When Jonathan Rose’s father Frederick was in his 70s, he turned to his son and said, “The best things I have done in my life I co-created with architects. I would love to do something for young
architects. Can you help me create a program for them?’” 
Jonathan was up for the task. Together, they founded the Frederick P. Rose Architectural Fellowship, a program established by the Columbia, Md.-based nonprofit housing and community development organization Enterprise Community Partners. The fellowship, endowed by the Rose family and launched shorty after Rose’s father died in 1999, creates partnerships between emerging architects and community-based organizations, which usually don’t have the resources to hire a design team.
This month, three new fellows will join the program, which has recognized a total of 29 fellows since its founding. The architects, who typically are in their 20s and 30s, sign on for a three-year stint with a community development corporation (CDC). The fellowship pays for the architects’ salary and training, and many of the fellows become full-time employees at the CDCs after the fellowship ends.
“My father’s thought was that it’s so unfair for a young architect to just sit in the back of some big office and draw toilet bowls,” Rose says. “A core part of the program is that our fellows actually build things.”
Rose always takes time out of his demanding schedule to personally ensure the architects stay on task. “The most fun part of the fellowship is when Jonathan comes to visit,” says Katie Swenson, director of the fellowship program and a former fellow. “You’re working in a neighborhood and all of sudden Jonathan comes for a visit, so you are a little nervous. What does he want to see? He doesn’t want to be taken out to lunch; he wants to visit you on the job site. And honestly, the fellow with the messiest desk gets the prize. A clean desk makes him nervous. He wants to see a fellow totally in the thick of it.”
