Who We Are
Our Vision
iCivics envisions a thriving American democracy supported by informed and civically engaged young people.
Our Mission
We champion equitable, non-partisan civic education so that the practice of democracy is learned by each new generation. We work to inspire life-long civic engagement by providing high-quality and engaging civics resources to teachers and students across our nation.
Our Story
iCivics was founded by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in 2009 to ensure that all Americans have the knowledge and will to participate in our unique experiment in self-government.
Since then, iCivics has become the nation’s premier non-profit civic education provider of high-quality, non-partisan, engaging, and free resources to more than 9 million students annually, in all 50 states. That equates to the majority of our nation’s middle and high school students.
iCivics first-of-its-kind digital civic library includes more than 260 curricular resources, digital literacy tools, professional learning materials, and educational video games. And behind those numbers lie countless young people who now feel the weight of their civic roles and agency. Our engaging resources are proven to improve civic knowledge, skills and dispositions.
What is at stake?
For decades, we have failed to prepare young Americans for informed and engaged civic life. Today, among young Americans, understanding of and trust in our democratic institutions remain alarmingly low. If civic education is to be a solution to what ails our constitutional democracy, we must ensure it becomes a priority for our nation. Fortunately, there is unprecedented support for this cause and we are seizing the moment.
Leading a movement
In 2018, iCivics founded and now leads the CivXNow Coalition: a fast-growing movement of 150+ influential members calling for a civic education revival in America. Our goal is to affect systemic change to make high quality and equitable civic education a centerpiece of modern education nationwide.
The National Endowment for Humanities tasked iCivics, along with partners at Harvard, Arizona State and Tufts Universities, to lead a coalition of 300 experts in assessing the state of, and best practices in, the teaching of American history, civics, and government in K-12 education: Educating for American Democracy: A Roadmap for Excellence in History and Civics Education for All Learners.
A great deal of progress has been made, but more work remains. Our ambitious, next-phase strategic plan builds from the assets we have developed to secure a healthy democracy.
Our Values
- Accessibility for all students
- Non-partisanship
- Equity centered
- Educator focused
- Collaborative