About 34 democracy advocates, educators and civic leaders from 14 countries gathered at Cornell Tech in New York City for a training program aimed at helping them teach civic participation in their own communities.
The two-day July event was organized by the Costa Rica-based nonprofit Demo Lab with the Cornell Center on Democracy and the World Liberty Congress, according to Cornell's account of the program.
The work was described in the institution's report.
Training supports online Freedom Course
The gathering was the first international Train the Trainers event for Freedom Academy, a Demo Lab initiative developed with academic support from the Cornell Center on Democracy.
The academy organizes civic education around knowledge, reflection and practice, with a goal of turning disengagement into participation.
Its first component is the Freedom Course, a 15-hour online program offering a Cornell certificate and open to people worldwide.
The course combines foundational ideas about democracy and freedom with documentaries about people who have risked their lives opposing authoritarian governments.
Demo Lab and Cultivator Content Labs produced the documentaries.
Cornell's center helps develop learning goals, teaching methods, subject matter and assessments of the program's effect.
Participants help adapt curriculum
The July sessions trained prospective instructors, gathered feedback about countries' differing needs and sought to build a network capable of extending the course's reach.
Presenters included Demo Lab Foundation CEO Nia Demming; National Endowment for Democracy President and CEO Damon Wilson; World Liberty Congress President Felix Maradiaga; and Freddy Guevara, director of its academy.
- At Cornell, McWhorter argues America’s progress outweighs failures
- Cornell team wins $10M to build tools for trust and public debate in AI era
- Cornell’s Fouhety falls in three sets at ITA Sectionals, stays in consolation draw
- Cornell’s Senthil Kumar wins sixth straight, advances at ITA Conference Masters
Other speakers were María Paula Romo, director of executive education and innovation at the Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom; Cornell Center on Democracy Director Rachel Riedl; Cornell research associate Marian Vidaurri; Reynolds Foundation projects director Max Reynolds; and Cultivator Content Labs founder Scott Foreman.
Cornell-affiliated students also participated, including undergraduates and the student lead of the Ithaca High School Civic Pathways Project.
Oscar Zhuo, a Cornell student in the Class of 2027, described the experience as a chance to learn alongside democracy advocates and consider how students could put classroom lessons into practice.
FingerLakes1.com is the region’s leading all-digital news publication. The company was founded in 1998 and has been keeping residents informed for more than two decades. Have a lead? Send it to news@fingerlakes1.com.