National Issues Forums Institute Receives Federal Support to Cultivate Listening, Collaboration, and Civic Engagement

The National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI) has secured two federal grants—a K-12 civic education award in partnership with James Madison University and a $2.7 million U.S. Department of Education investment in higher education civil discourse—expanding deliberative democracy programming to roughly 2,000 educators and 80,000 students nationwide. The K-12 initiative will update Historic Decisions Issue Guides, develop materials tied to America’s 250th anniversary, and provide ongoing teacher training and coaching. The higher education grant will create anchor campus networks, launch a faculty fellows program producing annual materials, and implement evaluation frameworks to strengthen civil discourse, intellectual humility, and collaborative problem-solving. Together, the initiatives advance deliberative practice across K-16 education by equipping educators with dialogue tools and building institutional capacity to prepare students for democratic engagement in polarized environments.

---

---

The National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI) has announced two major federal grant awards that will significantly expand deliberative democracy and civil discourse education across K-12 and higher education institutions nationwide. The awards position NIFI as a central partner in building a connected K-16 pathway that embeds deliberation into teaching, learning, and institutional practice, preparing students to engage complex public issues throughout their academic journey. Through collaboration with James Madison University's Center for Civic Engagement, the James Madison Center for Advancement and Research in Education, James Madison's Montpelier and the Center for the Constitution, and the David Mathews Center for Civic Life, these initiatives aim to reach approximately 2,000 educators and 50,000 K-12 students, plus 40 universities and 30,000 college students, strengthening students' capacity to deliberate across political differences, build common ground, and develop habits of listening, intellectual humility, and collaborative problem-solving.

The K-12 civic education grant focuses on advancing deliberative approaches to teaching historic decisions connected to America's founding and future, with programming tied to the nation's 250th anniversary. NIFI will update and distribute its nationally recognized Historic Decisions Issue Guides on the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and develop a new "What's Next, America?" issue guide for classroom use. The project includes creating facilitator kits tailored to different grade bands and delivering place-based and virtual professional development seminars, individualized coaching, and professional learning communities for educators. This approach recognizes that effective civic education requires more than content delivery—it demands sustained implementation support, ongoing professional development, and resources that help teachers facilitate deliberative conversations in which students practice weighing trade-offs, listening to diverse perspectives, and developing civic judgment on complex public questions.

The $2.7 million higher education civil discourse investment through the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education establishes a network of anchor campuses that embed deliberation across institutional culture and co-curricular programming rather than limiting it to individual courses. Key activities include revising and expanding NIFI's issue guide catalog for higher education, launching a national faculty fellows program to develop new deliberative materials annually, hosting biannual pedagogy and issue-writing institutes, and implementing rigorous evaluation frameworks spanning K-16 civic learning. This institutional approach acknowledges that democratic capacity-building requires more than isolated classroom experiences—it demands campus-wide cultures where deliberative practices shape how communities navigate disagreement, make collective decisions, and prepare graduates for civic participation in polarized democratic environments.

To learn more about NIFI's federal grant programs expanding deliberative democracy in K-12 and higher education, visit https://nifi.org/national-issues-forums-institute-announces-two-major-federal-grant-awards-expanding-civic-learning-and-civil-discourse-in-k-12-and-higher-education/