What is Civic Renewal?

Civic renewal is the everyday work of democracy.

It’s about more than elections or voting — it’s about rebuilding connection, trust, and shared responsibility in our communities. It looks like:

  • Offering a class about Judaism and democracy

  • Teaching about elections or local government

  • Holding an event to honor poll workers and civic volunteers

  • Partnering with neighbors to solve local challenges

Jewish organizations are uniquely positioned to lead this work by bringing people together to solve real problems, build relationships, and strengthen local democracy.

This is what civic renewal means: not just showing up, but shaping the places we live for the better.

Ready to join the Jewish Partnership for Democracy? Get started now.

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What might civic renewal work look like for my organization in the JPD?

In the Jewish Partnership for Democracy, civic renewal means:

  • Building Civic Knowledge and Skills: Developing your community’s capacity to better engage in civic action.

  • Strengthening Civic Relationships: Nurturing connections that enhance impact in your community.

  • Taking Civic Action: Engaging your constituents to solve problems in your community.

Civic renewal initiatives can look many different ways depending on your organization and community. The ideas below are meant to help get you thinking, not serve as a definitive list.

Building Civic Knowledge and Skills

Develop your community’s capacity to better engage in civic action.

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  • Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation launched Daf America, a teaching resource to help clergy bring an American civics lens to the weekly Torah portion.

  • Kabbalah Experience launched a class entitled, "Democracy and Kabbalah: Narratives and Actions for our Time." This 9-week course explored Kabbalistic and other texts related to democracy, its roots and its preservation

    Talmud Torah of St. Paul and The Mordecai Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood partnered to create a course entitled "Judaism in Partnership with Democracy," a 10-week virtual program exploring the ways in which Jewish tradition offers deep wisdom on how to live many of the values on which a vibrant liberal democracy depends.

  • The Brandeis School of San Francisco developed "The Mifgash Playbook" to encourage other schools to adopt best practices in values-centered civics education into their curricula and programs.

  • Pardes and Limmud North America created the Jewish Guide to Talking Politics teach skills for healthy communication across differences.

  • Jewish Federation of the Bluegrass hosted "Advocacy 101" to equip adults and teens in their community with practical skills to communicate with lawmakers, navigate the legislative process, and drive meaningful change.

  • Get inspired by how organizations like Citizen University and Warm Cookies of the Revolution activate their communities!

DEVELOP CIVIC SKILLS

Equip your community with the skills to effect change. For example:

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Teach your community how American democracy works and why Jews should support it. For example:

  • Temple Emanu-El in Dallas dedicated a Shabbat to honoring members involved in non-partisan election work, offering them an aaliyah and a blessing for their civic engagement.

  • The Council of American Jewish Museums (CAJM) dedicated their 2024 conference to democracy, organizing an array of speakers and workshops to teach about ways Jewish museums can promote civic engagement.

  • Leading Edge created resources and recommendations on best practices for managing teams with diverse views.

FOSTER CIVIC CULTURE IN YOUR ORGANIZATION

Celebrate and model democratic participation in your organization. For example:

Strengthening Civic Relationships

BOLSTER CIVIC LEARNING

Nurture connections that enhance impact in your community.

  • Uri L'Tzedek worked with different faith and community leaders to create a series of online workshops designed to educate participants on local civic engagement.

    Reform Congregation Oheb Sholom organized an interfaith book group for local clergy with training from Braver Angels, and organization specializing in convening productive conversations across differences.

  • The Temple in Atlanta worked closely with interfaith partners during the election season to create messaging and programming in support of democracy.

  • faith250, a program of the American Scripture Project, is multi-faith effort to leverage the United States' 250th birthday to clarify and articulate the values of our communities and our nation, and seek to build healthier civic life in our country.

BUILD UNITY WITHIN AND BEYOND THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

Build bridges with other Jewish, faith, and community organizations in your area around issues of shared interest and concern. For example:

  • JCRC of Greater Washington and the Washington Jewish Week teamed up to produce a Northern Virginia Congressional Jewish Voters’ Guide with information about local Senate and House candidates.

    JCRC of the Jewish Federation of San Antonio hosted a Candidate Forum for candidates for local elections, including Texas court of Appeals, County Commissioner, Texas House, Texas Senate, State Board of Education and Probate Judge.

  • National Council of Jewish Women St. Louis, Jewish Federation of St. Louis, and JCRC St Louis joined together to organize Missouri Jewish Advocacy Day, where Jewish Missourians came together in Jefferson City to advocate for important legislation to improve their communities.

  • Reach out to every local councilperson at least once a month and attends every local public meeting (school board, zoning, city council, etc.).

ENGAGE IN COMMUNAL ADVOCACY

Work regularly with current and future public officials on issues that matter to your community. For example:

Taking Civic Action

Engage your community to solve problems.

  • Poll workers, members of the community who voluntarily help administer elections, are essential to strengthening our democracy and preserving the right to vote.

  • Mobilize neighbors to work together and enhance quality of life for all in the area.

  • Bring together your community to support the local library, ensuring everyone has access to books and educational resources while strengthening this vital public institution.

  • Advocate for public safety improvements, demonstrating how citizens can work with local government to directly address community concerns and protect their neighbors.

Already a partner?
You can access program playbooks to help you launch many of these initiatives in our Steal This! Project Bank.

LEAD COMMUNITY ORGANIZING/SERVICE

Directly engage in hands-on efforts to improve your community. For example:

FAQs

Any questions? Reach out to [email protected].

  • Since every community is different, you know what you need better than anyone. If you want to create a civic renewal initiative from scratch, here ten easy steps to help you do so:

    1. Identify a project lead and bring together a project team – You will need people to lead your organization in developing and implementing the initiative. The project lead should be someone with the capacity and authority to make this a priority for your organization. The strongest project teams bring together people with diverse skills, interests, and roles. 

    2. Select a core civic issue/challenge you want to solve – Work with your project team, other organizational stakeholders, and/or other groups who share your community to identity a problem facing your community that you can solve through civic engagement.

    3. Choose a civic renewal focus area – Once you know the issue you want to solve, figure out how you will work to address it. You can approach the issue through efforts that address at least one of the below focus areas:

      1. Building Civic Knowledge and Skills: Developing your community’s capacity to better engage in civic action.

      2. Strengthening Civic Relationships: Nurturing connections that enhance impact in your community. 

      3. Taking Civic Action: Engaging your constituents to solve problems in your community.

    4. Brainstorm possible solutions – Now that you know what you want to address and a general direction for your civic renewal initiative, explore possible project ideas. 

    5. Pressure test your ideas – Weigh each idea to determine whether it will be effective at addressing your communal challenge, nonpartisan and aligned with the Democracy Principles. Bonus points if it can bring together diverse groups in your community towards a shared goal!

    6. Get buy-in from your leadership and community – Share your top idea with anyone who can help you champion your initiative inside and outside the organization.

    7. Do it! – Plan and implement your civic renewal initiative, and keep your community and leaders filled in on your progress.

    8. Evaluate impact – Collect quantitative and qualitative data and hold a post-program debrief to help you improve future civic renewal initiatives.

    9. Share it with the JPD – Create a Steal This! Project playbook to help other partners follow your example.

    10. Celebrate and build on your success – Let your community know about your great work, and keep up the momentum by getting started on your next civic renewal initiative!

  • By becoming a Civic Renewal Partner, you get access to annual rounds of “Ignition Grants”. Ranging in size, these grants offer opportunities to jumpstart your civic renewal work. To become a civic renewal partner, join here.

  • Simply fill out our Civic Renewal Initiative form to let us know what you plan to do and how we can help!