Nickel of view of the Monticello mansion, designed by Thomas Jefferson, highlighting the historic building's iconic dome

Cultivating Civic Imaginations Summit

Cultivating Civic Imaginations:
An Inaugural Summit of Community Learning Partners at Monticello

Are you interested in taking part in an elevated community of practice designed to build institutional capacity around embedding civic imagination and democracy renewal for the people of your community? This two-day, hands-on gathering will launch a cohort of professionals into a year of work, culminating in a sharing summit in November 2027.

TLDR: Help us build an ecosystem of community learning professionals during 13 months of inquiry and experimentation to advance your work developing a civics-infused program, resource, or exhibition. Two in-person summits (Nov. 11-12, 2026, and Nov. 2027 TBD) bracket monthly virtual convenings. Time and travel stipends of up to $1,500 per participant.

Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and Educating for American Democracy’s Community Learning Partners Network invite you to nominate yourself to be part of the inaugural cohort. 

Nominations closed on June 19. Invitations will be issued in Late July.

The Invitation

In partnership with the Educating for American Democracy Community Learning Partners (EAD-CLP) Task Force, Monticello will invite a cohort of 40 professionals working in education, interpretation, exhibitions, programming, or executive leadership at sites of community learning (museums, historic sites, libraries, humanities councils, and similar organizations) to join us in:

  • An in-person civic learning and planning summit on November 11 and 12, 2026;
  • A year of virtual, monthly meetings in a small group, sharing feedback on your project and supporting the development or iteration of a civics-integrated project.
  • A larger summit at Monticello in November 2027 with the goal of sharing the work of the inaugural cohort, both in-person and online for interested people across the country and beyond. 2026 participants who are active virtually throughout the year are likely to be invited back. Participants in the 2026 summit and subsequent monthly meetings will receive a time and travel stipend of $1,500.

Summit Purpose

Let’s build a legacy for the U.S. 250th.  As we celebrate the still-unreached ideals of the Declaration of Independence, how might we center civic imaginations in our work, so our institutions are recognized as crucial civic infrastructure in our communities, states, and country? How might we support one another in this work to create a roadmap for others interested in transforming civic, cultural and historical fields?

As the Monticello Civic Partnerships Initiative, our main purpose is to draw on the ideals of Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, the resilience and hopes of the people enslaved by Jefferson, the imagination and dreams they and their descendants sustained after chattel slavery, and Jefferson's own belief--expressed in an 1816 letter to John Adams--in valuing “the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.” What ideals will guide your own work?

Intended Outcomes

By the time we reconvene in November 2027, we will:

  1. Have developed clear definitions of what the EAD Roadmap is and is not for people working in community learning settings;
  2. Have articulated and experimented with the role of civic learning and engagement at our individual organizations;
  3. Have strengthened a cohort of 40 sites that are ready to share their work at local, state, and national convenings;
  4. Be ready to share our work with a broader audience both virtually and in-person; and
  5. Create storytelling that helps us all talk more coherently and cohesively about our work.

Who Should Be Nominated

Are you… 

  • a “doer”
  • someone with some decision-making authority in your organization
  • a lover of professional learning
  • someone who values community
  • comfortable experimenting and iterating?

If you work with learners of any age, or develop programs for teachers and students in informal settings, this project is for you. If you work in a formal school setting, we appreciate your work and enthusiasm, but this is not the program for you.

How to Nominate Yourself

Complete the nomination form. As part of the form, you will be asked to describe:

  • How you hope to or are currently incorporating civic work - in particular civic imagination and civic courage - into your programs, exhibitions, and/or resources; and
  • A civic learning project incorporating some aspect of civic learning that you would like to develop throughout the coming 18 months that is doable within the scope of your current work - this may be a project you are already assigned or funded to do, or it may be something that you need to get clarity on so that you can get it funded. Whatever the project, if you are invited to join in November, you will be expected to present on it at the event and then work on it with your small group throughout the following year.
  • Upload a letter from your supervisor supporting your nomination.
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“ When clambering a mountain, we always hope the hill we are on is the last. But it is the next, and the next, and still the next.”
~ Thomas Jefferson, 1786

History of the Project

In the winter of 2021, the Educating for American Democracy Roadmap debuted as a thinking and planning tool, originally designed to support school curriculum designers and classroom teachers in integrating the teaching of civics and U.S. history through an inquiry lens. For the last five years, the EAD-CLP network has developed as a place for museum and other community learning professionals to learn more about the Roadmap and support one another in finding and centering civics in our work. In that time, we have written many articles, developed tools as onramps to the Roadmap, and learned a great deal from one another. After EAD Primary Investigator Jane Kamensky became President and CEO of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation (Monticello) in 2024, the Carnegie Corporation of New York awarded Monticello a gift to support its own civic work and to lift up others through the EAD Roadmap and other tools. In fall 2025, Sarah Jencks and Justin Reid joined Monticello as Civic Partnerships Fellows for 2025-2027. In winter 2026, Wilkening Consulting fielded a survey to learn more about how cultural and civic institutions are using the Roadmap and other tools to advance the role of civics in their work. The Cultivating Civic Imaginations Summit is the next step in our work together.