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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Teachers at a Dallas professional development workshop in small groups talking to each other and engaging in an activity

On July 15, the Institute finished its last regional Speak Up! Speak Out! professional development workshop in Dallas, Texas. Teachers from six school districts in the DFW metroplex attended the workshop to learn how to facilitate the Speak Up! program in their classroom and to develop skills in the following area: Action Civics 101, Social Emotional Learning, Digital Advocacy, Research through Primary and Secondary Sources, Organizing a Project-Based Classroom, Practicing Civil Dialogue, and more. For more information about the Speak Up! Speak Out! professional development opportunities, please contact speakupspeakout@austin.utexas.edu.

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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.