Daily Resource Highlight - 12/14/2020

Posted by on December 21, 2020 at 1:12 PM

Below are the highlights and featured resources of this past week’s Daily* Resource.

12/15/2020 -  TechCongress Continues to Help Congress Enter the 21st Century

This past spring, Congress faced an unprecedented challenge. For the first time ever, they had to figure out how to conduct business remotely to protect themselves from COVID-19. TechCongress has been helping Congress gradually move into the 21st century for years now, but the pandemic meant that Congress needed to go digital, and had to do so now. TechCongress met the challenge with its 2020 Congressional Digital Service Fellows (bottom of the page) -- a one-time program designed to keep Congress open. 

While those fellows will finish their service in February 2021, their impact will certainly be felt by TechCongress’ regularly scheduled 2021 Congressional Innovation Fellows. These remarkable men and women, who will be placed among the top tech decision makers in our government, will face circumstances and challenges far different than their predecessors. We are confident that they will meet those challenges and congratulate them on being chosen for this prestigious program.

On a separate note, we would like to give a shout out to Shannon Mannon of Living Room Conversations for her opinion piece in USA Today. I don’t want to give too much away, but Shannon realized she wasn’t practicing what she preached, and sought to correct that. Her journey will sound familiar to many of you

12/18/2020 - Civics Unplugged: Gen Z is Leading the Way

If you’ve been reading our newsletter, you know that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson made a surprise appearance at Commence 2030. That would be an impressive accomplishment for a young organization on its own, but Civics Unplugged continues to raise the bar for itself. Mr. Sheng was featured in Forbes’ 30 under 30 for Social Impact Entrepreneurs and CU recently secured a $50,000 grant from Craig Newmark Philanthropies to empower the young men and women who will be leading our nation into the future.

The best part of all this, though, is that Gary is determined to share his success with others. As I write this, Civics Unplugged is accepting applications for its 2021 Fellowship program. This is a 5-month long program that will empower high school students to build the future American democracy. If you know a young man or woman that would be interested in this virtual program, send them this link today! Admissions are rolling, so the sooner they apply, the better.

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