THE INSTITUTE FOR CITIZENS & SCHOLARS

If we are to find a peaceful path forward for our republic, we need a critical mass of effective citizens who are civically well-informed, productively engaged for the common good, and hopeful about the future of democracy.

Citizens & Scholars leverages our 75 years of unrivaled expertise and the ideologically diverse practitioners, business leaders, policy influencers, funders, and 27,000 world-leading Fellows in our network to tackle this challenge on a massive scale.

We approach this challenge through portfolios of work that drive youth civic development outcomes inside and outside the classroom, at the workplace, and within the community. We also invest in tools, research, policies, practices, and networks that scale the collective impact across the field of civic learning.

Each portfolio achieves specific outcomes through a mix of fellowship programs that select and invest in the country’s most promising talent, initiatives that connect and convene networks of unlikely allies, and investments in new ventures and tools that will spark democracy change on a massive scale.

Our overarching goal is that within 15 years a critical mass of Americans will be civically well-informed, productively engaged for the common good, and hopeful about democracy.

Developing youth as effective, lifelong citizens is a journey from adolescence through early adulthood and must reach beyond the walls of a classroom. Citizens & Scholars leverages our 75 years of unrivaled expertise and the ideologically diverse practitioners, business leaders, policy influencers, funders, and 27,000 world-leading Fellows in our network to tackle this challenge on a massive scale.

We approach this challenge through portfolios of work that drive youth civic development outcomes inside and outside the classroom, at the workplace, and within the community. We also invest in tools, research, policies, practices, and networks that scale the collective impact across the field of civic learning.

Each portfolio achieves specific outcomes through a mix of fellowship programs that select and invest in the country’s most promising talent, initiatives that connect and convene networks of unlikely allies, and investments in new ventures and tools that will spark democracy change on a massive scale.

Our current portfolios are Youth Civic Development, Higher Education & Campus Life, and Community & Workplace Civic Engagement. The Youth Civic Development portfolio tackles the severe underinvestment in civic learning by developing tools, networks, and direct services for millions of adolescents in America to build fundamental civic knowledge, skills, and attitudes. The Higher Education & Campus Life portfolio ensures young people seek information and ideas from a variety of sources and perspectives by supporting diverse scholars and higher education leaders who are making their fields and campuses more engaged and inclusive. The Community & Workplace Civic Engagement portfolio partners with business leaders and policymakers to implement practices and policies that strengthen youth civic participation at the workplace and within communities.

The Citizens & Scholars team brings experiences from Main Street to Wall Street and across the public, private, and philanthropic sectors. With support from our board of directors, a large network of ideologically diverse partners, and our community of 27,000 Fellows, we're developing an effective citizenry that strengthens democracy—together.

Citizens & Scholars has made tremendous progress toward our goals of developing an effective citizenry. Examples of recent programs we have designed, launched, or participated in across our three portfolios include:

Youth Civic Development Portfolio:

• The Civic Network, a new digital portal with self-directed learning experiences from leading civic learning
content providers to develop American middle and high school-age learners into engaged, responsible
citizens.

The Higher Education & Campus Life Portfolio:

• Leadership for Civic Preparedness in Higher Education, is a series of projects and events with a range of
leaders in higher education, diverse in institutional type and ideology, who believe that civic preparedness for
the next generation is crucial to their work.

• Higher Ed Media Fellowship, supports early- to mid-career journalists to provide richer and more
comprehensive media coverage on the most pressing stories in postsecondary education.

• Higher Ed Policy Fellowship, a trust-based collaboration between top-level education leaders and
policymakers to create thoughtful change in higher education.

• Mellon Fellowships, work to reduce barriers to higher education and increase the presence of faculty
members committed to eradicating racial disparities in the arts and humanities.

• Women’s Studies Fellowship, a doctoral dissertation fellowship to support humanities and social science
research that addresses topics of women and gender in interdisciplinary and original ways.

The Community & Workplace Civic Engagement Portfolio

• Civic Spring Fellowship supports young people age 15-24 or members of youth-centered organizations who
are working on projects that address a local community need.

• Brewer Fellowship to Unite America, supports cross-partisan leaders in the democracy reform movement
building a more effective and transparent political system that functions for all Americans.

• Citizens & Scholars President Raj Vinnakota co-chairs the Civics & Civic Engagement Advisory Council of
America250, a congressional commission that encourages Americans to remember our past, celebrate the
present, and look forward to a promising future.