Barr Fellows Program

The Barr Fellows Program honors the contributions of the most gifted and experienced leaders in the Boston area. Over a three-year period that includes a sabbatical, international travel, a series of retreats, and peer learning, these distinguished leaders have an important opportunity to reflect on the accomplishments of their organizations and find the inspiration to attain even higher levels of effectiveness, creativity, and innovation.

The Barr Fellows program is designed to focus on leadership. It is intended to honor the contributions of the Boston area's most gifted and experienced nonprofit and public school leaders by giving them an opportunity for replenishment, and by supporting their organizations during this time. These leaders primarily come from nonprofits working within the Barr Foundation's program areas of education, environment and the arts, but the interdisciplinary nature of the problems we seek to address calls for a broader mix and therefore also includes leaders from housing and social services. The growing diversity of our city, especially the increase in immigrant populations, also suggests that effective leaders must develop a global perspective. We have built that learning into our design as well.