VFA April Newsletter: 2.0 Zoom Sessions, Job Hunting/Hiring Pilot, Events in NYC/Pittsburgh/Philly
Plus, a new consultant coming soon from VFACC!
Hello fellow Fellows!
High-level summary: 1) Eileen Lee is running a pilot job-placement program for VFA Fellows, so if you’re looking for a job or hiring, hit her up! She’s also hosting (3) VFA 2.0 pitch/Q&A sessions in April in addition to her Friday office hours, so make sure to swing by and learn more. 2) There will be a new VFACC consultant in the coming weeks who will be working on strategy and taking on more of the operational work (including maybe these newsletters). 3) Community-driven events in NYC, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and a new Entrepreneurial Support Hub and an invite to a Content Creator working group. See below for more info on all. Also, the next newsletter will be Thursday May 7, so submit by May 6.
Be well,
Amanda Tien (2015 Fellow, Providence & New Orleans)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
VFA Community - Critical Updates & Key Asks
VFA 2.0 Alumni Zoom Sessions - April 2025
VFA 2.0 is running an Alumni Job Pilot Program! Are you looking for a job or hiring? Talk to Eileen Lee!
The VFACC Consultant Board are reviewing the applications! New community builders coming soon.
The new VFA Fellows Slack is going great! Accept your invites when you get them, we’re still making our way through 2020s.
Venture for America website is officially down
VFA Community - Initiatives
NYC Co-Working Every Last Friday + Happy Hours
VFA Reunion x Oktoburghfest: Sept 26-28, 2025 in Pittsburgh!
Philly Community Events in April/May
Jobs
Bulletin Board
New: Entrepreneurial Support Hub Featuring 100+ Opportunities!
Join My Content Creator Group!
Submit a Blurb for Next Time by May 6
1. Critical Updates & Key Asks
1A. VFA 2.0 Alumni Zoom Sessions - April 2025
From Eileen Lee:
Come learn about VFA 2.0 plans and how to get involved. 2025's relaunch will focus on alumni engagement so we need you to come listen and share your thoughts!
These sessions will be a mix of pitching and Q&A and are open to all VFA Fellows/Alumni!
Wednesday, April 16th, 9-10am ET - Google cal invite
Thursday, April 24th, 3-4pm ET - Google cal invite
Monday, April 28th, 12-1pm ET - Google cal invite
You can also join my Friday Office Hours! There’s one on April 4, and then I’m OOO April 11, but plan to be back on Friday April 18. To get the calendar invites and Zoom dial-in, subscribe to the VFA Community Calendar.
1B. VFA 2.0 is running an Alumni Job Pilot Program! Are you looking for a job or hiring? Talk to Eileen Lee!
From Eileen Lee:
We’re running a pilot job placement program!
If you are job seeking, please fill out this form and we’ll set up an intro call with you!
If you are hiring, please email Eileen Lee (lee.eileen@gmail.com)
1C. The VFACC Consultant Board are reviewing the applications! New community builders coming soon.
From VFACC, via Amanda Tien:
Applications were due on Monday March 31 for the Operations & Communications Consultant position. VFACC received over a dozen applications from ~20+ VFA Fellows! Thank you to everyone who submitted. That Hiring Board is made up of Connie Bowen (16), Cameron Champion (20), and Gabi Rudnick (23). We plan to share an update by April 7. Keep an eye out in the New VFA Slack. If you have any questions, please reach out to Connie, Cameron, and Gabi at vfaccboard@gmail.com
A personal note from Amanda Tien:
I’m really excited about the potential of a new Communications & Operations for VFA Community Collective! VFACC is the group of volunteers who have been working since the August shut-down to build community resources and opportunities such as this newsletter, the new Slack, the mentorship program, the job board, the crowdfunding for the 2024 Fellows, the Skillshare program, St. Louis Reunion, the Notion (tinyurl.com/VFANotion), the town hall, talking to the Board, and more. The TLDR is that Andrew Yang wants to give us money to keep furthering alumni-driven work, but volunteer work IS HARD and exhausting and so we'd like to use that money to fund someone to drive that work forward.
FWIW, to be fully transparent, I did not apply for the Consultant position—I want to create space for more people to make VFA magic happen!!! (And transparently, I’m also very tired lol.) However, I did create a big institutional knowledge guide to help whoever does do this and I would be happy to do like an onboarding call or something. I'm looking forward to others driving this work forward and to continue to support the work as a volunteer! I have full faith/trust in Connie, Cameron, and Gabi, and I’m really grateful that they’re leading the consultant hiring process.
1D. The new VFA Fellows Slack is going great! Accept your invites when you get them, we’re still making our way through 2020s.
