The Civic Story Lab is a new initiative designed to empower undergraduate students to document and participate in civic transformation through hands-on engagement and storytelling. Fellows will collaborate with faculty mentors and community partners, receiving stipends and training to support both civic action projects and the creation of original media outputs—such as podcasts, photo essays, and zines—that showcase their grassroots changemaking.
By combining hands-on learning with storytelling, the Civic Story Lab seeks to cultivate a new generation of civic leaders and public storytellers. Student Fellows will have the opportunity to strengthen their civic agency, build sustainable community partnerships, and amplify new narratives of democratic engagement. Fellows’ work will be amplified through campus and/or community exhibitions, partnerships with local media outlets and institutional communications offices, and a national virtual convening hosted by Project Pericles.
This project addresses the critical issue of housing affordability in Meadville, where over half of households are cost-burdened. Through a partnership between Allegheny College and the newly formed organization Common Roots, the initiative aims to support and publicize Common Roots’ Self-Help Program, which empowers low-income families to achieve homeownership through sweat equity. Allegheny students and faculty will collaborate with Common Roots to create media content—such as videos, social media posts, and radio ads—highlighting the determination and agency of program participants, while also countering negative stereotypes about lower-income residents.
This project, in partnership with ACLAMO, the leading nonprofit serving Norristown’s Hispanic community, aims to deepen democratic engagement among Hispanic youth and Ursinus students in the context of increased immigration enforcement. Building on a longstanding collaboration, three Ursinus Civic Story Lab Fellows will work with ACLAMO’s ADELANTE program to co-develop and facilitate 10 workshops focused on youth civic leadership, supported by coursework in “IDS-099: Topics in Diversity.” The project will document youth and Fellow experiences through a multilingual interactive blog, podcasts, participatory art, and short-form videos, prioritizing participant privacy and multilingual expression.
The Civic Story Lab Fellowship at Hampshire College will support five student fellows in a semester-long community storytelling project in partnership with the Belchertown Nipmuc Farm Conservation Alliance (BNFCA) and the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band. The project centers on amplifying Indigenous-led efforts to return Lampson Brook Farm to Nipmuc stewardship, with students documenting oral histories, producing multimedia stories, and supporting outreach and education initiatives shaped by BNFCA priorities.
This project, a collaboration between Skidmore College’s MDOCS Co-Creation Initiative and the Parole Preparation Project (PPP), centers on the Archive-Based Creative Arts (ABCA) program, which provides remote creative arts and writing workshops for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals in New York State. The partnership has led to the development of a new course, “Libraries, Prisons, and the Humanizing Power of Information” (LI251), where students engage in archival research, media production, and collaborative storytelling to document and challenge prevailing narratives about the 2025 NY State correction officer strike, emphasizing the perspectives of those behind bars.
This proposal supports three student fellows in partnership with Lake Street Council, Rondo Center of Diverse Expression, and Hallie Q. Brown Community Center to develop multimedia storytelling projects that bridge historical and contemporary narratives in the Twin Cities. Each student will collaborate with a community partner to create digital outputs—such as StoryMaps, oral history videos, and artist features—that preserve and amplify local stories, particularly those from historically marginalized communities.
This project partners Pace University’s Politics & Media course with Hell Gate, a worker-owned NYC news outlet, to engage students in original reporting on civic issues and City Council hearings, particularly those relevant to young people. Under Dr. Laura Tamman’s mentorship, students will work in groups to cover public hearings, produce news stories, op-eds, videos, and social media content, and contribute to local journalism, amplifying their work through university and partner channels. Three experienced student fellows will provide peer mentorship and help organize a Congressional District 10 candidate forum, which students will report on in multiple formats. The program includes workshops with professional journalists, collaboration with the university’s public affairs office, and a focus on building long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with community partners.
This project, a partnership between Bethune-Cookman University and Equal Ground Education Fund, engages students from POL 353: Women in Politics as Civic Story Lab Fellows to document and elevate the civic impact of women and faith leaders in Florida. Through direct participation in Equal Ground’s advocacy initiatives—most notably Clergy Day at the Capitol—students will conduct interviews, produce digital media, and create research-based narratives that support Equal Ground’s mission of voter education and leadership development in underrepresented communities.
