Case Studies
We are weavers who know that this wisdom is being cultivated, deepened and practiced across fields and silos.
In the lead up to a small convening we held in July 2025, called From Silos to Synergy: Reimagining Civic Learning for Thriving, we aimed to collect an array of insights and perspectives.
Jenny Anderson, co-author of The Disengaged Teen, conducted more than three dozen interviews to understand the work people were doing in education, mental health, civics, history, measurement, technology and AI to help us better understand the component pieces of civic thriving.
We asked about the challenges they faced and the wisdom they had accumulated. Those interviews, plus our time at Lone Rock, led to the creation of the 12 tenets.
We were lucky to hear from so many people doing important work in each of these spaces.
We picked 12 case studies which we felt helped to illuminate the tenets. As you read them, you see that they carry the threads and themes illuminated throughout the report:
Learning and wellbeing are inseparable
Individual and community thriving are mutually reinforcing
Democracy is a living system that depends on the flourishing of the humans within it
We could have created a library of hundreds of such case studies. These are not isolated stories, but signals of a movement.
Learning Is Local
Beverly Leon, Local Civics
When Beverley Leon launched Local Civics, she started with a simple question: "How do we lower the barriers for young people to engage in their communities?" But she quickly discovered a harder problem: proving that civic engagement counts as real learning…
From Mentorship to Mutuality: The New Intergenerational Compact
Janet Oh, CoGenerate.org
When Civic Ventures (which became Encore and then CoGenerate) launched Experience Corps, recruiting retirees to mentor and tutor students in public schools, the premise was straightforward: older generations serving younger ones, bringing time, talent, and experience to classrooms. It was generosity in action, but one-directional. Over time, something shifted…
Collaboration Is Practice for Democracy
Caroline Klibanoff, Made By Us
In 2016-2017, museum directors recognized converging crises: American democracy seemed fragile, civic education was failing, and museums couldn't get young adults through their doors…
Democracy Requires Ongoing Renewal
David Bobb and Rachel Humphries, Bill of Rights Institute
David Bobb argues that the path to democratic renewal runs straight through civil discourse: habits of mind and practice that citizens use between elections…
History Is Our Teacher; the Future Our Responsibility
Zachary Cote, Thinking Nation
Zach Cote saw that even when districts successfully reoriented historical narratives to be more inclusive—helping students “see themselves in the past”…
Deeper Learning Builds Agency
Aylon Samouha, Transcend
To build dignity, you have to feel you have contributions to offer (or a gift to give, to borrow the words of Daniel Yudkin from the Beacon Project). This is where powerful learning experiences become essential…
Contribution Builds Confidence
Armando Banchs, Big Thought, Dallas
Democracy thrives when young people can contribute in ways that are real, public, and consequential. Contribution isn’t extra credit; it’s the practice ground for pluralism, responsibility, and trust…
Relationships Are the Infrastructure for Growth
Susan Rivers, History Co:Lab / iThrive Games
This is relationship as infrastructure. Not warm fuzzies, but intentional, nurturing connection that creates conditions for teens’ development and growth, for their learning and civic engagement…
Identity Is the Root of Belonging
Idris Brewster, Kinfolk Tech
In 2018, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio floated the idea of removing the Christopher Columbus statue at Columbus Circle. Activists, including Idris Brewster, pushed to reimagine what could stand there instead…
Emotion Fuels Learning
Ron Dahl, Center of the Developing Adolescent
The brain systems that process emotions are inseparable from those that handle thinking and learning. When we feel something matters emotionally, our brains literally tag that information as important. Without emotional significance, it is harder for learning to stick…
Creativity Unlocks Agency
Kara May, Art in Motion
Too many schools treat arts as optional. Students, especially marginalized students, lose access to a pathway that can teach them who they are before telling them what to do. But that creativity is power…