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Common Sense Society Launches American Civics Project

New CSS initiative to help K-12 educators cultivate citizen competency by making the moral case for the American story

Cultivating Citizen Competency Through Education and Citizen Engagement

Our Work

The problems facing our nation will not be solved overnight or in one election cycle. But they will be addressed if we as competent and engaged citizens follow a Tocquevillian model to rebuild our local foundations. This starts with education and civic engagement. Over the past three years, we have launched several projects that are working toward this end: an engaged citizenry that refuses to rely on the federal government or its think tanks to bring about the reform that is needed here in the West.

K-12 Education

We provide lesson plans and professional development for public, private, and homeschool use. Teachers can supplement existing curricula with our American Civics Project materials. We also offer a new comprehensive, regulatory compliant curriculum for public charter and private school networks.

Higher Education Reform

We have briefed provosts, board members, and department deans at more than 100 universities to renew a sense of academic inquiry and excellence in the country’s leading universities, including Harvard, Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, University of North Carolina, and others.

Civic Engagement Groups

Our locally focused civic engagement initiatives are fueled by our alumni network and talent pipeline. We identify leaders for local civic engagement who leverage local expertise and relationships to scale for impact through public events, media campaigns, network advocacy, and legal funds.

Fellowships

Common Sense Society fellowships offer recent graduates, graduate students, and young professionals the opportunity to study the principles of liberty, prosperity, and beauty with leading scholars in social, respectful environments. In addition to general fellowships, we will also offer specialized fellowships on subjects such as foreign policy and grand strategy.

Substack

Today, we need less ideology and more thoughtful, free exchange of ideas. If you’re looking for respectful, balanced discussion where we learn from history’s lessons and build a better future, this blog is for you.

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Carolina Fellowship

The Carolina Fellowship brings together a selective group of professionals committed to preserving and advancing the principles of liberty, prosperity, and beauty. Over six days of intensive seminars with renowned faculty, fellows explore the foundational principles of the United States in the context of Western civilization.

Convened in beautiful Bluffton, South Carolina, the program serves as a retreat where participants explore the interrelationships that exist between liberty, prosperity, and beauty while acquiring the necessary tools to further their education and become effective leaders in their respective communities and career fields.

Europa Fellowship

The Europa Fellowship brings together a selective group of professionals committed to preserving and advancing the principles of liberty, prosperity, and beauty. Over six days of intensive seminars with renowned faculty, fellows explore the foundational principles of liberty, prosperity, and beauty within the context of European culture and our shared civilization.

Convened in the beautiful Károlyi Castle of Fehérvárcsurgó, Hungary, the Europa Fellowship provides an opportunity for participants to explore the interrelationships among liberty, prosperity, and beauty while acquiring the necessary tools to further their education and become effective leaders in their respective communities and career fields.

Caledonia Fellowship

The Caledonia Fellowship brings together a selective group of professionals committed to preserving and advancing the principles of liberty, prosperity, and beauty. Over six days of intensive seminars with renowned scholars, fellows explore the foundational principles of Western civilization and culture, with a special emphasis on the thinkers and ideas of the Scottish Enlightenment.

Convened at historic Carberry Tower in East Lothian, Scotland (fifteen minutes outside of Edinburgh), the Caledonia Fellowship provides an opportunity for participants to explore the interrelationships among liberty, prosperity, and beauty while acquiring the necessary tools to further their education and become effective leaders in their respective communities and career fields.

John Quincy Adams Fellowship

The John Quincy Adams Fellowship brings together a selective group of advanced foreign policy practitioners who are currently guiding America’s strategic and diplomatic efforts. Over nine months, fellows examine the fundamentals of American grand strategy, the realities of great power competition across multiple theaters of conflict, and the asymmetrical foreign threats to freedom and prosperity.

Founders’ Foreign Policy Fellowship

The Founders’ Foreign Policy Fellowship brings together a selective group of aspiring foreign policy professionals seeking to guide America into a secure and prosperous future. Over five days of intensive seminars with renowned faculty, fellows examine the distinctive moral and political principles of U.S. statecraft as understood by its Founders.

Convened at historic locations—including Mount Vernon, Monticello, Montpelier, the National Constitution Center, the Alexander Hamilton Custom House, Fraunces Tavern, and the Old South Meeting House—the program provides a total immersion experience, enabling participants to wrestle with the dilemmas of statecraft and to tread the same ground as Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Jay, Hamilton, and Adams.

Britannia Fellowship

The Britannia Fellowship brings together a selective group of professionals committed to preserving and advancing the principles of liberty, prosperity, and beauty. Over six days of intensive seminars with renowned scholars, fellows explore the foundational principles of European culture and a free society.

Convened at the Bowood House in the United Kingdom, the Britannia Fellowship provides an opportunity for participants to explore the interrelationships among liberty, prosperity, and beauty while acquiring the necessary tools to further their education and become effective leaders in their respective communities and career fields.