New Urban Mechanics Summer Fellowship
A unique opportunity for creative, curious, and entrepreneurial folks. We need people passionate about civic issues to work with communities and try something new.
Our summer fellowship is a highly selective program. Summer fellows manage individual projects to advance the portfolios of the MONUM and Analytics teams, which may include conducting action-oriented research, policy analysis, building data products and tools, or implementing creative, thoughtful new prototypes and experiments to benefit Boston's residents. Fellows also participate in professional development opportunities to gain a broad view of careers in city government.
The 2026 Summer Fellowship application is now open. Applications will close on Tuesday, January 20 at 11:59 p.m. EST!
We are hosting an optional virtual open house for prospective applicants on Tuesday, January 6, at 6 p.m. (register here).
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Have questions? Contact us:
New Urban Mechanics -
Applications are closed
The 2026 summer fellowship application will open soon.
About the fellowship
Fellowship projects are as diverse as the fellows we have had. We’ve worked with traffic engineers, public health students, teachers, business and policy master's candidates, and sociology PhDs. If you agree that Boston is a place where people can do good and change the world, this could be the fellowship for you.
Since merging with the Analytics team in the Department of Innovation and Technology, our capacity for data-driven innovation has grown. To continue this work, some fellows may be placed on projects with an Analytics sponsor, working on technical challenges such as software development or analytical modeling. All fellows, no matter their project assignment, will still be in the MONUM Fellowship cohort and will participate in all MONUM Fellowship activities and professional development.”
New Urban Mechanics alumni
We created the Summer Fellowship Program to attract the next generation of leaders to careers in public service. Several members of the current Urban Mechanics team started as fellows. Our alumni can also be found:
- as Cabinet-level chiefs in Mayor Wu's administration
- in the Mayor's Office of Housing and at the Boston Housing Authority
- in the Streets Cabinet
- at the Planning Department
- in Mayor's Offices in other cities, and
- at Boston-area universities.
Common questions
Common questions- This fellowship is for you if…
- You are creative, collaborative, and able to take initiative and manage projects effectively.
- You are interested in a variety of topics and want to explore new areas of government.
- You want to test out new ideas with residents and develop action-oriented solutions to some of the City’s biggest challenges.
- You are flexible and open to your scope of work shifting throughout the summer as priorities change.
- You want exposure to a variety of departments and leaders across the City.
- You want to learn about what it’s like to work in local government.
- This fellowship isn’t for you if…
- You want to work with one specific department or topic area.
- You are not comfortable working in an office environment, which may be distracting or loud at times.
- You want to spend your summer researching.
- You do not operate well in a 9 am - 5 pm setting.
- After submitting your application, you may be invited to a 20-minute phone screen with a member of our team in February.
- If you pass that phase, you may be invited to a group interview day in late February/early March with other finalists and our team.
- We hope to announce selections by mid-March.
The summer fellowship runs for 10 weeks and will be roughly from early June through early August.
While you are going through our application process, we are going through a project scoping process with internal partner departments. Project assignments result from a careful review of priorities, capacity needs, and clearly defined work that can be achieved in 10 weeks by a MONUM Fellow. If you have a specific area of interest you want to explore this summer, we recommend that you reach out to that department directly instead of applying for this fellowship.. We want to give you projects that are both interesting and challenging. We announce Fellows and project matches about a week before the start of the fellowship.
If you’re selected, we’ll share overview materials about the City and your project in the lead-up to your start date. We don't want you to dive into doing research in advance, not only because that would be unpaid work, but also because we know how important sharing context is. We commit to doing that during Orientation and your first week.
Successful fellows have come from a wide variety of backgrounds, drawing on diverse and creative skillsets. We’ve worked with teachers and architects, public health students and public policy masters candidates, economics undergrads, and sociology PhDs.
If you have an interest in helping Boston achieve our goals of being a family-friendly city; the most Green New Deal city; being a safe and healthy city; having delightfully convenient constituent services; and closing the racial wealth gap — this might be the fellowship for you!
We organize Chief Chats for our fellows. You can ask questions to — and learn from — various Cabinet Chiefs around the administration. We encourage fellows to have coffee chats with our staff, as well as other City Hall staff. We want you to learn about what it’s like to work in City Hall full-time, as well as learn about other efforts happening at the City.
We aim to organize a number of site visits for fellows to see City work in action. We also create the environment for fellows to organize skill-shares with other fellows and MONUM staff.
MONUM staff are available to you as a resource — maybe even as mentors — and fellowship alumni have shared with us that a large part of their professional growth during the fellowship came from simply rolling up their sleeves and doing the work alongside MONUM staff, internal partners, and external champions.
We are planning to host a small group of fellows. A typical cohort is 4-6. The exact number depends on funding sources and staff capacity to provide a positive experience.
Fellows are paid $25/hr for a 35-hr work week. Fellows are not eligible for sick or vacation days. Any time missed will be uncompensated.”
Generally, you’ll be expected "at work" from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. You may sometimes need to attend morning or evening meetings for your project work. Also, you may just want to attend morning or evening meetings that are interesting to you, albeit unrelated to your work. This is optional, but you are certainly welcome to do so.
Our office is located on the 6th floor of Boston City Hall. The current hybrid policy allows MONUM summer fellows to work remotely a maximum of 2 days a week. However, fellows should be flexible and expect to come to City Hall for meetings or events on remote days if necessary, i.e. meeting with the Mayor, Chiefs, presentations, etc. They should make the most of meeting people inside City Hall in real life as much as possible.
In the past, the Mayor has come to hear from fellows at a weekly fellows’ meeting. Our Mayor is also a former Summer Fellow herself and deeply values the program. The Mayor may also attend City events that you are at. Say hi!
Some past projects fellows worked on
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Have questions? Contact us:
New Urban Mechanics -
Applications are closed
The 2026 summer fellowship application will open soon.
