Survivor Fellowship Program for Students
About the Program
AT EVERYTOWN, WE BELIEVE THAT YOUR STORY HAS POWER.
At Everytown for Gun Safety, we believe in the power of elevating the voices of those who have a lived experience with gun violence and know firsthand the long-lasting implications for communities, families, and individuals. In an age where facts are traded for hot takes and clickbait, first-person narrative storytelling remains one of the strongest method of changing hearts and minds.
That’s why, in 2015, we launched the Survivor Fellowship Program through the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund—a one-year volunteer advocacy and leadership training program for people directly affected by gun violence. This program supports survivors as they share their stories with communities, lawmakers, and the media, helping to put a human face to the numbers and mobilize people across the country to take meaningful action to end gun violence.
The program opens applications once a year in the summer.
Who is Eligible to Apply?
A Student Fellowship Program applicant must be:
- At least 18 years old;
- Enrolled in a high school, college, or graduate program;
- Personally impacted by gun violence (of any kind), including but not limited to gun homicides (solved or unsolved), gun suicides, community gun violence, police shootings, domestic violence involving a gun, and unintentional shootings involving improperly stored firearms. This includes individuals who have witnessed gun violence, been threatened by it, survived it, or had a loved one taken by it.
We recognize that deciding to share your lived experience with gun violence is a deeply personal choice and may not be right for everyone. Sharing your story is one of many ways someone can make a difference in the gun violence prevention movement. If you are new to sharing your story and would like to learn more about whether sharing in this context would be a good fit for you, we encourage you to take this self assessment to determine your comfort level and visit our website Moments That Survive to read the stories of survivors in their own words.
What Are the Program Expectations?
Following a completed application, interview, and background check, the Student Survivor Fellowship program kicks off with an in-person training weekend in Washington, D.C.—with travel, lodging, and meals fully covered. These training sessions help participants build skills related to speaking before local community groups, effective story-sharing, testifying on common-sense gun laws, participating in media interviews, and more.
During their one-year tenure in the program, Student Fellows act as leaders in both the Everytown Survivor Network and their state and/or local Students Demand Action Chapter. As a leader in their Students Demand Action chapter, they have increased opportunities to engage with their community, speak at Students Demand Action events, receive ongoing correspondence and updates on programs and campaigns, and participate in additional trainings.
Student Fellows are expected to actively seek out, participate in, and report on at least five story-sharing engagements throughout the calendar year. By sharing their personal experiences with gun violence in a trauma-informed way, Student Fellows help educate, inspire, and mobilize others to join the movement to end gun violence. Engagements may look like meeting with elected officials in partnership with Students Demand Action, sharing lived experiences through interviews with the media, or speaking at gun violence prevention events to inspire and mobilize your community.
Student Fellows who aren’t able to complete the annual program requirements by December 31 of their first year in the program will not be eligible to continue in the program for another year.
Student Fellows who successfully complete the annual program requirements by the end of the calendar year can choose from the following three options:
- Recommit to the Fellowship for another year if you will continue to be enrolled in a high school, college, or graduate school.
- Transition into the Everytown Survivor Fellowship Program if no longer a student.
- Exit the program and earn the title of Student Fellow Alum.
Summary of Program Expectations
After the in-person training weekend in Washington, D.C., Student Fellows will be expected to complete the following over their first year in the program:
- Find, share, and report out on at least five story-sharing engagements (reporting no later than the 10th of the following calendar month)
- Attend at least three of the six Student Fellow-specific check-ins (1 hour each)
- Attend at least two of four Quarterly Fellowship program calls live (1 hour each)
- Commit to building a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible community
- Agree to develop and implement skills to effectively work across lines of difference
All Student Fellows Receive:
- Opportunities to connect in-person and virtually with other individuals who have been impacted by gun violence, building community with our network of 80,000+ gun violence survivors nationwide.
- An in-person training weekend in Washington, D.C.—with travel, lodging, and meals fully covered. Ongoing virtual training opportunities and programmatic support from Fellowship staff.
