An Invitation to Participate in Civic Learning Week

The Civic Learning and Democracy Engagement Coalition is inviting Full Participation Institutions to take part in Civic Learning Week – March 10 to 14 – to highlight your leadership on civic learning and democracy engagement. Civic Learning Week is hosted annually by iCivics to energize the movement to prioritize civic education across the nation. (Learn more about Civic Learning Week.) 

We hope you will join us to affirm the CLDE Coalition’s key messages for Civic Learning Week: 

  • higher education plays a vital role in preparing students for civic engagement and democracy;

  • civic learning develops critical career skills valued by employers;

  • every student deserves civic learning opportunities as part of their education; and 

  • civic learning enhances both student success and community impact.

Suggestions for how Full Participation Institutions might celebrate Civic Learning Week:

  • Communicate with your campus community about the civic and democracy learning outcomes in your curriculum. For example, at many Full Participation Institutions, CLDE outcomes are part of the first-year experience. Share information that helps student affairs staff and faculty teaching in other areas of the curriculum understand what students have already encountered so they can reinforce prior learning and connect it to new content in the curriculum and co-curriculum.

  • Every Student, Every Degree: College Civic Learning for Today’s Students and Tomorrow’s Democracy includes many ideas for enriching college civic learning and democracy engagement. Invite faculty, staff, and students to read the report and discuss ways to expand your institution’s CLDE commitment.

  • Offer faculty, staff, and students opportunities to participate and build skills in facilitating dialogue on contested issues. Bridge-building and problem-solving is a key part of the CLDE Learning Framework and many Full Participation Institutions have strong programs in dialogue that could be recognized for Civic Learning Week.

The Civic Learning Week Coalition has additional guidance available at this link to inform social media posts, messaging, programming, and ideation. We also encourage you to develop and submit relevant activities so they can be recognized.

We would love to hear what you are planning. Please reach out to the CLDE Team at info@collegeciviclearning.org.