NEWS

Americans Can Do Anything…If They Are Just Asked|The Sunday Paper

December 13, 2020 — John Bridgeland reflects on the COVID Collaborative: "Sometimes you unexpectedly gain an insight that completely changes your lens upon the world.  Over the last six months, I’ve had that experience related to America’s number one challenge—COVID-19—but not in the way you might think." 

Gov. Deval Patrick & John Bridgeland Discuss the COVID Collaborative, with Tim Shriver  |  YouTube

December 11, 2020 — Governor Deval Patrick (Co-Chair) and John Bridgeland (Co-Founder and CEO) talk to Tim Shriver about the COVID Collaborative, their new initiative bringing together governors, public health experts, and others across all sectors to mobilize citizens to help end the COVID health crisis and get the country back on its feet. 

Coronavirus vaccines face trust gap | Washington Post

November 24, 2020 — If offered a coronavirus vaccine free of charge, fewer than half of Black people and 66 percent of Latino people said they would definitely or probably take it, according to the COVID Collaborative survey-based study released Monday that that underscores the challenge of getting vaccines to communities hit hard by the pandemic. Read here: 

Launch of the COVID Collaborative

November 23, 2020 — The COVID Collaborative launched today! Learn more about this effort by exploring its progress thus far:

• The New York Times covered the Ad Council and COVID Collaborative’s $50 million vaccination education campaign 

• COVID Collaborative and its partners, the NAACP, UnidosUS, and Langer Research released the results of their survey on vaccine hesitancy in the Black and Latinx communities

• Ten Ways to Make Online Learning Work was released

• The Mask Up America Toolkit for the Governors was launched with the Ad Council and IDSA 

• The State of the Crisis data and trends from Johns Hopkins provide up-to-date information to track our progress

These resources and more can be found on the COVID Collaborative website. 

Biden's first 100 days |CNN

November 16, 2020 — In "There is no more important step in Biden's first 100 days than this" by Stephen Heintz, President and CEO of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, argues that the most important thing for President-Elect Biden to do is to establish a White House Office for Democracy to launch a series of overdue reforms. He cites John Bridgeland's direct access to President George W. Bush when creating the USA Freedom Corps to highlight the importance of the appointed staff to manage the office by bringing "deep relationships with the nonprofit sector and state legislatures." Read here:  

The Upswing |UVA's Miller Center

October 22, 2020 — John Bridgeland moderated a discussion between Robert Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett to discuss their new book, 'The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again'. It's a brilliant analysis of economic, social, and political trends over the past century demonstrating how we have gone from an individualistic “I” society to a more communitarian “We” society and then back again, and how we can learn from that experience to become a stronger, more unified nation. Watch here: 

I Should Have Worn a Mask |Wall Street Journal

October 21, 2020 — Former Governor Chris Christie published the importance of wearing a mask to save lives and the economy after being infected with COVID-19 following the the Rose Garden nomination event for Judge Amy Coney Barrett. "One of the worst aspects of America’s divided politics is the polarization of something as practical as a mask." Read here:  

Reimagining Democracy Town Hall |CWCSEO

October 21, 2020 — John Bridgeland gave the keynote address to the Connecticut General Assembly and Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity & Opportunity on Reimagining Democracy: A More Perfect Union. Watch here: 

NEW REPORT: Strategies for Success | Education Leads Home

October 20, 2020 — Strategies for Success: Supporting Students Experiencing Homelessness, authored by Civic and sponsored by The Raikes Foundation, is based on interviews with educators in Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, Texas, and Virginia to identify strategies school and districts are using to successfully mitigate the challenges students experiencing homelessness face in attending and succeeding in school. Read here: 

National Service| Bloomberg Businessweek

October 15, 2020 — Rachel Cohen writes that national service has rare bipartisan support, but an uncertain future. Expanding AmeriCorps in response to Covid-19 has bipartisan support in Congress, yet it’s been a low political priority. Read here: 

Big Idea for America| Dallas Morning News

October 4, 2020 — John Bridgeland writes in the Sunday Dallas Morning News: As America approaches the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, it could give itself a birthday present of 1 million opportunities every year for young people to serve their country. Read here: 

NEW REPORT: Building A Grad Nation 2020| GradNation Campaign

October 1, 2020 — The core conveners of the GradNation campaign (Civic, the Everyone Graduates Center, America's Promise Alliance, and the Alliance for Excellent Education) released the 2020 Building a Grad Nation report coauthored by Matt Atwell, Ellie Manspile, Bob Balfanz and John Bridgeland through a virtual event featuring lead researchers, youth and educators, and three former U.S. Secretaries of Education: Arne Duncan, John B. King, Jr., and Margaret Spellings who discussed the challenges and opportunities of high school completion in our country’s current environment and ways we, as a nation, can meet this moment. 

Read the report. 

Watch the event.