Civic Leaders Fellowship Program FAQs

•  Be a current resident of Calhoun, Doddridge, Gilmer, Jackson, Mason, Pleasants, Ritchie, Roane, Wirt or Wood Counties in West Virginia or Washington County, Ohio;
• Satisfactorily complete at least his/her first semester of freshman year of study at an accredited institution of higher learning (including vocational study, community college study, college or university study including graduate student education) with a minimum of a 2.0 or higher grade point average;
• Sincerely desire to participate in a program of civic education and summer employment and be willing and able to work a full time schedule in a nonprofit, business or government organization, with placement at the Foundation’s discretion;
• Be committed to interacting in a positive manner with other program Fellows and staff at the assigned workplace;
• Be committed to full time employment during the Program period – part time or intermittent participation is not possible;
• Be aware that while he/she will be placed at a position most closely proximate to his/her home, every Monday, all Civic Leaders will be required to physically attend a program in Parkersburg, WV;
• Have the long-term personal goal of returning to the Mid-Ohio Valley upon graduation; and
• Have reliable transportation and be willing and able to travel to and from his or her assigned place of work and to Parkersburg on Mondays for programming. 

Students of any major and background may apply for consideration; graduate students may apply. While best efforts will be made to match employment placements with a students’ primary interests, final placements are contingent upon available host organizations. For some host organization placements, students may be required (and therefore must be willing) to take and to pass a background check and/or a drug screening test. 

No positions as Civic Leaders will be awarded to any disqualified persons as such are identified by the Internal Revenue Service.  For purposes of this Program, disqualified persons are: family members of the Foundation’s governing Board of Directors or its staff and any family members associated with the Foundation’s independent selection committee selecting the Civic Leaders assigning pairings.

Civic Leader will receive a reasonable hourly rate for the duration of the Program.  The Program will operate for eight weeks beginning in early June and ending by early August.  Both Civic Leaders and their host organizations will document the participant’s assignments and workload on a weekly basis using a timecard system in order to receive compensation. Civic Leaders’ work shifts will vary as hours will generally reflect the regular work day at the assigned placement; thus, one Civic Leader’s work hours will vary from another’s. Civic Leaders may not disclose their salary to employees of the work site to which they are assigned.

Civic Leaders will be expected to furnish/pay for their own cost of transportation to/from their routine place of work in any county for which they have indicated a willingness to work. On your application, you are asked to indicate counties in which you would be willing to work. Should a student be asked to work in a county other than a county in which he/she had indicated he/she would be willing to work, a student may request an application for hardship aid with transportation cost. However, the Foundation has limited resources for travel aid and so this type of aid will be considered on a case by case and limited basis. Civic Leaders must have access to reliable personal transportation and adequate insurance for their transportation to/from their worksite and to/from the PACF’s office for the Monday forum. 

Due to the distance/location of certain work sites from PACF’s office in Parkersburg, some students, at the Foundation’s discretion, may be offered mileage reimbursement for the required Monday forum meetings in Parkersburg, WV. Not all students will be offered this reimbursement; that is to be understood at the time of application.

Civic Leaders may seek to make their own arrangements with their colleges or university if they desire to receive academic credit. The Foundation will not be responsible for academic credit arrangements but will cooperate to the fullest extent feasible in supporting a student who wishes to pursue such an arrangement. 

There are separate applications for students applying for consideration for first-year participation in the Program versus students who have previously served as Civic Leaders and wish to be considered for second or third year participation in the Program. Please use the correct application, depending on your status.

In order to begin your application, you will need to create an account, with a username and password. Please make note of this username/password, as you will need this in order to be able to access your application again. You do not need to complete your application in one sitting.  Once you have completed your application, click the submit button at the end of the application. You will have an opportunity at this point to print your application; we recommend that you do so, as you will no longer be able to access your application online after submission. You will receive an e-mail confirmation from the Foundation indicating that your application has been received. If you do not receive this e-mail confirmation, please contact the Foundation.

