News & Events

WELCOME TO DAY TWO of The Civic Challenge! This week, we are inviting you to support our urgent mission to empower youth civic engagement through the arts. We’re also inviting you to weigh in on why the seven “steps to democracy” at the core of our program matter to you. Today, we invite your reflections on how to sift truth from fiction (Learn!), an increasingly challenging task for students as reliable news sources compete with conspiracy theories on

TODAY, WE INVITE YOU to help up promote democracy and student success! Day one of this challenge will focus on the first “step to democracy” in our program: Civility, respect and peaceful conflict resolution (Listen!). This challenge is twofold. First, we invite you to support our program so we can continue helping students learn tolerance and civility through activities like listening games, conflict resolution scenarios, and teaching artist residencies that explore nonviolence, bullying prevention and peace. Second, we challenge

AT THE CIVIC CIRCLE, we combine two powerful forces in the lives of youth: democracy and the arts. Starting this Monday, May 12, we are launching a campaign that will invite you to stand up for democracy by supporting our work, and by sharing your commitment to the civic principles at the heart of our program. The arts and democracy are inextricably intertwined. The freedoms we enjoy in our democratic society give artists the space to

Interfaith Works visits Civic Circle students in Wheaton DEMOCRACY, HISTORY AND THE ARTS may be in retreat at the federal level, but in Civic Circle workshops they are going strong. At Arcola Elementary School and the Pembridge Square Apartments, students are doing service-learning activities centered on food and its role in our community. They’ve created community cookbooks to celebrate their cultures of heritage, and shared environmental messages about food waste through mini-magazines called “Zines.” They have also explored food

WHEN THE NATION’S FOUNDERS rejected tyranny to form a new kind of government ruled by the people, they saw public education as essential to democracy’s survival. Thomas Jefferson specifically warned of the “tyranny” that could follow if “the people at large” were not educated at the common expense. As we celebrate Civic Learning Week through March 14, the original purpose of public education in America—to prepare citizens for self-governance—could not be more relevant. The Civic Circle kicked off