Our Programs
This is how we bring community-engaged civic learning to life.
Through strategic grantmaking and cross-campus collaborations, we build capacity for and sustain innovative learning experiences that help students develop civic skills, gain the confidence to tackle shared societal challenges, and cultivate the desire to reimagine democracy.
Periclean Faculty Grants
Civic Engagement Mini-Grants
Civic Story Lab Fellowship
A History of Our Work
Project Pericles builds on more than 20 years of experience driving civic engagement in higher education. Rooted in the distinctive strengths of liberal arts and teaching-centered institutions, our close faculty-student relationships and trusted, long-term campus partnerships ensure our programs create deep curricular and institutional transformations. Today, we draw on this history and expertise with an added focus on scale and replicability across all kinds of colleges and universities.
Creating Cohesive Paths to Civic Engagement
This project reconceptualized how civic engagement was organized and integrated across our member campuses. Through a collaborative process of taking inventory and mapping existing courses and co-curricular activities that incorporate civic engagement, institutions were able to create a comprehensive picture of and reflect on the “state of CESR” at their institutions and discover best practices to share with others. This initiative not only captured the depth and breadth of civic learning on our campuses but also served as a catalyst for deeper institutional conversations about strategic planning and program enhancement. This project’s findings, aided by resulting mini-grants, successfully supported faculty and staff in developing more cohesive and integrated civic engagement programs. By documenting and sharing best practices, we empowered campuses to strengthen existing programs, create new courses to fill curricular gaps, and develop clear pathways for students to deepen their civic learning.
Creating Curricular Coherence through Inquiry-Based Curricula and Thematic Pathways
Project Pericles partnered with three member institutions—Macalester College, Morehouse College, and Widener University—to develop cohesive, civically-focused undergraduate curricula. The project leveraged civic engagement and community-engaged learning as thematic pathways for redesigning and streamlining programs of study. Each campus explored a unique reform: Morehouse undertook an ambitious overhaul of its general education program, Widener developed a pathway focused on sustainability and civic engagement, and Macalester created pathways within its Geography and History departments. Project Pericles facilitated collaboration and shared learning among these partner campuses throughout the curricular development process. Lessons learned from these pilot initiatives were shared with the broader Project Pericles network at a culminating convening about institutional approaches to advancing curricular change for more intentional, integrated, and effective student learning experiences.
Debating for Democracy (D4D)
Debating for Democracy (D4D)™ was a campus-based program with three components—including D4D on the Road™ workshops, the D4D Letters to an Elected Official Competition, and the D4D National Conference—which promoted civic engagement and advocacy skills among a wide range of college students. D4D participants acquired the tools and tactics needed to effectively advocate for their issues, getting their messages across to elected officials, community groups, and the media. Over the course of 15 years, D4D On the Road workshops provided various civic engagement training to 3,700+ students, faculty, staff, and alumni from Periclean institutions, alongside partners like Soapbox Consulting, Midwest Academy, and Beautiful Trouble. Meanwhile, the annual Letters to an Elected Official Competition showcased students’ ability to propose innovative solutions on a wide range of issues, with winning teams receiving prize money to fund their advocacy campaigns. The D4D National Conference, held every other year in NYC at the New School, brought competition finalists together with experts, government officials, and community leaders to further develop their skills and share insights.
Student Choices – Student Voices
The initiative supported student-led Task Forces on member campuses that were dedicated to increasing civic participation. The program operated on three key principles: sharing information on candidates and issues, fostering constructive dialogue, and supporting voter registration. Through the SCSV initiative, Project Pericles facilitated inter-campus collaboration, uplifted useful tools like TurboVote, and partnered with national organizations to share best practices for increasing civic engagement and voter participation among students and the broader campus community. For example, a team from Pitzer College led an initiative that registered almost 300 students to vote or receive absentee ballots, while Wagner College held a student-produced film festival focused on local and national political topics. SCSV projects not only registered thousands of voters and distributed vital election information, they also demonstrated how unrestricted support for students can inspire concrete civic action.