CITIZEN UNIVERSITY

We envision a great civic revival across our nation — our dream is a country in which Americans are steeped in a sense of civic character, educated in the tools of civic power, and are problem-solving contributors in a self-governing community.

We spread the belief that a strong democracy depends on strong citizens — that we all have the power to make change in civic life and the responsibility to try. We design gatherings, rituals, and workshops that focus on civic power and civic character as the building blocks of powerful citizenship. We then train and activate civic catalysts nationwide— people just like you — to bring the beliefs and practices of powerful, responsible citizenship to their communities.

Civic Saturday is a civic analogue to a faith gathering. it gathers friends and strangers together to nurture a spirit of shared purpose. At the gathering we connect around the values and practices of being an active citizen, reckon with and reflect on our nation's creed, and build relationships that create new civic traditions that are joyful and communal.

Civic Saturday Fellowship is a nine-month program that begins with Civic Seminary, a three-day training in Seattle that fellows attend with a cohort of other motivated community leaders from around the country. In the following months, fellows will plan and hold three Civic Saturdays in their community. Fellows have spread Civic Saturday gatherings to every corner of the US, bringing a deeper sense of civic spirit to their communities.

Youth Collaboratory is a year-long program to empower and connect a rising generation of civic leaders and doers. 24 highly-motivated students from around the country will join Citizen University and travel to cities around the nation, meeting leading civic innovators, sharpening their literacy in citizen power and producing their own independent projects in their communities.

In the Citizen Redefined program, high school students will engage in self-reflection, reckon with moral tensions in American history, make sense of the current state of our democracy, and develop the skills, confidence, and conviction to live as responsible citizens. A culminating Civic Confirmation rite-of-passage ceremony marks their movement into civic adulthood.

Civic Collaboratory is a national network of catalytic leaders from across the political spectrum and many domains--immigrant rights, veterans advocacy, civics education, voting reform, tech in government, arts and culture, worker organizing, corporate citizenship, and more. We meet quarterly and provide a common platform and project incubator for this diverse community of civic innovators.