Our Offerings

Civic Engagement Projects

A practical framework that moves students from storytelling to community-led action and impact.

Students writing on a poster that is spread out on the grass outside.

Students and teachers speaking at a conference.

How Civic Engagement Projects Work

Built on our Civic Engagement Framework, this program includes a sequenced set of lesson plans that guide participants from connection to action. Each phase builds on the last to help students design and lead a meaningful civic engagement project.

Connection
Students build trust and shared purpose through storytelling, including a Story Exchange that grounds the work in lived experience.
Reflection
Students reflect on what they heard, identify shared values, and begin connecting stories to issues that matter
in their community.
Exploration
Participants investigate root causes, gather data, and deepen their understanding of the problem they
want to address.
Co-Creation
Students collaborate to design a civic engagement project—setting goals, shaping solutions, and pitching
ideas together.
Activation
Students turn plans into action by building and implementing a civic engagement proposal that creates real community impact.

A young student holding up an object made of multiple clear plastic bottles taped or otherwise fastened together with two other students in the background.

Two people wearing blue sweaters fist-bumping.

I have seen first-hand the effect of pollution on our creeks. It doesn’t have to be this way, though. All it’s going to take is a little effort from our community.

Jace Martin
Student, Floyd Central High School

A Global Model
for Local Change

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A top-down view of a group of people gathered around a table with art supplies.

Bronx, NY

Designing for Humanity

This project aims to improve the quality of life of children who are missing an upper limb by designing and building personalized prostheses.
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Learn More About The Project

Joe Slovo Township, SA

N4’s Community Center

Community leaders created a shared space for storytelling, education, and problem-solving in a critically underserved community in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.

Learn More About The Project

Eastern Kentucky