Colorado Springs is wrapping up work with a group of highly-connected residents through the Mayor’s Fellowship program and accepting applications for the 2026 class.

The program is aimed at professionals who already have some familiarity with city business but want to get more experience. During the yearlong program, 24 fellows meet with leaders from many city departments, visit facilities across Colorado Springs and break into groups to work on a project staff members need help with.

Thomas Thompson went through the fellowship program in 2022 when he worked as a consultant. Mayor Yemi Mobolade hired him as an adviser in 2023 and Thompson has run the fellowship the last two years.

“It provides you a front-row seat to how city government works. You’re not only meeting every month with city leaders, but you work on challenges that city departments are facing,” Thompson said.

The fellowship program was launched by then-Mayor John Suthers in 2020, but Mobolade helped pushed the project forward. Mobolade had previously gone through the Colorado Governors Fellowship program and the two saw benefits of offering a similar program at the city level.

The hands-on experience comes from a capstone project that fellows work on for most of the year. Capstone projects are issues that city employees pass along to let fellows work on a real problem facing the city. Five members of the current class met with Thompson on Monday afternoon to review their project before a November deadline — evaluating the fellowship after five years and offering suggestions for next year.

One of the biggest requests the fellows made was to expand the types of projects that could be done as a capstone. COS Collective founder Ryan Darilek said they could work with the city’s nonprofit partners instead of the staff directly if they had a larger need for help.

“It’s increasing the amount of the impact we can make. That’s what we are all here for, really. We want to make an impact during the year we’re dedicating to this,” Darilek said.

Another change the fellowship will see in 2026 is expanding the time commitment for members. The monthly seminar day will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. instead of ending at noon like the current meetings do, in addition to capstone meetings and other events during the month.

Current fellows knew the change might make it challenging to attend everything, but they hoped that expanding the time and providing more details ahead of time would lead to a deeper understanding of the city’s business.

“I would like time to sit with the presentations and come up with questions,” said Lindsay Keller, principal of Achieve Online in Colorado Springs School District 11. “They all have so much to share and I still feel like I can leave missing out on half of what I wanted to know.”

Applications for the 2026 edition of the Mayor’s Fellowship will be open until Oct. 31. The city’s website has more information about the application process and the demands of the program.