Civic Engagement Mini-Grants
The Spring 2026 cycle has closed. Please check back in December for information about the Fall 2026 cycle.
Mini-grants bring civic and community engagement to campuses nationwide.
This program supports educators at higher education institutions across the nation to connect academic learning to real-world democratic engagement and cultivate students’ civic agency and leadership. These mini-grants create ripple effects that extend far beyond individual classrooms and co-curricular activities, building networks of faculty civic champions. This program emphasizes support for historically underrepresented groups, including those at minority-serving institutions and community colleges, to help ensure all students—regardless of background or institutional resources—develop the skills and confidence to make a positive difference in their community.
Applications Opening Soon!
Project Pericles invites faculty and staff from higher education institutions to apply for $1,000 mini-grants to design innovative pedagogical approaches that develop students’ civic agency and place civic learning at the heart of higher education. Grounded in humanistic inquiry, these grants advance Project Pericles’ mission to reimagine and strengthen democracy by ensuring civic agency and engagement become defining outcomes for every college student.
Projects will:
- Support civic learning through humanities-informed pedagogies
- Build a network of faculty and staff who advocate for civic and community engagement and share expertise
- Increase student confidence in their ability to make a positive difference
There are five mini-grant tracks:
AI for Human Flourishing
This track explores how emerging AI technologies can enhance civic engagement and democratic participation. Projects should demonstrate innovative applications of AI tools to promote civic learning.
Dialogue and Bridging
This track encourages substantive discussion that fosters enriched understanding and deepens relational trust around campus and community challenges. Projects should promote civil discourse across social, moral, political, and religious differences while connecting academic content to real-world, collaborative solutions. Applicants are invited to draw upon Project Pericles’ Deliberative Dialogue Discussion module for inspiration and resources.
Fostering Constructive Free Speech
This track supports the creation of experiences, tools, frameworks, and spaces that promote shared purpose and common humanity across different viewpoints. Applicants are encouraged to draw upon the liberal arts’ core mission of truth seeking, critical thinking, expansive inquiry by scholars and students, and respect for the rights of individuals to engage in free speech without having to respect the ideas being articulated.
Voting Rights and Democratic Participation
This track supports education about voter engagement, voting rights history, and strategies to overcome contemporary challenges to civic participation. Projects can connect historical understanding with present-day democratic engagement opportunities. Applicants are invited to draw upon Project Pericles’ Voter Activation Modules for inspiration and resources.
Beyond Media Literacy: Navigating Information Ecosystems
This track addresses polarized information environments by helping students develop sophisticated media analysis skills and cross-ideological engagement capabilities. Projects should move beyond basic media literacy to address systemic information challenges.
By the conclusion of the program, Fellows will:
- Document Impact: Share assessment data collected throughout the course, as well as submit any tangible outputs, initial teaching, learning, or research findings, or related materials developed through grant-funded activities.
- Share a Story or Reflection Piece: Submit a 300-500 word piece reflecting on the impact of this grant on their students that Project Pericles may use to uplift in communications.
- Participate in Periclean Virtual Convenings: Join online professional development sessions with fellow grantees on topics like combating misinformation, exploring AI, and facilitating classroom dialogue.
Application and Eligibility
The Spring 2026 cycle has closed. Please check back in December for information about the Fall 2026 cycle.
AI use is permitted for structure and wording assistance, but the majority of your application must be original work. Brief clarification calls with finalists may be requested. Projects may have a student lead but must be co-signed and submitted by faculty, staff, or administrators.
Faculty and staff from all higher education institutions in the U.S. are eligible to apply. Project Pericles will accept multiple applications from the same institution.
Prospective applicants working with historically underrepresented groups, MSIs, community colleges, and Pericleans are strongly encouraged to apply. Courses/projects should target undergraduate students. Previous fellows are eligible to apply again.
More Information
Award Use and Distribution
Project Pericles strongly encourages funding to go towards direct programmatic costs to the extent possible (as opposed to administrative costs).
The $1,000 will be addressed to the college/university after evaluation materials from the fellow are received.
Please contact Arielle del Rosario, Associate Director of Project Pericles (arielle@projectpericles.org) for more information.
Selection Criteria
Applications will be reviewed based on the following criteria:
- Academic or co-curricular rigor
- Relevance to current public, civic, and social issues
- Creativity and innovation
- Potential for sustained impact beyond the conclusion of the grant period
- Feasibility of logistics and accomplishing expected outcomes
- Extent to which funding will make an impactful difference for the project
- If funding is for faculty honoraria, how the project necessitates additional compensation for the activities proposed
- Replicability across other classrooms/campuses
- Connection with or support for historically underserved groups
- Humanities Orientation: Projects should incorporate humanistic inquiry methods such as critical interpretation, contextual analysis, ethical reasoning, and cultural critique.
- While explicit disciplinary affiliation with arts and humanities is not required, successful projects will demonstrate how humanities methodologies—including historical analysis, philosophical inquiry, or ethnographic observation—enhance students’ civic learning and democratic engagement.
Reflection and Evaluation
Grant Report due Monday, December 15 for Fall 2025 grants: As a reminder, for those completing your course/project this semester (Fall 2025), we are asking you to please complete your evaluations by December 15. We are streamlining our evaluation process and what we request of grantees, and shifting our focus to a narrative-based evaluation.
Note: You will need to input your assigned Mini-Grant ID, which you can find on this list.
