Civic Fellows: D.C. Immersion

1 unit

This spring course supports Civic Fellows as they apply their learning from the first semester of the program to the federal context. In the fall, Fellows learn about a range of different civic engagement strategies, such as voting, submitting public comments, lobbying, grassroots organizing, legal advocacy, and more. We discuss the history of the different strategies, particularly in the context of US democracy, as well as case studies in the St. Louis region. The D.C. immersion trip allows us to understand how local and state policy processes and efforts for social change are connected intrinsically to the federal government and federal politics. The intensive four-day trip includes visits to the Capitol, meeting with elected officials as well as their staffers, learning from community members and organizers, and visiting different sites of historical and current social change efforts. Students are asked to complicate their understanding of the US federal government, eschewing simplified narratives in favor of the complex network of opportunities and challenges afforded by the U.S. democratic system. Satisfactory completion of this course is a required component of the Civic Fellows Program. This course takes place on the Tuesday to Friday of the week prior to the start of the spring semester.