Learn how you can Ignite positive change with Forge
Have you ever wanted to make a positive change in your community? This semester, Forge is introducing a new Skills Course on Civic Entrepreneurship called Ignite, where students will learn how to channel their passions into meaningful civic action and change. After just 10 weeks, students will understand how civic engagement goes well beyond the voting box, and will gain a solid grasp on policy making, research, strategy, communications, and more through creative, hands-on projects.
To help students better understand what this course is all about, we spoke with instructor Brendin Duckett. Read below to hear his words describing the course and why he’s so passionate about teaching students the skills they need to make a difference in the world.
Tell me a bit about you and why and how you got involved with Forge. What made you want to be the instructor for Ignite?
If I didn’t have time to tell you anything else about myself, I’d say I’m just a Midwest boy trying to make his momma proud. In 2019, I did just that when I graduated from the University of Virginia’s Batten School of Leadership & Public Policy.
Upon graduation, I ended going up to NYC to work on Wall Street for an Asset Management company. Like many others who have social change focused majors, but end up working on Wall Street, the motivations were to 1) help pay down some of my student debt faster, 2) gain the skills I thought I needed to be successful anywhere, and 3) hopefully build up my own financial and social capital to one day move into economic development or impact investing.
That mindset shifted radically in 2020 after seeing Black and Brown folks get infected and die from COVID at disproportionate rates, as well as the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. By June, after hitting my 1 year anniversary, I knew I needed to be closer to the fight for Justice and be doing my part somehow. So as MLK called on us to do: I recognized the fierce urgency of now, and rejected the tranquilizing drug of gradualism that had been influencing my decisions.
Outside of work I had a strong educational background, so I decided to lean into that. My specialty was teaching 6–12th graders about the ways they could use social entrepreneurship to have agency in their own community. The most recent experience being in the fall of 2019 where I led an after school apprenticeship program with an organization called Citizen Schools. Over the course of 10 weeks I worked with a inspirational group of Black & Latino teen entrepreneurs, helping develop and pitch social ventures ranging from a new media company focused on women’s sports to an app that allowed students getting bullied to report it fast & more discreetly.
After evaluating all the things I could do to help get into the fight, I knew I wanted to extend my impact teachings to civics. I quickly realized Forge was the place to start.
In the spring of my third year I had taken an old Forge class called Spark which was centered around education and entrepreneurship. That class quite literally sparked my journey into the type of teaching I’ve done, and I wanted to do the same for students who wanted to know how they can make a difference in the world. While Spark was about sparking your passion for education, Ignite is about igniting a sense of civic duty and helping students realize that they can influence how the government shapes our society.
Could you describe the new course Ignite and what it’s all about?
Ignite is class about Civic Entrepreneurship, which is the strategic use of civic engagement beyond the ballot box.
The class starts with students developing, refining, and/or discovering their Civic Identity together. This includes things such as reflecting on how your values are or are not reflected in society, as well as sharing views around what social, economic, and environmental justice looks like.
After that, we move into developing Civic Knowledge. This includes understanding the role of government in various facets of our life. Whether this be case studies about the tools of government, or learning how the policy making process works at the federal, state, and local levels. The whole idea is that once you know better, you’ll do better.
Doing better is the bulk of the class, and we describe that as Civic Action. Unlike a lot courses that just talk about problems or give you a background of the mechanics of government, the majority of course will be about taking action together through things like effectively lobbying your congressperson, campaigning in the VA 2021 elections, using web design to inform people about the election, and even consulting work with advocacy based organizations.
What part of the course are you most excited about?
I am most excited about the transformational community that we are going to build. Doing civic work brings people together in a way that in some ways can’t be described in words. There is something special about not only talking about problems with others, but figuring out how to do something about them. There are going to be students who may think they have nothing in common, and then they end up lobbying congress together.
In the long run, I am excited for students to remember their peers and this class every time they go to the ballot box, every time they apply for a job in government, or every time they run for office.
What do you hope for students to gain and learn from taking your Skills Course?
While students will learn many “practical” skills such as web design, digital marketing, and policy communications. My real hope is that students learn about the power they have to make a change through civic engagement, as well as a renewed or increased appreciation for the potential of our government to create a more equitable and just society.
If you could tell students one thing to know about Ignite what would it be?
If you’ve ever wanted to make more of a difference in the world, but didn’t know where to start, then this is the class for you.
If you’re feeling inspired to take the plunge and learn how you can actively make a positive change in your community or even your country, make sure to apply for Ignite here by 11:59pm Tuesday February 9th, 2021.
