German Marshall Fund gives CivicLex a shout out
Big thanks to the German Marshall Fund of the United States' Steven Boscaker for giving our work at CivicLex a shout-out in his article on strengthening local democracy! Also a shout-out in the same section for Katja Greeson, whom I got to meet this summer in Berlin through my Marshall Memorial Fellowship!
From the article:
The United States is abysmal in its investment in civic education, especially compared to the democracies of Europe. Germany, for example, spends nearly 100 times more on civic education than the United States per year. According to Katja Greeson, a fellow at the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, “Germany’s valuing of civic education is exemplified by the existence of the Federal Agency for Civic Education … [which] is responsible for promoting awareness of democracy and participation in politics through informational publications, training for teachers and practitioners, educational materials, school competitions, and research.” Where national governments fail or falter in this regard, local communities should step in to do what they can to compensate.
One organization in Lexington, Kentucky–CivicLex–does just that. Working alongside residents and organizations of every shape and color, CivicLex equips residents with the tools and knowledge they need to be active and involved participants, works with institutions on co-creation capacity, and makes tangible and useful connections between those with and without political power. Ultimately, their plain-language goal for Lexington is broad “civic health.”