 For first-year student applicants, please note:

• You must submit a copy of your most recent school transcript or a printed copy of your grades showing your cumulative grade point average as of the application deadline.  At the time of application, the transcript or grade report that you submit can be an unofficial copy. If you are selected for the program, you will be asked to provide an official transcript in conjunction with your acceptance. Students must have successfully completed at least one semester of college or other specialized training (vocational school) with a 2.0 average or better before seeking consideration. You may upload your transcript through the online application or have the school mail it directly to:  Civic Leaders Fellowship Program c/o PACF, P.O. Box 1762, Parkersburg, WV 26102-1762.   Applications lacking evidence of grades will not be considered.
•  Additionally, letters of recommendation from two persons, who are not relatives, are strongly encouraged but are not mandatory. Please follow the instructions associated with the online application for this purpose.

 Interviews may be required prior to final selection. If you have any questions regarding your application or the process, please direct your questions by e-mail to info@pacfwv.com. Please put the words, Civic Leaders Fellowship Program Application in the subject header.

• Each student’s relative potential to successfully complete the Program and to gain civic knowledge and personal leadership skills from such participation;
• Each student’s relative need to participate in such a program and whether participation would contribute substantially to a student’s ability to continue to make academic progress and/or to afford college;
• Each student’s relative interest in contributing positively to the long term betterment of this region;
• Each student’s relative interest in ultimately securing employment in this region, to the extent that is possible.

A competitive application process is used to identify the Civic Leaders, with independent and non-discriminatory criteria developed. Students self-nominate for a Program position.  A Foundation independent selection committee comprised of parties independent of the host organizations to receive Civic Leaders and independent of the donors to the Program will make the selections and pairings of Civic Leader hosts in conjunction with the Program Director.

To be eligible to host a Civic Leader, the nonprofit organizations, governmental institutions and businesses must be located in:  Calhoun, Doddridge, Gilmer, Jackson, Mason, Pleasants, Ritchie, Roane, Wirt and Wood Counties in West Virginia and Washington County, Ohio.

No.  Civic Leaders will be contract employees of PSA; there is no charge to the host employer.  

The Program will operate from early June to early August. The Civic Leader will be permitted to take one week of unpaid leave to accommodate any schedules vacations.  Once students are selected, hosts will be informed by May 2016 whether a placement is likely to be accommodated for the summer.

No.  From the list of hosts who apply for consideration, a directory of developmental placement opportunities for the Civic Leaders will be constructed to identify all possible placement opportunities for area students. Concurrently, students from the counties in our service region will be invited to apply to be named a Civic Leader. Refer to the separate Student Application Guidelines for requirements of students.

Entities proposing a placement cannot be guaranteed assignment of a Civic Leader as placements depend upon the unique needs of the student applicants.  Civic Leaders will be matched to regional placement opportunities according to their career goals and self-development needs.

Yes.  Complete one host application per position if you have more than one possible placement (e.g., one for a business student, another for a marketing student).  All proposals will be acknowledged.

The purpose of the Foundation’s Civic Leaders Fellowship Program is to provide direct job experience and civic learning that it is not otherwise possible for students to obtain within a standard classroom situation during their college years.

 For this reason, to be considered as a host site:

•  Placements proposed must not be of a menial or routine nature (e.g., not more than 20% of the proposed placement should reflect tasks that are clerical or menial).

• Adequate supervision for the Civic Leader must be available at all times.
• The host must identify a host site mentor for the Civic Leader (this person may or may not be the host site supervisor) who can aid the Civic Leader with day-to-day issues.
• The host site must be compliant with all pertinent safety regulations, etc., according to the nature of its type of worksite or industry – any safety equipment needed must be identified in the host application and the host must plan to furnish it.
• A dedicated workspace must be available, with telephone and/or internet access as appropriate.
• All worksites must be fully accessible; if there are any accessibility limitations possible (e.g., stairs) those must be identified in the host application.
• Any special work requirements must be identified in advance in the host application (e.g., ability to lift up to “x” lbs; ability to stand for periods of time, etc.).
• Any skills that would be appropriate to strong job performance must be identified in advance in the host application.
• The host mentor or supervisor must plan to provide a brief orientation to the particular work site for a Civic Leader, if assigned.
• Hosts may not request or select a particular Civic Leader – host selection is the purview of the Foundation’s independent selection committee; this is essential to supporting the tax-deductible nature of gifts to the fund from which the students are paid.
• If selected, the host site mentor or supervisor must be willing to serve as the host organizational representative and must attend a brief orientation at the Foundation’s office prior to the start of the Program so that the organization will be well-prepared to receive and work with their assigned Fellow;
• The host mentor must be willing to meet with the Program Director twice during the course of a Civic Leader’s placement as the Program Director conducts a site visit. 