From Amanda Tien (‘15, Providence & New Orleans):
We successfully launched the new Fellow-owned and -operated Slack! It’s been super active and that’s so awesome. Loving all the energy. Thanks everyone for engaging and joining.
Invites have been sent out to the 2012 - 2019 classes and through the F’s of 2020. It takes time for us to move through waves of invite due to spam blocks from Salesforce; we’re hoping to have successfully invited everyone by the end of April! When you get your invite, please accept ASAP so that way it’ll release another invite slot for someone else. You can also skip the line by requesting an invite link to vfaaab@gmail.com
Please check out our Frequently Asked Questions in the Slack Special Bulletin for more information.
1E. Venture for America website is officially down
Via Amanda Tien (‘15, Providence & New Orleans):
Shout-out to Keith Porter for spotting it at http://ventureforamerica.org/ RIP. I saved a bunch of resources on the VFA notion at tinyurl.com/VFANotion and David Mathisson (‘22) noted you can find a lot of old content on the Wayback Machine.
2. VFA Community Initiatives
2A. NYC Co-Working Every Last Friday + Happy Hours
Via Tanvi Jadhav (‘21, Detroit):
Priyanka Jain (Detroit '20) and I will be hosting a coworking session every last Friday from 10a-4pm in LIC! Next one is April 25th. More details on this google calendar invite. We will send more details/RSVP in the NYC channel closer to the actual day :)
For those who can’t make co-working, we’re hoping to find a happy hour time that works for most people :) Keep an eye out for a survey coming soon in the #city-new-york in the Fellows Slack!
2B. Reunion x Oktoburghfest: Sept 26-28 in Pittsburgh!
Via Simrat Oberoi (2023, Indianapolis)
It’s official! Reunion x Oktoburghfest will be held September 26-28 in Pittsburgh! Mark your calendars and get ready for a weekend of connection, learning, and celebration. Stay tuned for more details on schedule and registration. In the meantime, if you or someone you know is interested in sponsoring part of the weekend, please reach out to Simrat Oberoi ‘23 (simratoberoi99@gmail.com) or Emily Sjoberg ‘22 (emilyjsjoberg@gmail.com). We can’t wait to see you there!
2C. Philly Community Events in April/May
To RSVP to these events, join #city-philadelphia in the new Slack!
Seder-ish Potluck Dinner on Friday April 25, hosted by Gabi Rudnick
Coffee Shop Co-Working & Farmer’s Market on Thurs April 10, Thurs May 1, and Thurs May 15, hosted by Amanda Tien
3. Jobs
Join the new VFA Slack to see the newest job postings!
Also, see 1B above!
4. Bulletin Board
4a. New: Entrepreneurial Support Hub Featuring 100+ Opportunities!
Via Amanda Tien (‘15, Providence & New Orleans):
Introducing Entrepreneurial Support Hub! ESH is a new website that showcases 100+ funding opportunities and shares resources, advice, and guidance on the entrepreneurial journey. We’ve been honored to build this with our friends at Camelback Ventures, Moonshot, 4.0, Echoing Green, and NewSchools. Our mission: empower entrepreneurs with a supportive network, funding clarity, and relevant resources to turn ideas into social impact. Check it out at www.eshub.org
Plus, if you know of any opportunities, please get in touch! Submit new opps at the form at the bottom of this page: https://www.eshub.org/about-us
Big shout-out to Caroline Lutkewitte (2018, New Orleans) who has led this project from start-to-finish at Camelback! I've gotten to work on ESH as a Mar/Comm consultant for the past few months and I've been honored to be a part of it; I'm looking forward to collaborating with her on this for a few more months :) Been awesome to have some collaborative VFA magic on this :)
We’d appreciate if you could like the posts on LinkedIn here, here, and here as well as check out the hub (www.eshub.org) which we hope will be useful to lots of people in this network. Thanks!
4b. Join My Content Creator Group!
Via Sarah Tatarski (‘22, Philadelphia):
Hey there! I'm starting a monthly (or bi-monthly) creator exchange circle for content creators where we can share ideas, strategies, and insights on what’s working—and what’s not. After a 2+ year break, I’m jumping back into content creation and would love to build a space where we can exchange tips on task management, recording tools, and more. If you're interested, let me know! It’ll be a casual group, so feel free to drop in when you can. I’m excited to connect with you all! Fill out my interest form here!
5. Submit a Blurb for Next Time
The next newsletter will be on Thursday May 7, 2025. Submit your blurb here (it’s also linked on the homepage of the newsletter) any time in the day/evening on Weds May 6.
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