FORAship: A Scholarship & Internship for Minority Students

**FORAship:** A Scholarship + Internship Program FOR A More Equitable Future
The 2024-2025 FORAship is closed.

Check back here next February for the 2025-2026 FORAship!

At FORA we feel one of the most important contributions we can make to our profession is an equitable practice that promotes belonging. We understand that more diversity means better design, and that improving representation and recognition in architecture won’t happen through passive means. Underrepresented students deserve robust, active, and sustained support, which is why we created the FORAship.

In its first few years, the FORAship Program offered a substantial financial scholarship and a year-long internship. Moving forward, we will continue to offer the combined internship and scholarship as our highest FORAship award, and in order to support more students, we will be offering additional scholarships to incredible applicants who we’d like to recognize.

Read about our first FORAship recipient, Rosanna Valencia, and her first couple months with FORA here!

Application Period

The 2024-2025 FORAship application process is closed. Check back later for more information about the 2025-2025 FORAship. Please see below for more details.

Eligibility

Current community college and undergraduate students in their second year or beyond, or graduate students pursuing a degree in architecture
Located anywhere (and legally authorized to work) in the US - we’re a virtual firm, supporting you where you are
Current GPA of 3.0 or higher
Underrepresented and underrecognized ethnic minority (Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander)
Previous applicants and scholarship awardees are eligible and encouraged to apply again. Previous FORAship interns are ineligible.

Awards

FORA Fellow: One individual per year will receive:
- $3,000 Scholarship
- Year-Long Paid Internship ($25/hr): full-time summer internship (June-August) that becomes a flexible part-time position for the following school year (August - May)
- This is a great opportunity to gain experience in many areas of the practice of architecture. You’ll work closely with FORA’s president on business management, be paired with 3-4 FORA employees to support their specialty research projects throughout the year (topics ranging such as building science, visual storytelling, human experience, custom coding, and beyond), and join a dedicated project team for exposure to different phases of design.
FORA Scholar: Each year, a sum of $2,000 may be awarded to additional outstanding applicants at the firm’s discretion, distributed evenly amongst the number of recipients.

Submission Requirements

Resume / CV
Design Portfolio - PDF of your academic work (10MB max, link preferred)
Short Essay (1,000 word max) responding to:
1. What unique voice or perspective do you bring to architecture?
2. How will you leverage your perspective to provide value to your community as an architect? and,
3. How will the FORAship Program support you in doing so?
Letter of Recommendation from a faculty member with direct knowledge of your work

Application Process & Timeline

February 1, 2025: Applications open. When open, apply here using the Apply Now! link or embedded submission form below.
March 10, 2025: Submissions due no later than 11:59 PM PST
Late March - Early April: Finalist Interviews
April 17, 2025: Awardee(s) announcement
June 2025 - August 2025: Full-time Summer Internship
Fall 2025: Scholarship(s) distributed to college(s) to be applied toward tuition and fees. Internship transitions to part-time during the school year
August 2025 - May 2026: Part-time Internship during the school year