A competitive application process is used to identify the Civic Leaders, with independent and non-discriminatory criteria developed. Students self-nominate for a Program position.  A Foundation independent selection committee comprised of parties independent of the host organizations to receive Civic Leaders and independent of the donors to the Program will make the selections and pairings of Civic Leader hosts in conjunction with the Program Director.   No positions as Civic Leaders will be awarded to any disqualified persons as such are identified by the Internal Revenue Service.  For purposes of this Program, disqualified persons are: family members of the Foundation’s governing Board of Directors or its staff and any family members associated with the Foundation’s independent selection committee selecting the Civic Leaders assigning pairings.  The Foundation will retain records regarding this Program in a manner similar to how it retains scholarship records.

If a Civic Leader is placed at a for-profit business (hereafter, “business”) the following additional special requirements must apply to meet IRS requirements:

 Special requirements for eligibility as a host site if the host is a for-profit business:

•  The proposed placement for a Civic Leader must not be a replacement or a substitute for the position of an existing employee (the Civic Leader cannot be placed into an existing vacancy in lieu of hiring an employee). In this regard, the position proposed for assignment to a Civic Leader must be viewed as a “new” position, unique to allowing a student a developmental opportunity;
• The proposed placement must not be a part of an existing summer employment program already associated with the host organization;
• The business may offer to provide a developmental job assignment for a Civic Leader but may not participate in selection of any Civic Leader assigned to its enterprise (its Civic Leader must be processed through the same competitive, tailored selection process used for all other Foundation Civic Leaders where emphasis is first and foremost given to meeting the developmental needs of the students);
• The fact that a host may have contributed to support of the Program does not make it eligible for preferential receipt of a Civic Leader;
• Whether or not a business donates to any other fund or opportunity associated with the Foundation cannot be a factor in consideration of whether a student can be assigned as a Civic Leader.
• Host job site assignments will be developed, identified and approved in advance of the student applications being accepted, so that the opportunities are known and identified and disassociated from the student applicant pool.

Any for-profit business that has made a monetary contribution to the Foundation for the benefit of its Civic Leaders Fellowship Program may be eligible for a charitable tax deduction in exchange for its gift. 

The organization may be selected as a host and assigned a Civic Leader through the Foundation’s competitive process, provided that:

• The business complies with the special requirements for for-profit businesses;
• The for-profit business is not a “substantial contributor” (e.g., there are multiple supporters to the Program and the business is not the sole or primary contributor);
•  It is understood that the assignment of a Civic Leader to that business is purely for the Civic Leader’s developmental benefit;
• The business has no association whatsoever with selection of the Civic Leader assigned to its host site; and
•  The business’s gift to the program is to the Foundation’s Civic Leaders Fellowship Program Fun which pays all students and Program operation expenses (e.g., gift cannot be directed to any student’s benefit in particular).

To seek consideration to serve as a host for a Civic Leader, your organization must apply online through the Foundation’s website, here. 

 In order to begin your application, you will need to create a username and password. Please make note of this user name/password, as you will need this in order to be able to access your application again. You do not need to complete your application in one sitting.  Once you have completed your application, be sure to click the submit button at the end of the application. You will have an opportunity at this point to print your application; we recommend that you do so, as you will no longer be able to access your application online after submission. You will receive an e-mail confirmation from the Foundation indicating that your application has been received. If you do not receive this e-mail confirmation, please contact the Foundation.