Placement hosts
Government offices, legislative staff offices, school board administrative offices, and policy organizations that agree to host a FLOOR fellow for one semester. Paid stipend preferred. Minimum 15 hours per week.
AN ALIMENTA PROGRAM
FLOOR.
Legislation is written by people. You can be one of them.
FLOOR is Alimenta's flagship policy fellowship. It places competitively selected young adults inside government offices, legislative chambers, and policy organizations in DFW and at the Texas state level. FLOOR fellows work alongside real legislators, policy staff, and advocates on the exact issues that affect the next generation - mental health, education, foster care, juvenile justice, housing, and representation. The fellowship is not an observation. Fellows do real work, build real relationships, and leave with real credentials.
Full nameFuture Leaders On Real Reform
ServesYoung adults ages 18-26 - competitive selection
Focus areaPolicy That Protects the Future - Representation
Delivered byAlimenta Education Services
Why FLOOR exists.
Policy is the most powerful door in the Alimenta campaign. Mental health funding is a policy decision. Education design is a policy decision. Housing access for young adults is a policy decision. Every issue Alimenta fights for has a policy lever - and the people pulling those levers are almost never the people affected by them.
Young adults are the subject of legislation at every level of government. They are almost never in the room when that legislation is written. Not because they are not capable. Because nobody gave them a path in, the skills to navigate it, or the relationship with someone on the inside who could open the door.
FLOOR opens the door. It creates the path. And it places young adults in the exact rooms where the rules about their generation are being written - not to watch, but to work.
What FLOOR does.
- Competitively select 8-12 FLOOR fellows per cohort cycle from applicants ages 18-26.
- Place fellows in paid or stipended positions inside government offices, legislative staff roles, and policy organizations in DFW and Austin.
- Provide a structured policy training curriculum alongside the placement.
- Assign every fellow an Alimenta policy mentor and an institutional supervisor.
- Host weekly FLOOR cohort sessions where fellows debrief, share intelligence, and build their policy knowledge together.
- Require every fellow to produce one substantive policy deliverable - a brief, a testimony, a research memo - during the fellowship.
- Connect FLOOR alumni into Alimenta’s permanent policy network and advocacy infrastructure.
- Advocate for the expansion of paid civic fellowship opportunities for young adults at every level of government.
The FLOOR fellowship structure: one semester placement.
FLOOR fellows are placed for one full academic semester, approximately 16 weeks. Placements are part-time (15-20 hours per week) to accommodate school or work schedules. The fellowship combines a real placement with a structured cohort curriculum.
- Selection.
Competitive application process open to young adults 18-26 in DFW. Alimenta selects 8-12 fellows per cohort based on demonstrated commitment to public service, lived experience with the issues in Alimenta’s policy agenda, and readiness to do real work. Prior political experience is not required.
- Orientation & training.
Two-week intensive orientation covering how government works at the local, state, and federal level. How a bill becomes law. How a budget is passed. How to read a piece of legislation. How to write a policy memo. This is the foundation every fellow builds on.
- Placement.
Each fellow is placed in a partner office for the semester - a city council member’s office, a state legislative staff position, a school board administrative role, or a policy advocacy organization. Placements are matched to each fellow’s issue area and career interest.
- Weekly cohort sessions.
Fellows meet weekly as a cohort with an Alimenta policy facilitator. Every session covers one policy topic in depth, one skill, and one current issue in the Texas legislature. Fellows debrief their placements and build collective intelligence.
- Policy deliverable.
Every fellow produces one substantive policy deliverable by the end of the semester. A policy brief on a specific issue. Written testimony for a legislative hearing. A research memo for their placement supervisor. This is the portfolio piece that opens the next door.
- Graduation & placement.
FLOOR graduation is a public event. Every fellow presents their policy deliverable. Alimenta connects graduates to the next opportunity - a continued placement, a full-time role, a graduate program, or a civic position. The fellowship ends. The career begins.
PARTNERSHIPS
What partners bring.
Supervisors
Each placement host designates one supervisor who meets with the fellow weekly, assigns real work, and provides a written evaluation at semester’s end.
Issue alignment
Placement hosts work on issues relevant to Alimenta’s policy agenda - education, mental health, housing, juvenile justice, foster care, or youth representation. Hosts outside Alimenta’s issue areas are not eligible.
Political neutrality
Alimenta places fellows in offices across party lines. The fellowship is nonpartisan. Hosts agree not to use fellows for partisan campaign activity.
How to get started.
- Apply as a fellow.
Applications open quarterly. The process includes a written application and a 20-minute interview with Alimenta program staff. Selection is competitive and merit-based.
- Become a placement host.
Contact Alimenta to discuss hosting a FLOOR fellow. The process is simple: a host agreement, a designated supervisor, and a commitment to real work.
- Refer a candidate.
Know a young adult 18-26 who should be in the policy room? Refer them directly to the FLOOR program. Alimenta handles the rest.
- Support the fellowship.
Corporate and individual donors can sponsor FLOOR fellow stipends. Contact Alimenta directly to discuss sponsorship.
“Legislation is written by people. FLOOR makes sure the next generation is one of them.”FLOOR · Alimenta Education Services
BRING FLOOR TO YOUR COMMUNITY
Let’s start
the conversation.
Every Alimenta program starts the same way - a simple conversation with our program team about your school, organization or community.
Contact Alimenta