate Telecommunications Transportation & Logistics Travel & Tourism
Skills & Expertise Advocacy Research Advocacy Strategy Applied Research Benchmarking Best Practice Research Civic Engagement Communications Strategy Community Engagement Community Needs Assessment Community Outreach Comparative Analysis Comparative Policy Analysis Data Collection Data Interpretation Data Visualization Demographic Research Environmental Justice Research Equity Analysis Evidence-Based Recommendations Executive Presentations Government Research Impact Analysis Implementation Planning Interview Design Literature Review Nonprofit Management Nonprofit Strategy Policy Analysis Policy Brief Development Policy Research Professional Communication Professional Writing Program Analysis Program Design Program Evaluation Project Management Public Administration Public Policy Research Public Service Strategy Public Speaking Qualitative Research Quantitative Research Report Writing Research Design Research Synthesis Social Impact Analysis Social Justice Research Stakeholder Analysis Stakeholder Engagement Stakeholder Mapping Strategic Analysis Strategic Planning Survey Design Systems Thinking Team Collaboration
Location Information & Preferences

10031

Located Anywhere

Preference should initially be given to New York City and New York metropolitan-area organizations, particularly government agencies, nonprofits, advocacy organizations, foundations, and community-based organizations where students may have opportunities for in-person exposure to the organization or communities being served.

However, location should not prevent participation by a strong partner. Organizations outside New York may participate when the challenge is relevant to the Fellowship and can be supported through remote collaboration.
Sponsorship

Sponsorship Requested (Optional):

Pre-Revenue Startup an exact contribution amount of $500.0

Growth Startup an exact contribution amount of $500.0

Small to Medium Business an exact contribution amount of $500.0

Large Enterprise an exact contribution amount of $500.0

Government Organization an exact contribution amount of $500.0

Non-Profit an exact contribution amount of $500.0

Compensation

No Compensation Required
Other Requirements
The strongest Industry Partners will be organizations working on a real public problem, social-impact priority, policy question, community need, organizational challenge, or programmatic opportunity where an interdisciplinary student team can provide useful research and recommendations.

Priority partners may include:
  • Government agencies and public authorities
  • Nonprofit organizations
  • Advocacy and civic organizations
  • Community-based organizations
  • Foundations and philanthropic organizations
  • Social-impact organizations
  • Policy and research organizations
  • Public-interest institutions
  • Mission-driven organizations addressing economic mobility, inequality, education, health, housing, environmental justice, workforce development, civic participation, international affairs, or related public concerns
Participating Industry Partners should be prepared to:
  • Present a meaningful and appropriately scoped challenge that can be addressed within one academic semester.
  • Designate a primary project manager or organizational contact for the student team.
  • Participate in an initial kickoff meeting to introduce the organization, challenge, stakeholders, and desired outcomes.
  • Provide relevant non-confidential organizational background, existing research, program information, policies, data, reports, or other resources when appropriate.
  • Help students understand the communities, constituents, clients, or stakeholders affected by the challenge.
  • Answer reasonable student questions and provide timely clarification throughout the project.
  • Participate in periodic project check-ins or milestone reviews when appropriate.
  • Provide feedback on students' preliminary findings and recommendations.
  • Participate in the final presentation or review the students' final deliverables whenever possible.
Projects should provide students with meaningful analytical responsibility rather than routine administrative work. The strongest scopes will allow students to investigate a question, work with evidence, understand multiple stakeholders, evaluate alternatives, and develop recommendations.

Projects should not require students to provide legal advice, clinical services, regulated professional services, or make decisions on behalf of the organization. Organizations should also identify any confidentiality, data privacy, security, or research-participant considerations before students begin work.

Maya Gutierrez will meet with fellows every Tuesday from 5:30–7:30 PM for project check-ins and academic support, providing regular faculty/program oversight throughout the experience.
Expected Time Commitment For Project Managers 2 Hours per week
Key Program Dates Due Date
Official Program Launch

We’ll find a time on this day for you to meet with the students to kick off your project.

Feb 02 2026
Finalize Project Charter

Educators and Industry Partners finalize project charters, legal documents, and background materials.

Mar 18 2026, 06:11 PM UTC
Proposal Application Deadline

Final date for Industry Partners to express interest in participating.

Apr 09 2026, 06:11 PM UTC
Official Program End

We’ll find a time on this day for you to meet with the students to wrap up your project.

May 15 2026
Interview

Educators will begin interviewing interested Industry Partners to discuss project ideas.

Aug 18 2026, 06:11 PM UTC
Request for Proposal published

Collaboration request published. Industry Partners may express interest in participating.

Sep 08 2026, 06:11 PM UTC

Program Timeline

Due Date
Activities
Deliverables
Status
Action
Mon, 02/02/26
Program Kickoff
No Deliverables
No deliverables are required for this action item.
Location:

Projects

Filters
Project Organization Topics

Teams

Team Name  Project Name  Team Members 
No Teams Available