Civic Education News Roundup: New grants and programs launching as the academic year begins.
This week, we posted “How we lost the Cold War by accident,” launching our coverage of civic education at The Renovator. Here is the first of our monthly roundups of news and events related to civic education - because, as we said in the “Cold War” piece:
Democracy is reliant on a culture of civic participation. Governing ourselves takes work and commitment. So if we’re going to renovate our constitutional democracy and institutions in the United States to work better for everyone, we also need to do some serious work on our culture of citizenship, to make sure that we are ready to play our part well. Civic education is how we restore and grow that culture.
New publications:
Experiential Civic Learning for American Democracy, a report from the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation
Campus Compact’s Student Design Fellows Report
News & Stories:
Civic Nation series for Forbes with articles about student voter engagement and civic engagement
Civics on View: Using Museum Collections to Foster Greater Civic Knowledge and Understanding, American Alliance of Museums, July 11, 2025
Campus Compact and AAC&U Announce HEDx Advisors, Higher Education Democracy Exchange platform
Monticello Awarded $1 Million Grant from Carnegie Corporation to Lead National Civic Education Effort, August 5, 2025 - leading the Educating for American Democracy (EAD) Community Learning Partners network
Teachers Learn the Art of Teaching Civics in a Hot-Button Age, by Jennifer Howard, EdSurge, Aug 18, 2025 (focus on Utah)
Generation Citizen Brings Real-World Civic Engagement Into the Classroom, by Maggie Rhoads for The Fulcrum, Aug 22, 2025
The Civics of Higher Education: How three Pittsburgh-area colleges are reclaiming the campus as a space for citizen preparation, by Gregory Laski for the Pittsburgh Quarterly, 2025 Summer
Launching the School Year with Impact: How Service-Learning Transforms Education from Day One By Amy Meuers for the National Youth Leadership Council blog, August 11, 2025
Trump administration to restore $6.8bn in education funds after multi-state suit by Maanvi Singh for The Guardian, August 25, 2025
Ford Presidential Foundation Launches $12 Million FORD50 Campaign for Civic Education (media release) — includes programs for young people (mostly based on site at the Foundation’s DeVos Learning Center) and for legislative staffers, teaching resources, a podcast, a newsletter, and speaker events
Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI) launches National Civics Fellowship Program At Stanford’s Hoover Institution, August 21, 2025
Envisioning the Future: Young People Lead at the NextGen Changemakers Event, August 26, 2025
Sandra Day O’Connor Institute launches O’Connor Institute Ambassadors Civics & Debate Club, opens applications for paid student ambassadors
Opinion:
Civics Education Is Back. It Shouldn’t Belong to Conservatives, by Timothy Messer-Kruse, Chronicle of Higher Education, June 18, 2025
America needs a civic education moonshot, before it’s too late, by Colleen Shogan and John Bridgeland, The Hill, June 29, 2025
Civics and America's 250th Birthday, by Hans Zeiger, RealClear Education, July 1, 2025
Education: the silent infrastructure of democracy by Nicolette Karina Kalfas for Democracy Without Borders, August 26, 2025
Watch:
Civics Made Easy series from PBS
Upcoming Events:
Teachers Institute of Philadelphia (TIP) Fall 2025 USA 250 Workshops
The University of Central Florida’s Lou Frey Institute & C-SPAN Classroom launch “A Revolution of Words: The 250th Birthday of the Declaration of Independence and Its Impact on the Nation” resources & webinar series
Democracy Day (journalism focus), organized by Montclair State University, September 15, 2025 - including a $500 prize for the best democracy-related content!
Constitution Day Celebration at the National Constitution Center, September 17, 2025
Teaching For Change 2025 Native Knowledge 360° Teach-In keynote focusing on indigenous people’s impact on the American Revolution, September 20
National Voter Education Week, October 6-10 — check out their partner toolkit
Teaching For Change Teach Central America Week, October 6-10
Democracy360, Karsh Institute of Democracy, October 15-17 2025
iCivics and the Bill of Rights Institute’s Civic Star Challenge, first drawing deadline on October 31, 2025. Enter to be a Civic Star Champion after incorporating one of the themes of the Declaration of Independence into your classroom and earn cash prizes for your classroom!