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Student Democracy in Action Fund

The RDL Student Democracy in Action Fund supports engaging projects that give students hands-on experiences with democracy, leadership, and community impact.

Your Voice Matters

As the heart of the Rutgers Democracy Lab, students are empowered to engage, lead, and make a meaningful impact on campus and beyond. The Student Democracy in Action Fund provides funding for student-led clubs and organizations to design innovative programs, events, and projects that foster civic learning, strengthen leadership, and inspire active participation in campus and community life.

Apply today!

Students at the NJ Votes Summit

Focus Areas for Funding

The Fund provides up to $500 to support interactive democracy activities and prioritizes participatory formats that foster civic learning, strengthen communication and leadership, and inspire active participation in campus and community life.

Funded projects should prioritize shared learning and public engagement while clearly aligning with one or more of the following focus areas:

  • Projects that explore, mobilize, or interrogate the role of the arts in democratic life. This includes creative practice, cultural production, and arts‑based research that foster civic imagination, collective memory, political expression, public dialogue, or democratic belonging.

  • Initiatives that foster constructive dialogue across political, racial, economic, religious, generational, or ideological divides, particularly those that test new formats, pedagogies, or facilitation models.

  • Projects that critically examine or creatively deploy technology in democratic life, including AI, social media, civic tech, platform governance, digital equity, and the future of democratic institutions in a technological society.

  • Projects that encourage democratic participation, civic learning, or public problem-solving at local, state, national, or global levels, including partnerships with communities, governments, schools, or civil society organizations.

Funding Details

Before starting your application, please see all funding details below:

  • These funds are not meant for conferences, panels, or lecture series that do not include a substantive interactive component. This means funded projects will actively engage participants and encourage dialogue and collaboration through a community-based lens. Projects may include, but are not limited to:

    • Participatory workshops or civic labs
    • Civic design projects and activities that build civic networks 
    • Arts‑based civic engagement and storytelling initiatives
    • Public dialogues or community forums that are co-creative 
    • Interactive simulations, role‑plays, or deliberative exercises
    • Skill‑building or civic learning intensives
    • Public problem‑solving or democracy innovation pilots

    In short, engagement must be integral – not supplemental – to funded opportunities.

    • Open to Rutgers undergraduate and graduate student clubs or organizations*
      • *All student proposals must have a faculty or staff sponsor to administer the award and to mentor and provide guidance
    • Cross‑campus, interdisciplinary, and community partnerships are strongly encouraged
    • Projects must take place within your designated funding period (Fall 2026 or Spring 2027)

    NOTE: Individual students may not submit proposals. All student proposals must be backed by a Rutgers-affiliated student club, organization, or network.

  • The Student Application will open for submissions on Tuesday, September 15th.

    Applicants will be expected to provide the following details:

    1. Event or Project Overview
       Title, description, organizers, faculty/staff collaborators, and intended audience
    2. Interactive Design
       Planned activities and experiential learning (what participants will do, create, produce, etc.)
    3. Format and Timeline
       Event structure, date(s), and location
    4. Fit with RDL
       How the project aligns with the mission of the Democracy Lab
    5. Itemized Budget
       How Democracy in Action funds will be used
       

  • Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with decisions typically announced once a month until available funding is exhausted.

    First student awards will be announced in October.