ACLS Civic Education for Democratic Life (CEDLife) Grants
ACLS Civic Education for Democratic Life (CEDLife) Grants support campus-community teams in co-creating civic knowledge through undergraduate humanities curricula to strengthen inclusive civic participation.
Funder: American Council of Learned Societies
Due Dates: December 1, 2026, 5:00 PM ET (Letter of Intent) | April 28, 2027, 5:00 PM ET (Full application)
Funding Amounts: Up to $130,000 over 12 months
Summary: Supports established campus-community partnerships that engage undergraduates in co-creating civic knowledge through humanities-based curricular projects.
Key Information: Projects must expand or extend a well-established community partnership, not launch a new partnership.
Description
The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), with support from the Henry Luce Foundation, funds campus-community partnerships that strengthen civic engagement and build public trust in higher education. CEDLife supports undergraduate curricular projects in which students, faculty, campus staff, and longstanding community partners collaborate toward shared goals. Projects develop civic skills and dispositions while modeling communication, literacy, argumentation, critical analysis, and perspective-taking as democratic practices.
The program seeks to expand exemplary community-engaged learning and promote inclusive civic participation. Priorities include faculty engagement, institutional support, coordination across the field, campus communication, shared governance, and recognition of institutions with limited capacity to publicize their work. Grantees make their work visible to academic and public audiences and participate in convenings, curriculum development workshops, and peer exchange.
