Ball State University has been awarded a $2.7 million federal grant to launch FORGE: Foundations of Representative Government and Engagement, a three-year initiative designed to strengthen the teaching of American history, civics and government, geography, and constitutional literacy across Indiana.
Funded through the American History and Civics–National Activities (AHC-NA) program, FORGE will be led by Ball State’s Center for Economic and Civic Learning (CECL). The initiative will bring together practicing educators, future teachers, school and district leaders, universities, schools, and civic organizations to build stronger statewide support for civic learning.
Over three years, FORGE will directly serve 255 civic leadership fellows, including 150 practicing educators, 60 teacher candidates, and 45 school and district leaders. Evaluation efforts will also reach approximately 2,000 students in FORGE-supported classrooms.
“Indiana has made important investments in civic education, and the opportunity now is to help educators and schools put that commitment into practice,” said Dr. David J. Roof, director of CECL and principal investigator for FORGE. “FORGE is about developing the knowledge, instructional capacity, partnerships, and leadership needed to make high-quality civic learning sustainable in schools and communities across the state.”
Rather than providing a stand-alone workshop or curriculum, FORGE will combine sustained professional learning, classroom implementation, educator leadership, regional partnerships, and research and evaluation. Participants will work with founding documents, constitutional principles, American history, geography, primary sources, and evidence-based instructional practices.
The initiative will operate through four interconnected components: Civic Humanities Institutes; Constitutional Literacy and Applied History Labs; Civic Leadership Fellows; and the Indiana Civic Partnership Network. Six regional Civic Learning Hubs will support that work across the state.
An interdisciplinary Ball State team will lead the initiative. Dr. Michael Ndemanu, professor of educational studies and FORGE director of outreach, will lead educator recruitment, regional partnerships, and community engagement. Dr. Rachel Geesa, associate clinical professor of educational leadership and director of educator leadership for FORGE, will oversee educator mentoring, leadership development, and teacher-candidate preparation.
Melissa Gentry of Ball State’s University Libraries will contribute expertise in civic geography, public history, and place-based learning. Dr. Jerrell Cassady, professor of educational psychology and director of Ball State’s Research Design Studio, will support research, data analysis, performance monitoring, and evaluation.
The project also reflects support from Ball State’s Sponsored Projects Administration. Augusta Isley, associate director of pre-award development and outreach, played a key role in developing the FORGE proposal and navigating the federal grant application process. Rachael Robertson, grant manager for personnel compliance, has provided fiscal and post-award management for CECL’s portfolio of externally funded projects, helping build the administrative foundation for an initiative of FORGE’s scale.
Initial work will include establishing the six regional Civic Learning Hubs, recruiting the first cohort of civic leadership fellows, developing professional-learning activities and instructional resources, and launching the project’s research and evaluation systems. A full-time project director also will be hired to oversee statewide implementation and coordination.
By the end of the three-year project, FORGE is intended to leave Indiana with a stronger network of civic educators, school leaders, regional partners, instructional resources, and research about effective approaches to civic learning.
“This grant gives us the opportunity to think beyond a single program,” Dr. Roof said. “The larger goal is to build something that lasts—stronger teachers, better-prepared future educators, deeper constitutional and historical learning for students, and a statewide network capable of supporting civic education long after the grant period ends.”
CECL will administer FORGE, with the Indiana Bar Foundation serving as an implementation partner. The foundation will contribute expertise in constitutional literacy, rule-of-law education, the We the People program, and Indiana’s broader civic-learning network.
Through its regional and statewide partnerships, FORGE will connect schools and educators with instructional resources, professional expertise, implementation support, and emerging research on effective civic education.
For more information, contact Dr. Roof at
djroof@bsu.edu or CECL at
CECL@bsu.edu.