Civic LLC

11/01/2021

“I feel like educators need to really talk to and get to know their students. And research the things that your students are telling you or experiencing. There are learning disabilities and other experiences that I don’t even know about – educators need to really know about those things and know how they impact students so they can actually relate to their students.” - Cassidy McClellan, Educational advocate & sophomore education major at Alabama A&M University

Research from the convening partners of the #GradNation campaign - Civic LLC, Alliance for Excellent Education, Everyone Graduates Center, and America's Promise - found that graduation rates were at an all-time high just before the pandemic. While educators and state leaders may be wondering how to address new college and career readiness challenges, students already have answers.

Cassidy and other youth panelists shared their thoughts at the virtual release event for the 2021 Building A Grad Nation Report - find a link to the report and to watch the event recording in the comments!

[ID: A young woman wearing a black shirt and blue jacket poses with her hands next to her face and smiles.]

10/25/2021

Disruptions to schooling fall hardest on vulnerable students

Disruptions to schooling fall hardest on vulnerable students

Complications wrought by the pandemic persist in schools and often fall hardest on those least able to weather them

10/20/2021

What did high school graduation rates look like pre-pandemic?

Download the 2021 Building A #GradNation report with Everyone Graduates Center, Alliance for Excellent Education, and America's Promise Alliance to find out: https://www.americaspromise.org/report/2021-building-grad-nation-report

What did high school graduation rates look like pre-pandemic?

Download the 2021 Building A #GradNation report with Everyone Graduates Center, Alliance for Excellent Education, and America's Promise Alliance to find out: https://www.americaspromise.org/report/2021-building-grad-nation-report

10/13/2021

We cannot miss this big moment for national service

"Today, the CORPS Act — a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by, among others, Sens. Chris C***s (D-Del.), who served in AmeriCorps, and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) — would increase the living stipend so more Americans of all backgrounds can serve in these programs. But it still awaits movement in Congress," write Mary Ellen Sprenkel, CEO of The Corps Network, and John Bridgeland in The Hill. https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/575949-we-cannot-miss-this-big-moment-for-national-service

The proposed Civilian Climate Corps could foster a generation of diverse leaders who work together to get things done.

10/12/2021

Just 4% of school districts accounted for half of non-graduates in 2019. What steps can states take to address the challenges these districts face? Read more in the 2021 Building A Grad Nation report: https://www.americaspromise.org/report/2021-building-grad-nation-report Everyone Graduates Center Alliance for Excellent Education America's Promise Alliance #GradNation

Just 4% of school districts accounted for half of non-graduates in 2019. What steps can states take to address the challenges these districts face? Read more in the 2021 Building A Grad Nation report: https://www.americaspromise.org/report/2021-building-grad-nation-report Everyone Graduates Center Alliance for Excellent Education America's Promise Alliance #GradNation

10/08/2021

While historically marginalized student groups have lower graduation rates, they were also making the largest gains before COVID-19 https://www.americaspromise.org/report/2021-building-grad-nation-report Everyone Graduates Center Alliance for Excellent Education America's Promise Alliance #GradNation

While historically marginalized student groups have lower graduation rates, they were also making the largest gains before COVID-19 https://www.americaspromise.org/report/2021-building-grad-nation-report Everyone Graduates Center Alliance for Excellent Education America's Promise Alliance #GradNation

10/06/2021

Today's Building A #GradNation report was released with 50 state 'Meeting the Moment' data profiles. How does your state compare to national graduation rates? Which student groups were making progress pre-pandemic?

Download your state profile here: https://gradnation.americaspromise.org/state-activation#/ (Click on your state, select download)
Everyone Graduates Center Alliance for Excellent Education America's Promise Alliance

Read the report: https://www.americaspromise.org/report/2021-building-grad-nation-report

Today's Building A #GradNation report was released with 50 state 'Meeting the Moment' data profiles. How does your state compare to national graduation rates? Which student groups were making progress pre-pandemic?

Download your state profile here: https://gradnation.americaspromise.org/state-activation#/ (Click on your state, select download)
Everyone Graduates Center Alliance for Excellent Education America's Promise Alliance

Read the report: https://www.americaspromise.org/report/2021-building-grad-nation-report

10/06/2021

NEW! Graduation rates among low-income students reached an all-time high in 2019. How can states continue this progress in the face of COVID-19? Everyone Graduates Center Alliance for Excellent Education America's Promise Alliance #GradNation https://www.americaspromise.org/report/2021-building-grad-nation-report

NEW! Graduation rates among low-income students reached an all-time high in 2019. How can states continue this progress in the face of COVID-19? Everyone Graduates Center Alliance for Excellent Education America's Promise Alliance #GradNation https://www.americaspromise.org/report/2021-building-grad-nation-report

