Daniels Fellows Program Going Statewide

The Indianapolis-based Mitch Daniels Leadership Foundation is taking its Fellows program statewide. The nonprofit says the program aims to bridge the gap between Indiana’s current leaders and future leaders, and “break down growth barriers with innovative ideas.” 

In an interview with Inside INdiana Business, MDLF Executive Director Mike Young said the majority of the program’s participants to date have been from central Indiana.

“Last year, we had three exceptions: one from Salem, one from Lafayette, and one from Evansville,” said Young. “This model has proved really successful and so this year, we’re looking to grow the number of people from outside central Indiana and truly make this a statewide network which aligns with Mitch Daniels’ vision for what we should be. Since when he was governor, he was governor of all 92 counties, we need to represent all 92 counties and get the whole state working together.

The fellowship was created in 2016 with what Young says was the goal of getting more people involved in understanding the type of leadership exemplified by Daniels, both as governor and in the private sector. Participants spend 12 months learning about what is doing on in Indiana, how the state stacks up to its neighbors and the rest of the country, and identifying problems and opportunities in which they could make an impact.

Young says the fellows then develop proposals to address specific problems, which are pitched to the foundation. “The hope is that these proposals will catalyze ideas that the organization can then execute on or that the fellows could go work on individually after they’ve completed this first year of learning about the state.”

Young says it is important for the program to represent all areas of the state and not just central Indiana. He says doing so creates benefits, including bringing a broader array of perspectives and ideas to the table that would create more options for solving problems throughout the state.

“Second of all, the states around us are in many ways our competitors and are actively working to engage different parts of their geography and pull them all together so that they can become stronger and that will manifest itself in potentially them providing a better business climate or making (their states) more attractive to companies or students or new residents. So we need to start thinking about Indiana as a competitor in this regional space with all our Midwestern neighbors and the best way that we can compete with these other states…is to also think statewide ourselves.”

Young says the foundation has already seen much interest of communities throughout Indiana. As part of the statewide expansion, the foundation is looking to move some of its events to other areas of the state to grow the percentage of fellows outside of central Indiana.

The foundation is currently accepting applications for this year’s cohort of the Fellows program through March 15. You can learn more about the program by clicking here.