Civics Academy

Registration for Cohort One is open now. Fill out the interest form to get started, and we will be in touch.

Interest Form

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2026 Cohort Dates:

• Cohort One: August 24-October 19
• Cohort Two: October 12-December 14

Cohort Two runs 9 weeks to account for Thanksgiving.

The Problem: Our economic and political systems are intricately linked, and the prosperity of business depends on a stable, predictable political environment. A widening gap between Americans perceived and actual civic knowledge threatens informed participation in our democracy and undermines community cohesion. While 58% of adults fail a basic civics test, and 86% fail a basic economics test, almost three quarters remain confident they could explain how the U.S. government works to someone from another country.

The consequences extend beyond test scores, with 84% of Americans saying the nation is politically divided, and nearly half reporting these divisions are impacting their daily lives. At the same time, it’s clear that Americans with higher civic and economic literacy feel more capable of managing political disagreements—83% of those with high civic literacy and 85% with high economic literacy report being prepared to do so.

The Role of Business: Americans view the workplace and local businesses as integral parts of their communities. They express remarkable trust in business – 92% view small businesses favorably, and 79% believe business plays an important role in sustaining democracy. This positions employers as critical partners in rebuilding civic confidence and national unity.  By prioritizing civics education, employers can foster greater civility, reduce polarization, and deepen engagement with the American way of life.

Our solution – Civics Academy – is a free 8-week program that includes a self-paced online course and multiple experiential learning opportunities. Through Civics Academy, employers can take meaningful steps to increase civics knowledge and skills among employees, cultivating a stronger civic culture and a more supportive, collaborative, and productive workforce. Employees hone crucial life skills that translate to the modern workplace, such as problem solving, active listening, collaboration, teamwork, critical thinking, and working with people from different backgrounds and ideologies. Informed and active citizens make for strong communities, a strong economy, and a strong workforce. Prioritizing nonpartisan civics education and skill development is a way for employers to strengthen the infrastructure of American democracy at the local level, while investing in the future of their workforce.

The online course reintroduces employees to the basics of civics, empowering them to learn more about how our government works and how they can meaningfully participate in civic life. Each module pairs a relevant civics topic with a complementary workplace skill, providing employees with an opportunity to understand the important relationship between their civic and workplace identities. When employees enroll in Civics Academy, they gain access to an educational program that explores six topical modules in civics:

• Foundations of Federalism: How Power is Shared in the United States
• Government in Action: Branches, Power, and Public Debate
• Citizenship: Rights, Responsibilities, and Participation
• Civic Engagement: Taking Action in Your Community
• Civil Discourse: Communicating Across Differences
• Navigating Your Local Civic Landscape

Employees can navigate these six modules at their own pace, giving them flexibility to develop their civics knowledge, skills, and disposition in a way that fits into their daily lives. This course is designed to ensure that all employees can meaningfully engage with the subject matter, regardless of their previous experience or initial knowledge level.

Civics Academy participants can earn digital badges to reflect their mastery of civics and 21^st century workplace skills. Digital badges also allow for detailed metadata to be included about the skills and competencies the earner has developed. Badges can be downloaded, shared on social media and via email, and are easily verified.

Civic Day of Action

Civic Day of Action is an optional opportunity for employees to practice the skills they learned via the Civics Academy online course in their communities. Through in-person volunteer projects, employees spend part of- or a full day taking action that directly improves their communities, showcasing the learning benefits of turning information into action.

Participants are directed to matching platforms to help them find local volunteer opportunities that align with their skills and interests.

Civics Academy Championship

The Civics Academy Championship is an optional experiential learning component of the Civics Academy. It is an online or in-person competition where employees compete in online or in-person trivia to determine who at the company has the most knowledge about civics, citizenship, U.S. government, etc.  The Championship is a team-oriented, positive company culture activity that will bring employees together to celebrate their hard work and foster some friendly competition.

This initiative is based on The Civic Trust’s National Civics Bee, a national competition where middle schoolers showcase their civics knowledge while competing for a chance to win monetary prizes. The Championship offers a few options for trivia themes including – General Civics, Constitution, and “Are You Smarter Than a Middle Schooler” which utilizes quiz questions from the National Civics Bee.

Read the Pilot Summary Report