LEAD FOR AMERICA
About Us
Lead For America is a national service organization strengthening economic and social opportunity across the United States by investing in the people who know their communities best.
Our fellowship programs provide a structured, place-based service experience. Within that framework, we partner with local organizations as host sites to design the projects fellows take on — rooted in each community's priorities, challenges, and long-term vision. Through this approach, we build leadership pipelines and help communities solve their own challenges.
To support these locally defined projects, we recruit service members from the communities themselves. Our members are intergenerational, come from a wide range of lived experiences, and bring deep community relationships and context. We invest in and train them to fill critical skill gaps, removing barriers so local leaders can serve and drive impact where they call home. Fellows also benefit from being part of a national cohort, gaining peers, mentorship, and shared learning across communities.
Our Programs
Lead For America operates two AmeriCorps fellowship programs that apply our place-based model to distinct community priorities.
American Connection Corps (ACC) places Members with local organizations across the country to expand digital opportunity and strengthen community capacity. Members serve in communities they know and call home, with service shaped by local priorities.
Explore the 2024–25 ACC Impact Report to see ACC Members expanding digital opportunity in communities across the country.
Rural Partners Corps (RPC) is an AmeriCorps program of Lead For America that places locally rooted fellows with rural, place-based backbone organizations. Fellows add dedicated capacity to strengthen partnerships, connect people and resources, and advance cradle-to-career outcomes and economic mobility for rural young people.
Vision
A nation where all communities have the local talent and leadership to realize their unique visions.
Mission
Activate local talent through place-based service and training to advance solutions that respond to community challenges and opportunities.
Values
We prioritize building deep and lasting relationships that unite our team, Members, and community partners to foster shared growth and lasting impact.
We champion creative solutions and different perspectives to tackle the unique challenges our communities face, empowering leaders to drive lasting impact.
We believe in the promise of national service, dedicating our skills, time, and passion to empower the communities we serve, with a focus on bridging the divides in our nation.
We embrace the responsibility to care for our community, partners, and resources, ensuring their sustainability and long-term success for future generations.
Trust is the cornerstone of our leadership. We build it by cultivating our connection to, respect for, and understanding of the communities we serve, while consistently leading with integrity in all that we do.