- Access to training materials, toolkits, policy briefings, updates, and guidance from experts in the field.
How Do I Apply?
The Student Fellowship Program accepts applications once per year.
The deadline to complete the application and submit a letter of recommendation is August 4, 2025. We are unable to grant extensions to this deadline.
After the application window closes, Fellowship Program staff will contact applicants within 72 hours via email to schedule Zoom interviews with those who meet the program qualifications and requirements. Following a successful interview, applicants will need to submit to a background check. Please note that background check results may not necessarily prohibit applicants from becoming Fellows.
After completing all of the necessary steps stated above, the Fellowship Program staff will review each candidate’s eligibility for acceptance. All decisions will be made by early September. The foundational training will occur in Washington, D.C., over a weekend in October. Please note that all travel, lodging, and meal costs for this training will be covered.
1. Fill out the application. It should take approximately 20-30 minutes to complete.
2. Request a brief letter of recommendation from a current or former teacher, professor, supervisor, or Students Demand Action Organizing Manager. The letter must be emailed to [email protected], with the applicant’s name and “2026 Student Fellowship Program” in the subject line. We also ask the recommender to cc the applicant onto the e-mail, because it is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the letter of recommendation is received prior to the close of the application process. Unfortunately, we are unable to extend the deadline if the application is completed but the letter of recommendation is not also received by August 4, 2025.
If you have any questions about the program or the application process, please send us a note at [email protected].
Program Note
We are committed to seeking diverse experiences that tell the full story of daily gun violence in America, beyond what typically makes the headlines. Priority will be given to those who have demonstrated a commitment to proactively identifying opportunities to share their story, and are interested in further developing their public speaking and communication skills. Based upon our experience and feedback from past Fellows, those who are most successful in this program have had prior experience sharing their story with family and friends or speaking to local organizations, are comfortable taking the initiative to approach organizations and share their story with different audiences, and have a plan to sustain their emotional health and well-being, including an existing network of support. For those interested in developing their story-sharing skills but are not yet looking to make the level of commitment required by the Fellowship program, there are additional training tools and resources available through the Everytown Survivor Network.
For some survivors, sharing their personal experiences with gun violence can range from deeply rewarding to potentially re-traumatizing. We believe your health and wellness is paramount to taking on any type of leadership and public role in this movement. While Everytown is committed to creating a community of support for survivors and many survivors describe connecting with other survivors and their advocacy work as emotionally healing, the organization does not offer direct services such as counseling, financial support, or legal assistance. Your involvement, if you choose to partner with us, requires that you have a personal plan and network of support to sustain your emotional well-being.
Conflict of Interest Policy
Fellows are a public face and voice for the Everytown Survivor Network and Moms Demand Action chapter in their respective state/area. Accordingly, applicants must disclose their involvement with other gun violence prevention organizations or with organizations whose missions or activities may be inconsistent with that of Everytown and Moms Demand Action.
Fellows may not hold a paid leadership, lobbying, or public role within another Gun Violence Prevention (GVP) organization, or with any organization whose mission or activities are inconsistent with that of Everytown/Moms Demand Action.
Everytown staff will consider on a case-by-case basis other potential conflicts of interest, including volunteer leadership roles in other GVP groups or public activity in their personal capacity on a GVP issue that is outside the Everytown/Moms Demand Action policy framework.
Who We Are
About the Everytown Survivor Network
- Understanding how stereotypes, bias, and forms of racism in America (including structural racism, implicit bias, gender bias, religious bias, and bias based on gender identity or sexual orientation) impact our society and an ability to articulate the connection between these large societal issues and the disproportionate impact of gun violence on specific demographic groups in America.
- Understanding how dynamics of power, voice, and privilege impact one-on-one and group interactions, and a commitment to using power, voice, and privilege to make our movement more equitable.
- A commitment to share direct feedback with others and listen to and implement feedback given.
