CO-AUTHORING
TOMORROW
A report reimagining civics as systems of care, aspiration and contribution, connecting young people and communities to co-create a better future for all .
From Silos to Synergy for Civic Thriving | March 2026
Educating young people for democracy has been stuck in a silo.
It’s time to get it unstuck.
Our young people are growing up in a polycrisis. AI disruption, climate change, global tensions, and the fragility of democracy have everyone on edge.
Meanwhile, young people are signaling that they’re not ok: mental health, learning outcomes, and engagement in school are in decline.
Many are seeking solutions, but they do so in silos of expertise and age. We wanted to find patterns of what works.
Six months of research, 50 practitioner interviews, and research sessions with 25 young people across 6 states revealed a surprising convergence:
The solution to all of these challenges is the same: shift learning systems so that they nurture relationships, aspiration, and co-creation. This shift will lead not just to better learning, but to civic thriving.
The Core Insight
Democracy doesn’t trickle down, it bubbles up. From people.
We long believed that a functioning economy plus a bit of civic education could produce the engaged citizens we need for a complex world. But history and science have proven that humans need systems of care that connect them to one another and to a shared vision for the future.
Today, technological and cultural shifts have disrupted the relational infrastructure and civic imagination of our communities.
Young people are calling for our systems to nurture them into the adults they dream of becoming.
Researchers and practitioners across a wide variety of fields are converging on what it takes to do just that.
If we listen and act, we can create the conditions from which democracy bubbles up: a world in which people care about their own dignity and freedom, and about guaranteeing the same for others.
We conducted interviews across sectors, silos and generations to distill insights for this report.
Civic Thriving Report
Introducing the New Civics
Intergenerational | Science-Backed | Collaborative
The new approach to civic renewal begins with adults who genuinely believe the future can be one in which humans flourish, and who realize that every young person has something remarkable to contribute.
It continues by creating spaces to imagine together what that future of flourishing for our community might look like. In these spaces, young people are nurtured as individuals and trusted to matter.
That combination of aspiration and trust lets humans engage in the messy, wonderful work of democracy, and of crafting a civic square.
This form of civic learning and co-creation is, by nature, dynamic. It belongs not just to the fortunate few, but to all.
Tap into the power of convergence and collaboration.
Read this report, interact with it, and see how important it is that we create onramps to agency and thriving for all young people.
Three Lenses
What you will find in the report
The science of learning and development, and the voices of teens themselves say the same thing.
All young people, not just those who fit the mold of a young civic “leader”, have immense potential waiting to be unlocked through relationships and experiences of contribution.
“
We don't need more
perfect students. We need more curious minds
who care, and don't mind caring loudly.
Lens 01
Youth Voice
Lens 02
We must see where we are in this unique moment in time.
We must understand the historical legacies behind the challenges in our systems, while honoring enduring values and seeing immense possibilities. Only then can we help people of all ages to see the role they can play in writing the next chapter of our nation’s history.
“
Democracy depends on
memory and imagination.
History
The systems lens asks “what are the levers to transform learning for all that works for all at scale?”
Metrics measuring the right things
Adult capacity that meets young people where they are
Narrative change that redefines what school is for
Network structures that let collaborative clusters replace isolated heroes
“
No one organization holds any of these levers. It takes collaborative processes and clusters forming together.
Lens 03
Systems
Youth Lens
Young people are the authors of tomorrow!
We believe young people need to be seen today as the adults of tomorrow, and invited them to co-create this report.
In a participatory study across 6 states, young people expressed scepticism about the term civics, but were crystal clear about their ideas on civic life and adulthood.
Authoring Tomorrow:
Youth Insights Report
co-created with youth
by Shereen El Mallah, Ph.D.
Fall 2025 Youth Participants | Authoring Tomorrow
Youth Lens
Anatomy of an adult through the youth lens.
Young people are clear: civics isn’t a body of knowledge, it’s the process of becoming.
They mapped out what their aspirational adult looks like, not based on status or achievements, but on capacities and ways of being in the world.
12 Design Tenets
Three interwoven strands, like strands of DNA, carry the 12 design tenets for learning that enables civic growth.
Learning + Wellbeing
Learning and wellbeing are inseparable and mutually reinforcing. COVID made visible what was always true: kids need to be well to learn, and they need to learn to be well.
Tenets
Identity is the root of belonging
Relationships are the root system for growth
Emotion fuels learning
Creativity unlocks agency
Individual + Community
Individual agency grows through contribution. Communities thrive with genuine participation. The trap of peak narcissism is thinking flourishing is individual — it is not.
Tenets
Deeper learning builds agency
Contribution builds confidence
Learning is local
Collaboration across difference is practice for democracy
Agency and purpose grow together
Past, Present + Future
Identity, belonging, resilience, and agency deepen through history and imagining futures. Civic practice without historical memory is rootless; without imagination it is hopeless.
Tenets
Intergenerational exchange sustains growth
Democracy is a living practice
History is our teacher, the future our inspiration
Systems Lens
There’s a network forming of human-centered actors, collaborating in clusters for systems change.
What Comes Next
From silos to synergy
For Practitioners
See your work in the
12 design tenets
Use the tenets as a mirror. They reflect what's already working in the field, and surface what's missing.
For Philanthropists
Fund systems work,
not just interventions
Invest in network weaving and co-creation. Stop thinking in silos, connect what's working.
For Partners
Engage young people as genuine co-creators
Not token representation, but real co-design from the start. Invest in relationships and collective aspiration.
A Special Thanks
Co-authors,
Collaborators,
and Partners
funders
partners
catalyst