Minnesota Civic Leadership Institute Online (CLIO)

We have developed more than 100 short videos by filming diverse civic leaders reflecting on their experiences and what they have learned from them. More than 300 toolkits, exercises, and other resources also support inclusive understandings of civic education, democratic participation, and community development and change. The content and site structure reflect input from the CLIO advisory group, three focus groups, and other users. People using the site are encouraged to rate and comment on specific items as well.

More than 4,500 teachers, civic engagement and youth development program leaders, and community stakeholders have received information about CLIO through email newsletters, direct messages, and handouts or discussions at events. It is harder to know the number of young people reached, in part because we do not require users to register (because that might discourage them from using the resources) and thus cannot track individual users, and also because a single user can show a video to a class or print out a document and share it with a group without any indication of that broader reach. The higher education institutions, youth development organizations, and others who received information about CLIO serve at least 480,000 young people across the state, so we likely met our goal in terms of reach.

Trainings we offered definitely increased participants’ capacity to support civic education and engagement. The 75 people who attended the October 18, 2014, day-long “Developing Civic Leaders” event were split almost equally between educators and college students. In response to an online evaluation survey, they agreed that they had “gained practical information or skills” (4.25 average on a 5-point scale), “left more aware of resources available to support my civic leadership development work” (4.13 average), “left with specific ideas or intentions for actions” (4.24 average), and “made new connections with others” (4.25 average).