- Commitment to building diverse teams and learning management skills for equity and inclusion.
- Ability to help other people in our movement develop this same skill set and knowledge base. As with all other organizing skills the expectation is that over time leaders would also develop the ability to train other volunteers in these areas.
Who We Are
About Students Demand Action
Students Demand Action is a national movement of high school and college-aged volunteers working to end gun violence. Students Demand Action volunteers organize within their schools and communities to educate their peers, register voters, and demand common-sense solutions to this national crisis. Students Demand Action has active volunteers in every state and more than 400 groups across the country. Students Demand Action is part of Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country with nearly six million supporters and more than 375,000 donors.
Learn more about Students Demand Action and how to get involved.
We recognize that deciding to share your lived experience with gun violence is a deeply personal choice and may not be right for everyone. Sharing your story is one of many ways someone can make a difference in the gun violence prevention movement. If you are new to sharing your story and would like to learn more about whether sharing in this context would be a good fit for you, we encourage you to take this self assessment to determine your comfort level and visit our website Moments That Survive to read the stories of survivors in their own words.
Following an application, interview, and background check, the Student Survivor Fellowship program kicks off with an in-person training weekend in Washington, D.C.—with travel, lodging, and meals fully covered. These training sessions help participants build skills related to speaking before local community groups, effective story-sharing, testifying on common-sense gun laws, participating in media interviews, and more.
During their one-year tenure in the program, Student Fellows act as leaders in both the Everytown Survivor Network and their state and/or local Students Demand Action Chapter. As a leader in their Students Demand Action chapter, they have increased opportunities to engage with their community, speak at Students Demand Action events, receive ongoing correspondence and updates on programs and campaigns, and participate in additional trainings.
Student Fellows are expected to actively seek out, participate in, and report on at least five story-sharing engagements throughout the calendar year. By sharing their personal experiences with gun violence in a trauma-informed way, Student Fellows help educate, inspire, and mobilize others to join the movement to end gun violence. Engagements may look like meeting with elected officials in partnership with Students Demand Action, sharing lived experiences through interviews with the media, or speaking at gun violence prevention events to inspire and mobilize your community.
Student Fellows who aren’t able to complete the annual program requirements by December 31 of their first year in the program will not be eligible to continue in the program for another year.
Student Fellows who successfully complete the annual program requirements by the end of the calendar year can choose from the following three options:
- Recommit to the Fellowship for another year if you will continue to be enrolled in a high school, college, or graduate school.
- Transition into the Everytown Survivor Fellowship Program if no longer a student.
- Exit the program and earn the title of Student Fellow Alum.
The Student Fellowship Program accepts applications once per year. This year’s application will open on Monday, July 14, 2025. At that time, the application will be made available on our website here.
The deadline to complete the application and submit a letter of recommendation is August 4, 2025. We are unable to grant extensions to this deadline.
After the application window closes, Fellowship Program staff will contact applicants within 72 hours via email to schedule Zoom interviews with those who meet the program qualifications and requirements. Following a successful interview, applicants will need to submit to a background check. Please note that background check results may not necessarily prohibit applicants from becoming Fellows.
After completing all of the necessary steps stated above, the Fellowship Program staff will review each candidate’s eligibility for acceptance. All decisions will be made by early September. The foundational training will occur in Washington, D.C., over a weekend in October. Please note that all travel, lodging, and meal costs for this training will be covered.
- Fill out the application. It should take approximately 20-30 minutes to complete.
- Request a brief letter of recommendation from a current or former teacher, professor, supervisor, or Students Demand Action Organizing Manager. The letter must be emailed to [email protected], with the applicant’s name and “2026 Student Fellowship Program” in the subject line. We also ask the recommender to cc the applicant onto the e-mail, because it is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the letter of recommendation is received prior to the close of the application process. Unfortunately, we are unable to extend the deadline if the application is completed but the letter of recommendation is not also received by August 4, 2025.
If you have any questions about the program or the application process, please send us a note at [email protected].