10/05/2021

WEDNESDAY, join us, America's Promise Alliance, Everyone Graduates Center, & Alliance for Excellent Education as we explore the challenges high schoolers faced across the country in the final year of data before the COVID-19 pandemic: https://americaspromise.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__8Rh1Wo5Qb-mVXd3RLRs6Q #GradNation

WEDNESDAY, join us, America's Promise Alliance, Everyone Graduates Center, & Alliance for Excellent Education as we explore the challenges high schoolers faced across the country in the final year of data before the COVID-19 pandemic: https://americaspromise.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__8Rh1Wo5Qb-mVXd3RLRs6Q #GradNation

09/21/2021

Right now, the United States is facing some of the most significant challenges in its history. The new #CivicHealthIndex2021: Citizenship in Crisis examines these challenges and an array of civic health indicators.

Key points of the report include:
→ Protests for racial equity in the summer of 2020 engaged an estimated 15 to 26 million people; the largest in the country’s history.
→ The 2020 election had the highest voter turnout of the 21st century: 66.8%
→ For the first time, nontraditional voting (i.e. by mail or before the election) was more common than casting a ballot in person.
→ Americans were less likely to follow COVID-19 rules closely than other countries in 2020, leading to concern for others & disappointment.
→ Membership of large-scale civic institutions, including unions, churches and other religious organizations, and daily newspapers, continued to decline.

Read the full report by Civic LLC, with Miller Center of Public Affairs, UVA Democracy Initiative, National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC), and the Partnership for American Democracy: https://millercenter.org/democracy-biennial/civic-health-index-2021

Right now, the United States is facing some of the most significant challenges in its history. The new #CivicHealthIndex2021: Citizenship in Crisis examines these challenges and an array of civic health indicators.

Key points of the report include:
→ Protests for racial equity in the summer of 2020 engaged an estimated 15 to 26 million people; the largest in the country’s history.
→ The 2020 election had the highest voter turnout of the 21st century: 66.8%
→ For the first time, nontraditional voting (i.e. by mail or before the election) was more common than casting a ballot in person.
→ Americans were less likely to follow COVID-19 rules closely than other countries in 2020, leading to concern for others & disappointment.
→ Membership of large-scale civic institutions, including unions, churches and other religious organizations, and daily newspapers, continued to decline.

Read the full report by Civic LLC, with Miller Center of Public Affairs, UVA Democracy Initiative, National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC), and the Partnership for American Democracy: https://millercenter.org/democracy-biennial/civic-health-index-2021

09/20/2021

The 2021 Building a #GradNation release will feature 50 state profiles examining each state’s remaining challenges in graduating students ready for college & career. Join America's Promise Alliance, Everyone Graduates Center, & Alliance for Excellent Education on 10/6 to discuss: https://americaspromise.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__8Rh1Wo5Qb-mVXd3RLRs6Q

The 2021 Building a #GradNation release will feature 50 state profiles examining each state’s remaining challenges in graduating students ready for college & career. Join America's Promise Alliance, Everyone Graduates Center, & Alliance for Excellent Education on 10/6 to discuss: https://americaspromise.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__8Rh1Wo5Qb-mVXd3RLRs6Q

09/14/2021

Welcome.US

Today marks the official launch of Welcome.Us, a movement to support the thousands of Afghan refugees entering America through food, shelter, and clothing.

Looking for ways to get involved? The Welcome Fund will provide grants to nonprofits supporting this work. You can also donate time & resources, host a family through Airbnb, and sponsor an arriving family.

The movement is co-chaired by Cecilia Muñoz and John Bridgeland, former Directors of the White House Domestic Policy Council under Presidents Obama and Bush, respectively.

Learn how you can help the resettlement efforts at http://welcome.us.

Join the national coalition working together to welcome Afghan refugees.

08/24/2021

Resettling Afghan refugees is America at its finest

"But what if, in addition to scrutinizing our government’s work, Americans mobilized to help support Afghan refugees today and learned about the challenges they and other refugees and asylum seekers face?"

John Bridgeland and Cecilia Muñoz, senior adviser to New America and former director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under President Obama, encourage Americans to mobilize support for Afghan refugees. Read the full op-ed in The Hill here: https://thehill.com/opinion/international/568994-resettling-afghan-refugees-is-america-at-its-finest?rl=1

We have never regretted the times when we have resettled people in crisis to become our fellow Americans.

08/16/2021

As communities across the country prepare for the upcoming school year, we ask: What kinds of learning are most needed to address this moment and support young people long term?

