We are excited to share an important update about our work at Civic Mission Schools Network (CMSN)!

Thanks to generous support from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation (formerly Carnegie Corporation of New York), we’re extending the highly successful Illinois Democracy School model into Wisconsin and Indiana, while expanding the network to include middle schools in addition to high schools. With this award, we will also bring a renewed focus on elevating youth voice in how civic learning is designed in each of our network schools.

Making Civics Happen Anytime, Everywhere in Schools. 

We’re building on the incubation created with Bezos Family Foundation’s support and steadfast support from the Brinson Foundation in Chicago. Operating at Chicago-Kent College of Law in Illinois Institute of Technology through the Constitutional Democracy Project (CDP), we are now a “network of networks” in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana—schools that put civic learning and civic practice at the very center of their mission. We’re eager to expand the network into more states and schools, implementing a proven model to support students as they engage in a constitutional democracy, disagree respectfully, and move forward to improve their communities while reducing political polarization.

Currently, CMSN has a network of 90 schools and serves over 120,000 students. CMSN has reached more than 30,000 educators and administrators through its professional learning efforts. With the Andrew Carnegie Foundation partnership, CMSN aims to reach tens of thousands of additional students in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin and induct more than 80 new schools into the network over the next two years, reaching an estimated 73,000 additional students.