Mission & History
The Civic Life Project advances youth civic engagement through digital storytelling, nurturing Democracy for generations to come.
Beginning in just one classroom in Connecticut in 2010, acclaimed documentary filmmakers Catherine Tatge and Dominique Lasseur created a unique program that layers civics education with documentary filmmaking training and production. In-class activities cover topics like research, interviewing, and video production. Students’ work culminates with community engagement through public presentations, where they reflect on what they learned and field questions from their audiences.
Since the Civic Life Project’s inception, our small team has worked with teachers in the classroom to improve the education and civic readiness of more than 1,000 young people. Civic Life has supervised the production of 120 student films on topics including racism, women and LGBTQ rights, bullying, and social justice.
Amplifying Youth Voices
We founded the Democracy Youth Film Challenge in 2016. The Challenge has become a national competition and platform for young storytellers. Our virtual screenings have showcased more than 1,000 youth films and garnered more than 100,000 views. Since its launch, the Challenge has awarded more than $50,000 in cash prizes to the best young filmmakers.
The Path to Nationwide Impact
In 2020, the pandemic gave us an unexpected opportunity to rethink our programmatic approach. When we could not join teachers and students in classrooms anymore, it became clear that our lessons could be just as effective but more expansively disseminated through a packaged curriculum with remote support.
We are now embarking on a new chapter for the organization. In association with the National Council for the Social Studies, we are making our program accessible and user-friendly for teachers to deliver on their own, in concert with virtual support from our team. This shift will allow us to bring our innovative civics program across the country and change the lives of significantly more students.
Our Why: Digital Storytelling & Civic Engagement
Making documentaries is a deeply civic experience. Filmmakers need to analyze civic issues, reach out to communities, and engage with different perspectives. When acclaimed documentary filmmakers Catherine Tatge and Dominique Lasseur founded Civic Life Project, they knew that teaching civics to youth through digital media just made sense.
Civic Knowledge
The skills and attitudes required for filmmaking—like collaboration, research, curiosity, and communication—overlap with skills and attitudes that make someone an engaged citizen.
Civic Skills
Making documentaries is a smart route to learning fundamental civics concepts. Whether exploring school shootings or school lunches, students must find out how laws, policies, and systems make a difference in their lives to develop and produce a documentary.
Civic Action
Young people already create digital media on their own, so teaching and practicing storytelling is an engaging and relevant “way in” to learning. Focus on participatory action research leads to informed action on a local, regional, or national issue.
Learn More About Us
Meet the people behind the Civic Life Project and the values that drive us.