Education for American Civic Life initiative

Overview

Through this initiative, the Foundation seeks ambitious projects that confront gaps in undergraduates’ civic knowledge and prepares them for the intellectual demands of democratic participation. Successful proposals will seek to promote learning about the formation of the American republic, the crafting of its Constitution, the history of contention over the interpretation of the Constitution, the development of representative political structures, and the principles of democracy. Civic education is strongest when it is not treated as a subject in isolation but becomes part of the student experience across disciplines. For example, the study of history and literature can help students recognize recurring themes and problems in American life such as the tension between individual rights and national security, or the challenges and opportunities faced by immigrants. 

We give priority to proposals designed to reach a significant proportion, if not all, of the undergraduate student body and that infuse civic education across the curriculum. While innovative pedagogies that advance civic engagement are acknowledged and appreciated (e.g., service-learning, public sphere pedagogy), please note our chief interest is in content, i.e., what students will learn. There are a variety of curricular approaches to and considerations for addressing this objective. Some examples are offered below.

Specific Areas of Interest 
The Education for American Civic Life Initiative is focused on funding in three particular areas. While we continue to accept applications that cross or go beyond these areas, we also value proposals that help deepen, expand, and scale the work we are currently funding. 

• Knowledge for Freedom -- In 2018, the Foundation made a commitment to expand nationwide a uniquely rewarding program called Knowledge for Freedom. Knowledge for Freedom Programs invite underserved high school students to study humanity’s deepest questions about leading lives of purpose and civic responsibility. Between the junior and senior years of high school, students come into residence on a college campus, where they experience the intensity of a seminar-sized discussion taught by college professors focused on major works of philosophy and literature. Over the following year, while applying to college as high school seniors, the students engage in civic initiatives inspired by the recognition that their lives are interconnected with the lives of others. High school students who typically find themselves shut out from opportunities available to their more affluent peers are thus provided with an opportunity to undertake college-level work in the humanities, to build meaningful relationships with college faculty and college students, who serve them as mentors, and to develop, through practice, civic skills with their peers. Knowledge for Freedom programs, as demonstrated by the flagship “Freedom and Citizenship Program” at Columbia 3 University, dramatically improve college readiness, admission prospects, and college graduation persistence while building interest in humanistic writing and issues, as well as habits of civic engagement, that persist during and after college. 

• Big Questions & Coherent Answers -- In 2019, the Foundation began working with colleges and universities invested in creating comprehensive civic education for a significant portion of their student body. Some of our partner institutions are designing freshman core curricula, others are working inside divisions such as an honors college or a pre-professional program, to ask faculty to design a series of courses and extracurricular opportunities to ensure that their students prepare to be informed and engaged civic participants in their local and national communities. These programs explicitly help students grasp the lived experience—past and present-- of their neighbors outside the campus gates as a valuable aspect of a civic education that builds on their education in areas like governance, history, and law. Typically, these programs are anchored by a significant question concerning the past and present challenges of the community in which the college or university is located-- whether this is a metropolitan center such as Newark, New Jersey, with a long history of successive migrations into and out of the city, or rural Virginia, site of a major Civil War campaign and the struggle over segregation and civil rights. 

• Professional Development -- In 2019, the Foundation began partnering with colleges and universities that are working to deepen civic education and that recognize the need to provide faculty with their own learning opportunities to ensure that they are equipped to teach in the new civic curriculum. The Foundation is invested in building professional development opportunities for faculty focused on the knowledge and skills they need to give undergraduates a comprehensive civic education. Our partners have offered intensive summer seminars with leading scholars, created stipends for professors to learn to teach texts outside their area of expertise, and are investigating new ways to create faculty learning communities.

Requests from single institutions and multiple institutions partnering together will be considered, following our two-stage process.
1. First, we ask that prospective grantees share brief concept papers. 
2. After review of the concept papers, a limited number of applicants will then be invited to submit full proposals.

We consider concept papers on a rolling basis. The Teagle Board of Directors reviews all grant requests when it meets in February, May, and November. If a proposal is invited, program staff will confer with applicants to determine the appropriate timeline for submitting a full proposal in line for potential review by the board.
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Grants of varying amounts, ranging from $100,000-$400,000 over a 24-36-month period, will be made to each funded project participating in this initiative. Requests from both single institutions and multiple 2 institutions partnering together will be considered. The size of the grant will be based on the scope of the project. Planning grants in the range of $25,000 over 6-12 months will also be considered. 

We expect this grant program will remain open for approximately three to five years.