This past year, our country faced remarkable challenges - continued attacks on our democracy, the unraveling of women’s reproductive rights, and the lingering effects of the pandemic that left millions facing economic uncertainty.
These challenges had to be met with action - to empower individuals to organize in their own communities, push back against old systems, and shift the cultural conversation. And that’s exactly what Civic Nation did.
I’m excited to share our 2022 Impact Report, a snapshot of the work our initiatives accomplished this past year, and a preview of the exciting projects we have coming in 2023. Through a series of case studies, the report dives deep into how we protected democracy, responded to the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, promoted vaccine equity with Made to Save, and forged innovative corporate partnerships with companies like Snapchat and Lime. While I hope you’ll take the time to peruse the full report, I want to share a few of the highlights of the impact we made in 2022.
In 2022, Civic Nation continued our effort to combine on-the-ground grassroots organizing with large-scale culture and social change. We marshaled our network of 2,000+ media, corporate and nonprofit partners, 450+ celebrities, athletes and social media influencers, and 100+ creative agency partners in service of this goal. None of our work would have been possible without all of these incredible partners. We worked with over 1,400 high school and college campuses. We activated 36,200 people to take action with us and engaged millions more - directly reaching more than 11.3 million people.
Civic Nation’s 2022 Impact Report
Civic NationAt our core, Civic Nation is about the work of our initiatives - and each and every one of them was hard at work this past year.
ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge (ALL IN)
In 2022, ALL IN grew our network of participating campuses to 963 college campuses in all 50 states and Washington, DC. We worked with these campuses to promote nonpartisan student voter registration and turnout efforts, leading to a near-record-high youth voter turnout in the 2022 midterms. We also continued to diversify our ALL IN community of campuses, engaging 222 Community Colleges and 262 Minority Serving-Institutions, including more than 170 Hispanic-Serving Institutions, 45 Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and 60 Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions.
Students on ALL IN campus Clark Atlanta University
Civic NationEnd Rape On Campus (EROC)
End Rape On Campus continued to support student survivors of sexual assault this year through education, advocacy and action. When the Biden Administration released updated Title IX guidance in April, EROC was ready to ensure that it centered the needs of student survivors. In partnership with It’s On Us, EROC launched the Reform Title IX campaign to raise awareness about Title IX and the role it plays in protecting survivors of campus sexual assault. The campaign included billboards and taxi-tops in Washington, DC and New York City and a 30-second PSA which aired on MSNBC and Comcast networks. EROC also prepared for the January 2023 launch of our Campus Accountability Map + Tool, a comprehensive resource that provides in-depth information on sexual assault investigation policies, prevention efforts, and survivor support resources across more than 750 college campuses.
Reform Title IX taxi tops in New York City
Civic NationIt’s On Us
In 2022, It’s On Us scaled up our campus chapter recruitment and training efforts, adding 35 new campuses and increasing our total network to 300 active chapters. In August, we released first-of-its-kind research on how to engage college men in sexual assault prevention. The Engaging Men Research Report focuses on how male students feel about the prevention training they currently receive from their colleges and universities and how likely they are to get involved in preventing gender-based violence on campus. In 2023, It’s On Us will expand on this important research with two additional publications - one on male athlete perceptions of campus sexual assault and a quantitative survey of 1,000 college men.
Students at an It’s On Us event at SUNY Oswego
Civic NationThe United State of Women (USOW)
When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, USOW was ready to respond. We launched the Abortion Access Hub, a one-stop shop for information about abortion access and direct actions supporters can take to support abortion funds and local clinics. More than 165,000 people visited the abortion access hub in the weeks following the decision and nearly 15,000 people signed on to become abortion advocates in their communities. In the fall, USOW teamed up with Live Nation Women to host the Beautiful Noise Week of Action in Atlanta. More than 13,000 people attended a Beautiful Noise Live Week of Action event, including concerts headlined by Brandi Carlile and Alicia Keys, where attendees took action by registering to vote.
USOW at the State of Women Summit in Atlanta
Verity YataWe The Action
In 2022, We The Action’s community of lawyers donated nearly 47,000 hours of legal services worth nearly $20M while working on 370 different nonprofit projects. During the 2022 midterms, We The Action recruited 3,500 volunteer lawyers who worked with 36 organizations to help make the midterm elections safe, secure, and accessible for every voter. We The Action lawyers staffed 10,445 shifts answering questions on the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law’s national nonpartisan voter hotline, volunteered to represent local election officials facing threats, helped Rock the Vote turn complicated local voting laws into easy-to-understand voter guides to empower young voters, and much more.
We The Action empowered lawyers to protect the 2022 midterm elections
Civic NationWhen We All Vote
In 2022, When We All Vote was all hands on deck to ensure everyone could make their voices heard in the midterm elections. We engaged nearly 200 celebrities, athletes, and influencers, and recruited five new celebrity co-chairs: H.E.R., Becky G, Stephen Curry, Jennifer Lopez, and Bretman Rock to infuse voting into cultural moments ranging from the season premiere of black-ish to the NBA finals. In June, When We All Vote hosted the first-ever Culture of Democracy Summit, bringing together artists, athletes, academics, grassroots organizers, and business leaders to discuss the role different industries play in protecting and strengthening democracy. The summit featured a keynote address from Michelle Obama and 85+ speakers including Chris Paul, Selena Gomez, Kerry Washington and more.
As the midterms approached, we targeted voters in key states with voter registration and turnout messaging through a powerful combination of email, SMS and peer-to-peer texting, direct mail, phone calls, and social media, reaching 5.3 million voters and empowering more than 10,000 volunteers. And we turned voting into a celebration through our Party at the Polls program, which hosted more than 215 events at or near polling locations across the country.
When We All Vote partied at the polls in Philadelphia, PA
Civic NationSunsetting Made to Save
In May of 2022, Civic Nation wound down Made to Save, our vaccine equity initiative that mobilized thousands of individuals and organizations to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates in communities of color. Made to Save worked to overcome long-standing structural inequities by connecting the communities most impacted by the virus directly to funding, resources, and relationships through our national Vaccine Equity Hub. During this 18-month campaign, we built a coalition of 1600+ partners who engaged millions of people. Made to Save regranted almost $7 million directly to community-based organizations in communities of color and our grantees contacted 5 million people and had 625,000+ conversations in 21 languages across 24 states.
Made to Save’s bus tour stops in Nashville, TN
Civic NationEmpowering Changemakers Into 2023 and Beyond
This work is just the tip of the iceberg of what we accomplished in 2022. As we look ahead to this year, Civic Nation is excited to launch two new initiatives in the coming months - a new initiative to close the digital divide, and an initiative focused on cultivating the next generation of local leaders working to increase civic collaboration and engagement in their communities. We couldn’t be more excited to continue the work of our current initiatives and to launch these two new critical efforts.
It’s hard to distill the work of a year into a short snapshot, but I hope you’ll spend time with the full Civic Nation 2022 Impact Report and join us as we continue our work in 2023.
