QVS Application
Thank you for your interest in Quaker Voluntary Service!
The 2024-25 fellowship year will run from late August 2024 through July 2025. At this time we are revising our application and are not currently accepting applications. We will reopen the application form in late December so that early birds will have plenty of time to complete the application before the February 29th deadline.
If you would like to speak to our recruitment coordinator, please contact Ruth at ruth@quakervoluntaryservice.
In the meantime, please review our FAQ. If you are an international applicant, please review our one-pager. Please also connect with us via Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok!
We look forward to meeting you soon and can’t wait to work with you to build a more just world!
If you would like to get a head start on answering your essay questions, here they are:
The first five questions should be answered with essays (250-500 words) that show how you are currently thinking about these topics. We are using these questions simply to get to know you and not to exclude anyone. Your answer to question #1 will be shared with site placements so they can get to know you.
- SERVICE: What attracts you to a year of service? What experiences have shaped the way you look at service? How do you think about the need to balance service with self care? Please name any personal passions or areas of giftedness that you’re hoping to explore in the coming year.
- COMMUNITY & IDENTITY: In the past, Fellows have been pushed to reflect on how personal identity (e.g. race, class, gender) impacts the formation of community. How do you anticipate your identity shaping the way you show up for community? Have you ever been confronted about the impact of your language or behavior? If so, what did you take away from the experience? If not, how would you like to show up for that sort of conversation?
- INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY: What excites you about living in an intentional community, grounded in collective values? Please reflect on a time when you were able to resolve a conflict with someone in a way that taught you more about yourself or how to live in authentic and mutually supportive community with others.
- SPIRITUALITY: What’s a spiritual question that intrigues you? What draws you to this particular question? What might it look like for you to deepen spiritually over the coming year?
- CAPACITY: Committing yourself to a year of transformative growth should not be taken lightly. As you face challenges in the coming year, what kind of support would be most helpful in orienting you toward growth? Please reflect on your capacity to engage personal insecurities or misplaced assumptions.
These are not necessarily essay questions but do allow for long-form responses:
- AREAS OF INTEREST: We partner with site placements that are working for social change in each of our five cities. Are there particular issues that you would like to address in a professional setting? Select all that apply. (This is not an essay question – you just check boxes)
Community Organizing, Criminal Justice Reform, Economic Justice, Education/Youth, Environmental Justice/Sustainability, Food Justice, Healthcare, Housing/Homelessness, Immigration, Mental Health, Peacemaking/Non-violence, Racial Justice, Women’s Rights
- WORKPLACE PREFERENCES. Please say more about the issues you listed (in question 6) as a priority, and why you are drawn to them.
- BARRIERS: Please share any concerns you have about your ability to complete the full year.
- OTHER: Please share with us anything else you think we should know about you as we consider your application. If you are selected to be interviewed, you will also have an opportunity to share with us further at that time.
Ruth Cutcher (she/her)
Recruitment & Marketing Coordinator