In a recent report, both parents and teachers overwhelmingly demand a holistic view of education that prepares students for life, via both social and emotional learning (#SEL) and service-learning. On Aug. 27, 11am ET, join us for a conversation with Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and National Association of State Boards of Education focused on building a connection between these key areas.

Register: https://bit.ly/2TDyIoZ

Civic’s recent report on service-learning: https://bit.ly/2VN5RPU

As communities across the country prepare for the upcoming school year, we ask: What kinds of learning are most needed to address this moment and support young people long term?

In a recent report, both parents and teachers overwhelmingly demand a holistic view of education that prepares students for life, via both social and emotional learning (#SEL) and service-learning. On Aug. 27, 11am ET, join us for a conversation with Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and National Association of State Boards of Education focused on building a connection between these key areas.

Register: https://bit.ly/2TDyIoZ

Civic’s recent report on service-learning: https://bit.ly/2VN5RPU

08/06/2021

Health leaders: We're asking American businesses to create #COVIDSafeZones. Here's how.

Dr. Mark McClellan (Duke-Robert J. Margolis, MD, Center for Health Policy), Andy Slavitt (former White House senior advisor), and John Bridgeland (Civic and the COVID Collaborative) call upon the help of American businesses to create #COVIDSafeZones through measures that minimize the risks of COVID-19. These steps include maximizing vaccinations, requiring proof of vaccination, regular testing, incentivizing vaccinations, and mask use in accordance with CDC guidelines. [via USA TODAY] https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/08/05/private-sector-covid-safe-zones-help-end-pandemic/5487027001/

Our vulnerability to delta-driven COVID outbreaks is a competitive disadvantage given that other industrialized nations have higher vaccination rates.

07/27/2021

Schools Must Connect Learning to Real-World Experience. Service Learning Can Help. - EdSurge News

Schools Must Connect Learning to Real-World Experience. Service Learning Can Help. - EdSurge News

As communities across the country prepare for the upcoming school year, there is cause for long-awaited optimism. Many students will be returning to ...

07/27/2021

Schools Must Connect Learning to Real-World Experience. Service Learning Can Help. - EdSurge News

Civic's Matt Atwell and Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)'s Justina Schlund explain strategies to close the social and emotional learning & service-learning implementation gaps in education:
1️⃣ Fully support SEL in the classroom
2️⃣ Establish roles and responsibilities
3️⃣ Plan professional learning for educators
4️⃣ Integrate SEL and SL opportunities for students
5️⃣ Emphasize SEL and SL in workforce preparation opportunities
A recent Civic report with The Allstate Foundation, Ready to Engage, shows that both parents and teachers support a wholistic education for their students. Read the report:https://casel.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/ReadyToEngage_Final.pdf #SEL #SL
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2021-07-26-schools-must-connect-learning-to-real-world-experience-service-learning-can-help

As communities across the country prepare for the upcoming school year, there is cause for long-awaited optimism. Many students will be returning to ...

07/20/2021

A fresh start: Let's heal America's divisions before her 250th birthday

Let's heal America before her 250th birthday: the pandemic has exposed problems that haunt the nation, write John Bridgeland and Tim Shriver.
1️⃣ A civic crisis of vicious polarization and institutional decay
that makes our politics dysfunctional.
2️⃣ A social crisis of insular clusters, the decline of social trust,
and the decay of many communities.
3️⃣ A spiritual crisis, marked by the tripling of depression rates,
spike in suicides and addictions, and emergence of multiple
generations with no faith in our systems or in each other.
Bridgeland and Shriver recently joined efforts to launch the Partnership for American Democracy, an initiative with sustainable democracy goals to address these crises. Read more in the recent The Hill op-ed. https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/563285-a-fresh-start-lets-heal-americas-divisions-before-her-250th-birthday?rl=1

As the pandemic subsides, giving us a fresh start, our country needs a spiritual revival to restore its soul.

07/09/2021

Big Citizenship Can Move A Nation Toward Good | Bush Center

"Civic engagement is ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things for the public good." Read more about John Bridgeland's take on how big citizenship can move a nation towards good (via George W. Bush Presidential Center). https://www.bushcenter.org/publications/articles/2021/07/democracy-talks-big-citizenship.html

John Bridgeland is the CEO of Civic, a social enterprise firm in Washington, D.C. He also is Co

06/25/2021

The Launch of the Partnership for American Democracy

Join us on July 1 at 12pm ET for the launch of the Partnership for American Democracy. PFAD is a collective impact initiative bringing greater attention and resources to the renewal of American democracy. You don't want to miss this change-making initiative! Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-launch-of-the-partnership-for-american-democracy-tickets-156765916075

Help us launch the new, national nerve center driving attention, energy, and resources to efforts strengthening democracy in America.