Archives
Since it's inception in 2000, the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life has featured a multitude of programs and research studies. Outlined below are projects that are no longer active.
Texas Civic Health Index
We think of “civic health” as the way that communities are organized to define and address public problems. Communities with strong indicators of civic health have higher employment rates, stronger schools, better physical health, and more responsive governments. The importance of these actions, and the lack of information we know about them, led the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life to publish the first Texas Civic Health Index (™) (CHI) in 2013. Given the state’s rapidly growing and changing population demographics, and our nation’s evolving political landscape, the civic habits of Texas’ residents deserve revisiting. This report provides an update to the 2013 Texas CHI and presents an assessment of civic health in Texas in 2018.
Turning Points
This project illustrates to students major Constitutional questions and encourages class discussion and debate through lesson plans and a collection of videos. The goal of this project is to improve civil argument, build comfort and tolerance for diverse opinions, improve Constitutional knowledge, and support our democratic values.
American Trustees
A collection of documentary films and standards-aligned lesson plans that allow viewers to discover how citizens can be influential in the civic arena, what motivates people to change the world, and most importantly, helps viewers to uncover how they can become trustees of their own communities.
Campaign Mapping Project
The Campaign Mapping Project is a multi-year attempt to assemble campaign materials produced during presidential elections between 1948 and 2020, as a guide to understanding the direction of American politics. The CMP's assumption has been that past research has too often lunged from campaign to campaign with few consistent questions being asked and with few broad findings emerging as a result.
Campaign Bootcamp
Campaign Bootcamp is a nonpartisan immersive program that provides attendees the skills and knowledge necessary to prosper in the world of political campaign. Hands-on workshops are taught by active political professionals on topics such as campaign management, communications, field work, volunteer management, fundraising, and more.
Texas Media & Society Survey
In partnership with the School of Journalism, the survey reveals the attitudes of Texans and Americans on media and politics, measures habits of news consumption, and offers insight into how people become informed in the digital age.