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Democracy Notes · Jul 2, 2026

This week's Democracy Notes

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Gabriel Lerner · Democracy Notes

Rest = good!! I’m glad (many of) y’all are taking some time off this summer.

Another vacation question…

What’s been happening around higher ed and democracy since the Trump Administration/Harvard ~back and forth~ left the headlines?

Register for our event with Lumina Foundation to find out!! (It’s at 1pm ET on July 8th.)

We’ll hear from:

  • Julie White, Chancellor and CEO, Pierce College District,

  • Alex Edgar, Co-Founder, Youth250, and

  • Jonathan Friedman, Sy Syms Managing Director of U.S. Free Expression Programs, PEN America.

Okay, one last question…

We’re exploring setting up an advisory board for Democracy Notes.

  • Are you on an advisory board that you think is really, really well run?

  • Does your org have one of those rare, truly engaged advisory boards?

If so, could you send me a note? I’d LOVE to hear about your experience! My email is Gabe@Democracy-Notes.org.

($$$)

  • Huge congrats to CivicLex!! Today they announced $900K in funding from the Knight Foundation to start a new multi-city civic health collaborative.

    • Led by CivicLex, the collaborative will support civic health organizations in three other Knight Foundation communities:

      • Wichita, Kansas - The Kansas Leadership Center

      • Tallahassee, Florida - The Village Square

      • Columbia, South Carolina - Richland Library

    • Each partner organization will receive funding and has committed to

      raising local matching funds.

  • Civic Right Fund announced 23 grants totaling $1.15M!

    • Grants include 9 grants focused on civic culture ($440K in total) and 14 grants focused on elections ($710K in total).

    • They’re also accepting grant proposals on a rolling basis from now through the end of the year, mainly for election-related support!

  • Philanthropy transitions and board announcements!

    • Congratulations to Jonathan Gruber who is winding down his time at Einhorn Collaborative after 12 years!!

    • Ian Solomon was named the eighth president and CEO of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund!

      • Solomon assumes his new role in September, succeeding Stephen Heintz.

      • He is currently the dean of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia.

    • Media Impact Funders welcomed three members of their board of directors:

      • Angelica Das, Director of the Reimagine & Rebuild Program at Democracy Fund,

      • Vidya Krishnamurthy, Vice President and Chief of Communications and Strategic External Engagement at the Hewlett Foundation, and

      • Marcia Parker, Vice President of Philanthropic Partnerships at The New York Times.

  • Local news folks!! Three Press Forward local chapters have opened applications for newsroom funding.

    • Press Forward Chicago: Focused on collaborations, shared resources and/or infrastructure benefitting local media.

    • Press Forward New Jersey: Supporting community-rooted local news and information providers serving South Jersey.

    • Press Forward South Florida: Centered on strengthening newsroom sustainability and supporting collaboration among local news organizations.

(The big news)

  • Judges on a bus!! Cool!

    • Back in 2020 and 2021, judges in Poland rented minivans and traveled across the country explaining why they were standing up for the rule of law.

    • Next week, a group of retired judges, lawyers, and civic leaders will board a bus in Pittsburgh and go on a week-long journey across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan.

  • Yes, America won a war for its independence. But, as Ben Naimark-Rowse writes…

    • “American revolutionaries led not one, but three nonviolent resistance campaigns in the decade before the Revolutionary War. These campaigns were coordinated. They were primarily nonviolent.”

  • (Paywall) In Checks & Balances, Gregg Nunziata and Stephen Richer write “Conservatives Must Apply Rule of Law Principles to Elections.”

    • Checks & Balances is the Substack newsletter of the Society for the Rule of Law Institute, a community of conservative lawyers to support the rule of law.

  • Legacy szn. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and UC Berkeley announced the launch of the Nancy Pelosi Institute for Representative Democracy.

    • It’s a new nonpartisan institute dedicated to strengthening American democracy.

(Events, podcasts, and more)

  • Trip to Australia?? 8/17 - 8/18 — join Adelaide University’s School of Law for their Democracy Innovation Festival, which will include the launch of Democracy 2036!

    • Mostly in-person, but some sessions for young people and teachers will be online.

(Jobs, jobs, jobs!)

^ These orgs really want to reach great candidates in the Democracy Notes community! If you’d like to promote a role with us, our options are here!

(Where the movers are moving and the shakers are shaking)

  • Congrats to the incoming class of fellows at the National Center for Speech and Civic Engagement!

  • Elaine Díaz Rodríguez is now Director of Partnerships at The Center for Community Media at CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism!

  • Steve Bocknek has joined A More Perfect Union as Vice President, Leadership & Organizing!

  • Sarah Nasta has joined the Institute for Responsive Government as Senior Advisor of Election Administration & Federal Affairs!

  • Christina Beeler has joined the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee as Senior Counsel on the Midwest Voting Rights team!

  • Matthew Victor is now Executive Director of Digital Civic Infrastructure at Partners in Democracy!

  • James Williams is now Senior Director of National Campaigns at the ACLU!

Submit your job transitions (or promotions!) here.

See you soon,

Gabe

Read the original on democracynotes.substack.com ↗

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