Near the end of 2018 a group of foundations, led by the Hewlett Foundation and including the Koch Foundation, launched a project to study the current state of civic education in America. Concerned about the state of civic knowledge and political practice in our country, these foundations wanted to invest more in civic education, but were unsure which investments would have the greatest impact. They felt they needed a deeper understanding of the rapidly evolving civic education landscape in America. They charged nonprofit leader Rajiv Vinnakota with the task of researching how and what young people are learning about our country’s history, political institutions, civil society and civic practice. The Civic Education Funders Workshop help in Washington, D.C. on September 24-25, 2019 and this white paper are the first products of this year-long study.

This project was not intended to produce specific funding recommendations. Instead, the goal was to provide the kind of comprehensive overview of the civic education space to understand how the work of funders, policymakers, educators, researchers, and nonprofit organizations comes together and interacts to produce our current system of civic education. The sheer number of people involved in this work from so many perspectives and at so many levels makes it difficult to mark the boundaries of a “field of civic education.” Thus, one of the most important tasks of this project has been to capture the range of work being done and to build a framework for understanding how all this work contributes to a shared larger goal.

Read the white paper below.