What does everybody need to know about the Civic Circle?

The Civic Circle breaks new ground by using the arts to make democracy fun and exciting, and by teaching real-world skills. Civic education sometimes fails to connect with youth because of an over-emphasis on dry, rote facts. Our curriculum is built on seven civic skills we call “steps to democracy.” These are: Listen (civility and respect), Learn (news literacy), Choose (voting), Join (service-learning), Speak (advocacy), Act (organizing) and Lead (building a team behind your dream). In other words, be a compassionate, informed, engaged citizen. We offer after-school workshops in which students Grades 3–12 create their own songs, poems and civic art about the democracy steps. They then perform or showcase these to parents, peers or younger students, building confidence, self-expression and other emotional skills. We also offer shows that spotlight original songs in a variety of musical styles about the civic steps, and we organize community civic events that lift youth voices.

In what ways did a grant from the Takoma Foundation support your work?

The Takoma Foundation grant enabled us to mount a Democracy Concert on the eve of the 2024 election that featured songs and poems about voting (Choose!) at Busboys & Poets in Takoma Park, a site that was easily reachable. Participants of all ages came together in an uplifting celebration of voting.

When The Civic Circle first launched in 2018, we kicked things off with a Democracy Concert—also in Takoma Park—on the eve of that year’s midterm election. That event featured songs that our team had written and performed by teaching artists on our roster. Our 2024 concert, by contrast, focused more heavily on youth performance and civic art, and brought together four other youth-serving groups: Arts on the Block, whose youth apprentices created a digital backdrop for the event, Carpe Diem Arts, whose students sang and played ukulele on civic songs, Liberty’s Promise, whose students read their original poem about listening and respect in Spanish, and Action Youth Media, whose youth interviewed participants and documented the event.

A highlight of the event was a collective poem titled “Democracy To Me,” created by the audience under the direction of our emcee, poet Malachi Byrd, who recited the poem at the end of the concert. The concert had particular resonance for our group, as it was our first Democracy Concert and in-person community performance since before the pandemic. The Civic Circle expresses gratitude to The Takoma Foundation for making this event possible.

Would you talk about some of the challenges associated with doing this kind of work?

For small and startup nonprofits the challenge is always fundraising. We face something of a Catch 22, in that funders look at small groups askance, as we are perceived to lack capacity and sustainability. Yet it’s not possible to become sustainable without funding that pays for operations, as well as programming. In that way, I believe startup small businesses have an advantage, as there is a culture that supports the idea that venture capitalists will put seed money behind a promising idea. That culture does not exist in the nonprofit sector. As The Civic Circle enters our sixth full year, our budget has finally reached the threshold that qualifies us for certain larger grants that might enable us to “turn the corner” and potentially raise the necessary operating funds to hire senior staff, as opposed to relying so heavily on volunteers. We are at a crucial moment. We’re trying to broaden our base of funding at a time when our mission is more urgent than ever, as we witness the consequences of an election that frankly exploited deficits in civic understanding.

What’s something that you’re looking forward to this year?

We are expanding from Elementary School to reach students in Middle and High School, and we followed our Democracy Concert with a Youth Democracy Fest that just took place at the Montgomery College Takoma Campus. We are looking forward to making this Democracy Fest an annual event, and to experimenting with new ways of delivering our program, and our “Civics in Seven Steps” curriculum. For all the challenges we may encounter we are optimistic about the high level of community interest in our work.