About Us

About Us

What is 21st century citizenship, and why is an institute dedicated to it neccesary?

READ MORE
Sign Up

Sign Up

Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest, most innovative, impactful research, writings, projects, technologies (and more) supporting the movement!

READ MORE
Four On The Floor

Four On The Floor

In partnership with the National Association of State Boards Of Education, we've announced the first four Civic Engagement Champions, middle school teachers going the extra mile to prepare their students to play an active role in our democracy...

READ MORE
Test Of The Times

Test Of The Times

The subject that originated public education has the highest stakes of all, and states like MA and IL are illuminating the path back to the future, aided by a plethora of new 21st century resources...

READ MORE
Newsletter: Democracy

Newsletter: Democracy

“It’s a republic, not a democracy” say the defenders of minority rule. For the founders, and Noah Webster after them, there wasn’t remotely as much daylight between the two as seems to have opened up since...

READ MORE
Aleita Cook

Aleita Cook

A 17-year old takes on the federal government over a rebuilding essential for our democracy--universal K-12 civic education...

READ MORE
/ 6 / 6

Sign up for our newsletter to access the latest research, ideas, projects, technologies (and more) aligned with the 21st century citizenship movement!

A country riven by divisions showed a surprising degree of convergence in the most recent election, but with the end result literally no more "decisive" than a 23-22 football game, it's clear we're a long way from a mandate to move forward as a nation...

One definition of a bridge is a structure that provides a path over an obstacle.  Another is a means for bringing people together.   In these divisive times, there is a need for bridge builders--not barrier creators...

Our Founders were willing to give their lives for the pursuit of happiness, yet for the first time, this year the U.S. did not rank in the top 20 happiest countries.  But it should be noted: the happiness report was published in March...

The Founders feared them, and record numbers of Americans have declared independence from them.  In a country as large and diverse as ours, they've been a source of both unity and division, and our future and theirs seem as deeply intertwined as ever...

In 30+ years Gallup has asked Americans if they want government to do more, or less, have they said more. Yet in the case of the virtually all the issues we care most about, majorities of us want government's role to be expanded...

Years after Simon's "Mrs Robinson" became a hit, DiMaggio wanted to know what was meant by the lyric that referred to him. "I haven't gone anywhere; I'm right here." Simon explained that he just meant that heroes are hard to find  But heroes are everywhere--...

Eight score ago Abraham Lincoln wondered if a nation created out of an idea "could long endure." Can there be any doubt the welcoming and gathering together of those from all over the world who believe in that idea has been the most durable answer...

Geography is the science of place and America is a very big place.  Not surprisingly, in times of division, geography is often at the root of the divide, while the ways in which humanity rises above it to form common ground is our wellspring of hope...

Unity and union share the same root, but while appeals for unity are, too often, calls by "powers that be" to fall in line, unions are typically the product of contention. And yet, in the long run, more vital to unity than establishment appeals...

In the depths of the Great Recession, the Obama administration found itself looking for any signs of life in the economy, which they called "green shoots." Small businesses and startups are the crocuses of economic recovery, but today it's not only the economy that's looking...

If there's anything we should have learned from the past three-plus decades, it's the importance of character in our leaders. Now that nothing appears to be disqualifying, it's up to we, the people, to rebuild our national values...

Our democracy would be hard for any of the Founders to recognize, especially Thomas Jefferson, who believed the only "safe repository" for "ultimate power" was--and is--we, the people, a conviction rooted in his fierce faith in the power of education...

So many of our current disputes between left and right ultimately come down to differing definitions of just one word: freedom. Which is not surprising because, with apologies to Kris Kristofferson, it means *everything* to lose...

Fall is the time when high school and college graduates return to their almae matres and come together to share what they've learned and hope for. The recent elections felt something like a homecoming on the political and existential front: are they?...

Mental health has always been a problem for a segment of Americans.  The pandemic, political polarization, and now inflation have increased the size of that segment substantially, turning what Freud called the "oceanic experience" of oneness into relentless waves of PTSD...

As the Founders created their new form of government, they quickly realized the need for checks on its power, from which emerged, most sweepingly, the 1st Amendment. But as our democracy comes under fire, the role of the media as defender has been subject to...

Many of our earliest flags and symbols were arboreal for good reason; like a tree, our democracy has sheltered us from the elements and spread wide to embrace all denizens, but some today fail to understand the common imperative of trees and democracy, seeing the...

We've been told repeatedly in recent years that we're living in an increasingly Orwellian Brave New World, which might be true if Orwell and Huxley had been dropping acid as they wrote.  Fiction is becoming stranger than truth--and being perceived as true in the eyes...

As the conflict in Ukraine continues to evolve, it increasingly 'spits bars' from our own history and experience. Cumulatively, its inflections and outcomes may represent turning points in democracy's struggle against authoritarianism, both domestically and around the world...

With Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, an entire era reached forward from the past to prove Faulkner right and push us all backwards and off-balance. Do we still have the collective resolve to move this nation and the world forward?...

As we reach the end of another tumultuous year, it's clearly time for taking stock in advance of even more critical times ahead.  Nothing better indicates the urgency of doing so than this recent poll result: 71% of Republicans believe our democracy is under major threat....

At a time when mistrust is at its highest levels since the Civil War, we have to work together like we haven't since World War II.  New understandings and new forms of engagement are going to be necessary in all sectors...

Out of the tumult of 2019 have emerged many inspiring stories and ideas, which we celebrate with our second annual "best of" edition, recognizing both the posts and stories you, our community, liked best (based on your clicks) and those that were our favorites....

Since his election, the current President and his administration have fractured American democracy and divided its citizenry, most painfully and personally along generational lines. The steps that citizens of all stripes and ages are already engaged in to insure an unbroken arc of progress in...

"It's a republic, not a democracy" say the defenders of minority rule, sliding into authoritarianism. For the founders, and Noah Webster after them, there wasn't remotely as much daylight between the two as seems to have opened up since.  There are serious questions now about what our democracy...

It was an American, General Douglas MacArthur, who coined the phrase “rules are made to be broken.” Rule breaking and rule rewriting have been American traditions since the founding of the nation. But the tension over what rules to change and how to change them...

Issues of opportunity, the common good, and government’s role in promoting each have been fundamental since the founding of the Republic. How they are addressed and who benefits has not always been simple or straightforward, a dynamic that continues to the present day...

The Greek root for "-topia" is "topos," which just means "place," as in "topography." As we map the future, whether technology will produce a utopia, a dystopia, or just what a techtopia is generically--a technology place, a world of tech--is very much in human hands...

It's customary for many publications to wrap up the year with "best of" lists of one kind or another. For each of our standard categories, we present the articles that you liked the best--people's choice--followed by our "editor's choice...

The November elections were like rains in California fire country, or calm blue skies in Florida after a monster tropical depression. When we survive a brush with death in a natural disaster, our task turns to assessing the damage: what's broken, what can be...

People are saying' we can't tax (or spend) our way out of the challenges ahead of us. They're right. To take on problems that seem so much bigger than we are, we can't just eat the pie, we have to make it bigger. We explore...

Announcing the Frank Islam Institute for 21st Century Citizenship, created to address an increasing civic engagement deficit and enhance the concept of citizenship for the challenges and opportunities of our times...