Civics Unplugged Offers a New Path Into Civic Leadership for High School Students with 2026 Fellowship

Civics Unplugged is accepting applications for the 2026–2027 Civic Innovators Fellowship, a free, virtual, 16-week program that prepares high school students to take action in their communities. Running from September through April, the Fellowship combines interactive, discussion-based weekly sessions on history, democracy, technology, and culture with skill-building, purpose exploration, and hands-on community projects, all within a regional cohort supported by alumni mentors. Its admissions approach is deliberately non-traditional, setting aside GPA, test scores, and resumes in favor of assessing applicants on who they are and what they hope to build, with the stated aim of finding potential rather than prior achievement. The application deadline is September 4, 2026, at 11:59 PM PST, and the program is open to current high school students and those on a first gap year begun in June 2026, including international applicants for its U.S.-focused, English-language content. For the NCDD network, the Fellowship is a notable youth civic-engagement pipeline and a resource practitioners can pass along to young people ready to start doing community work now.

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Civics Unplugged is recruiting its next cohort for the Civic Innovators Fellowship, a free, fully virtual program that helps high school students begin improving their communities in the present rather than at some distant point in the future. The Fellowship runs 16 weeks across two portions, a fall stretch from late September through mid-November and a spring stretch from early February to early April 2027. Over that span, Fellows build knowledge in history, democracy, technology, and culture, work through their own sense of purpose, pick up practical skills, and apply what they learn back in their communities. The weekly sessions are interactive and discussion-based, and Fellows move through the year inside a regional cohort of peers supported by alumni mentors. This is a time-sensitive opportunity: applications close September 4, 2026, at 11:59 PM PST, with admissions decisions released September 21 and the first required weekly session on September 28.

​The program is open to students currently in high school and to those on a first gap year that began in June 2026, and it welcomes international applicants to its U.S.-focused, English-language content. What sets the Fellowship apart is its admissions philosophy. Civics Unplugged deliberately does not ask for GPAs, standardized test scores, or resumes, choosing instead to assess applicants on their values, their experiences, and what they intend to do, with an explicit emphasis on potential over prior achievement. The application reflects that stance, asking students to reflect on what matters to them and to describe moments when they stepped up, taught themselves something, or stayed committed to a long effort. Weekly attendance is required, a point the organizers stress plainly, and the sessions meet Mondays at 7:30 PM ET. Completing the Fellowship opens further doors within the Civics Unplugged community, including access to its network, in-person Civic Innovation Academies, and an incubator that provides funding to help Fellows carry their community work forward. For practitioners, the relevant detail is that this is a genuine on-ramp: it does not screen for polish, and it connects young people to sustained support after the program ends.

The Fellowship matters to the NCDD network because building the next generation of civically engaged community members is foundational to the health of the field. Its discussion-based format and its focus on helping young people understand democracy and act within their communities reflect NCDD's commitments to civic engagement, inclusion, and collaborative community work. The program's insistence on looking past conventional achievement metrics also aligns with the field's equity commitments, lowering barriers for students whose potential might be overlooked by more traditional selection processes. While the Fellowship is a civic-leadership program rather than a dialogue and deliberation training specifically, practitioners who work with youth, schools, or community organizations have a clear reason to know about it and to share it with young people ready to begin. The application deadline is September 4, 2026, and interested students or the practitioners and mentors who support them can review the details and apply at https://airtable.com/appFTfIsjle4kjNd6/pagZE2BTyfBJqjxY7/form. Given the firm deadline and the required weekly commitment, prospective applicants should not wait to begin.