Welcome

The Annette Strauss Institute was founded in 2000 on the belief that active, engaged citizens are made, not born, and that society benefits when citizens take part. Through research, the Institute cultivates future generations of citizens and leaders.

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New Politics Forum's Texas Civic Ambassadors taking a group photo at the Closing Summit with Terri Broussard Williams

The New Politics Forum hosted the Texas Civics Amabassadors Closing Summit from May 31st to June 2nd. At the Summit, TCAs presented about their year-long civic projects and attending networking events and organizational workshops. TCA projects ranged from hosting nonpartisan and bipartisan dialogues, to researching civic engagement on their respective campuses, to mentoring young K-12 students through civic engagement projects. The New Politics Forum is currently accepting applications for the TCA 2019-20 cohort until July 1. To learn more about the Texas Civic Ambassadors program, please visit this page. To apply to be a TCA, submit an application here.

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Educational Programs and Research

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College Programs

College programs include New Politics Forum and TX Votes. New Politics forum offers nonpartisan training, educational seminars, and conferences across the state. TX Votes is a student-led organization on the University of Texas at Austin's campus that practices Get Out The Vote activities.

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K-12 Programs

Speak Up! Speak Out! is a K-12 civic education program, in which students identify a community problem and collaborate in a small group to solve that issue. TexElects is a statewide competition for high school students, in which students create art projects that encourage their community to vote during presidential and midterm election cycles.