Note: This application is for American Connection Corps (ACC) host sites for the 2026–27 Program Year, featuring a December 2026 - August 2027 term of service. We welcome applications from partners nationwide. Submitting this form is a way to indicate general interest only—organizations are not committing to participate by applying. We encourage interested partners to complete this form as soon as possible.

Start Where You Live

Lead For America is a service organization dedicated to activating local talent and building the leadership pipelines communities need to realize their unique visions for the future.

The research backs us up: when local people—those who understand a community’s culture, history, and context—design and drive solutions, those efforts are up to twice as effective at creating lasting change compared to top-down, one-size-fits-all approaches.

About the American Connection Corps

The American Connection Corps (ACC) is a service fellowship program powered by Lead For America that helps communities build the digital connectivity necessary to expand opportunity and economic mobility—from healthcare access to quality employment.

Where we live increasingly determines which opportunities we can access. ACC exists to change that by investing in place-based service, rooted in local leadership and lived experiences.

Each year, ACC partners with organizations in digitally disconnected places and places more than 100 fellows across 30 states, working shoulder-to-shoulder with partners to expand socioeconomic opportunity, strengthen community connections, and build long-term talent pipelines.

Who ACC Fellows Are

ACC is intentionally intergenerational. Fellows may be:

• A gap-year student building real-world skills while serving their community
• A career transitioner using service to open new pathways
• A retiree bringing deep expertise and mentorship
• A recent graduate launching their career through place-based service

What unites ACC Fellows is their commitment to place. They are local people—or people deeply connected to the place they serve—who bring community capital, credibility, and lived experience to their fellowship.

What Partnership with ACC Looks Like

As an ACC host partner, you will:

• Co-design a place-based fellowship project aligned with your organization’s goals
• Host a fellow who brings local insight, relationships, and commitment
• Receive national training, coaching, and infrastructure support from Lead For America
• Contribute to a growing body of shared learning about what works, where, and why

Across our fellowship programs, we collate data, test approaches in different places, and share insights across communities—together building a more effective service model for the social sector.

Requirements

Host Organization Criteria:

Organizational Eligibility:

• ACC Host Organizations must be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, a government entity (local, tribal, state, or federal), or a faith-based organization (focused on non-religious activities).

Site Capacity & Supervision:

• Dedicated Supervision: Provide a designated host site supervisor for weekly 1:1 check-ins, day-to-day guidance, and project support.
• Tools & Workspace: Provide a dedicated workspace and necessary operational tools/equipment for the fellow.
• Compliant Position Description (PD): Draft a PD focused on community capacity-building initiatives (e.g., digital literacy workshops or broadband mapping).
• Local Sourcing: Partners are expected to actively leverage their local networks to recruit candidate referrals who possess strong lived experience in the community. LFA Recruitment and Onboarding Managers will also source candidates locally via LFA's internal ATS to ensure the pool of candidates is robust.

Next Steps

Once you submit this form, a member of our partnership team will reach out within 5 business days to schedule a 30–45 minute discovery call.