Civic Courage Journaling Project (Virtual) Gathering

The Civic Courage Journaling Project creates opportunities for individual reflection and group conversations about personal experiences that have important, often hidden civic dimensions. Civic Courage, identified by the Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement (CLDE) Theory of Change as one of the capacities necessary for active and engaged citizenship, encompasses the ability to take risks, work through tension, be patient in the face of challenges, stay open and engaged, take responsibility for the foreseeable consequences of one’s actions, face changes bravely, and act in accordance with one’s core values and beliefs.

UMBC student, faculty, staff, and alumni journal bearers respond to prompts from the Center for Democracy and Civic Life by creating entries in their journals. Many journal bearers also share their reflections publicly through social media posts like this, art projects, or conversations at monthly gatherings.

We hope to see you at this month’s gathering of participants in the Civic Courage Reflective Journal Project. The reflection prompt for this month is: The past 11 months have been challenging in many ways. Imagine yourself twenty years from now, talking to someone who was not yet born in 2020. What would you tell that person about the most important things you have learned about yourself since the beginning of the pandemic?