Too many in the US today are illiterate in power and infected by a cynicism that reinforces their sense of powerlessness. In the United States, there has been a generations-long decay of faith in democratic institutions and norms. cities and a suite of complementary initiatives now exist to grow a self-perpetuating movement from the ground up – what Eric calls a strategy of “networked localism.” Meanwhile his Civic Collaboratory is a nationwide mutual-aid club of civic innovators from across functional siloes of civic work and across the ideological spectrum – who together create, nurture, and learn with each other to spread this work and the beliefs underlying it.ĭemocracy is in peril around the world. Civic Saturdays are now active in 30 U.S.
The flagship program is Civic Saturdays, modeled on religious services (including weekly, in person, face-to-face time) but dedicated instead to celebrating and fueling collective responsibility and local civic action.
Over the last five years, Eric, his co-founder (and wife) Jená Cane, and their team have designed such opportunities – beginning in Seattle – and have begun activating hundreds of others to bring a variety of programs to their own towns, across lines of ideology and identity. For Eric, it means practicing what he calls “civic religion,” or what John Dewey called “democratic faith” – faith in each other and in our ability to govern ourselves justly. Actually spreading this belief means creating experiences where people can reckon with the ethical and emotional complexities of practicing power in a mass multiracial democratic republic. Citizen University’s founding insight is that such a culture requires upholding and nurturing on a regular basis, and yet over the last half century the spaces and habits of doing so have largely disappeared.Ĭitizen University exists to spread the belief that a strong democracy requires strong citizens – that we all have the power to make change happen and the responsibility to try. He envisions a country in which Americans are steeped in a sense of civic character, educated in the tools of civic power, and are problem-solving contributors in self-governing communities. Eric Liu co-founded Citizen University to build a culture of powerful, responsible citizenship in America.
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