In 2019, the Teagle Foundation launched the Education for American Civic Life initiative to support efforts to effectively embed civic knowledge and democratic inquiry into undergraduate education and prepare students to become informed and engaged participants in the civic life of their local and national communities. Participating institutions were encouraged to focus on one or two target areas: (1) anchoring significant questions in democratic thought in local history and community and (2) strengthening preparation for public service.
Across the initiative, planning and implementation grants were made to a wide range of more than 25 institutions, from City College to University of North Carolina Wilmington to Drexel University. Through Education for American Civic Life, grants have supported foundational courses in civic education followed by opportunities to learn about and work in public service. Grantee institutions have taken students through rigorous humanities seminars in democratic theory followed by opportunities to solve significant civic challenges and participate in public service internships. The initiative also supported faculty development to ensure educators are equipped to teach the variety of texts and topics required for a robust civic education, while promoting long-term sustainability and dissemination of successful models to other institutions.
The work begun under the Education for American Civic Life initiative is expected to continue through a more focused initiative on New York City, to be released in winter 2025.