Rajiv Vinnakota, president of the WW National Fellowship Foundation in Princeton, NJ, partnered with Bellwether Education Partners to lead a project examining civic education in the United States. Over the course of 2019, he interviewed more than 100 practitioners, researchers, policymakers, funders and public intellectuals in the broader civic learning and preparation space which is documented in the white paper, From Civic Education to a Civic Learning Ecosystem. The work resulted in significant momentum to engage in cross-partisan field building activities and led to the identification of four major work areas. A March convening to develop the goals and next steps was delayed until the fall. In this window of time, Raj facilitated the creation of a highly skilled and diverse Task Force and set the groundwork for the Civic Spring Project. A team from WW will be administrating the work in conjunction with a tremendous group of volunteers.

This spring, a task force of 40 people from the civic space came together to determine how to help young people use civic activities as a catalyst for responding to COVID-19 in their communities this summer.

The Civic Spring Project issued a call for proposals for youth civic engagement initiatives designed to be civic-minded, youth-oriented, nonpartisan, nimble, measurement-minded, and generative.

Out of 1,100 eligibility inquiries and 144 applications, 6 grantees were selected.