Lightning Round #3

The spirit of service has always been fundamental to our national character and essential to our democracy. In 2026, America will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, providing an ideal opportunity to celebrate the American spirit of service—a spirit so powerfully expressed in the closing words of the Declaration of Independence itself. "We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor"

250 & Beyond is a national initiative, led by a coalition of leading service organizations, to create inspiring, inclusive, and enduring exhibitions to honor service in ALL its forms in communities, schools, libraries, and museums all across the country. It is a call to action, honoring our past, celebrating our present and inspiring our future, helping us respect our differences and transcend our divisions. If our nation is to last another 250 years, we must renew and sustain the American spirit of service among all our people and institutions.  Your museum, service organization, school, community or you as an individual can be part of this.

The National Museum and Center for Service is dedicated to creating a nationwide network of local service exhibitions and a signature national institution in a place of prominence near the National Mall in Washington DC.

As our country approaches America’s 250th anniversary in 2026, we have an opportunity to inspire learners everywhere with the core principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution—reclaiming their centrality to the American story and exploring their relevance to the country today. To help spark this national conversation, the National Constitution Center is creating a digital America 250 Civic Toolkit for learners of all ages that will offer the essential guide to the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and America’s founding principles. With the help of cross-country partners who can adopt part or all of the Toolkit resources into your museums and historic sites, we can ensure that the toolkit is widely distributed across America. The backbone of the Civic Toolkit will be a new Interactive Declaration of Independence along with the NCC’s acclaimed Interactive Constitution and serve as a hub for our America 250 resources. The toolkit will cover major constitutional ideas and principles and include essential videos from scholars, historians, and civic leaders explaining core constitutional concepts. The toolkit will provide Americans with a trusted, non-partisan framework—rooted in primary sources—to frame conversations at this crucial moment in American history.

The National Constitution Center serves as America’s leading platform for constitutional education and debate, fulfilling its congressional charter “to disseminate information about the U.S. Constitution on a nonpartisan basis in order to increase awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people.”

Uncover stories of the American Revolution as told by the people who lived it. The National Park Service and the National Archives and Records Administration are collaborating in a citizen archivist project to transcribe the pension records of more than 80,000 of America’s first veterans and their widows. The project will make a permanent contribution to the historical record for the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. Everyone is invited to participate. 

The National Park Service preserves nationally significant natural and cultural resources for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.

Two Lights For Tomorrow (TL4T) is national call to action to display two lights (in any form, size, etc.) in communities across the country. For the anniversary of the alarm ride of April 18, 1775 that began it all with "one if by land, two if by sea," we're calling on all historical and cultural organizations to help spread the word about how we're trying to help people remember these coming historic anniversaries that it's not just about what happened back then; it's about what it was all for: the chance for a better tomorrow. This is a grassroots state-level initiative that formed from the inter-state collaborations made possible by AASLH and VA250.

The American experiment is not guaranteed; it’s something we must reinvest in with each new generation. Surrounded by political division, distrust, and polarization, too many young people are losing confidence and now view the United States as a “democracy in trouble.” We believe that the best way to strengthen our democracy is to teach it, and that when young people see they can shape our country, they believe in its future. Through National Civic Learning Week and other collective efforts connecting to the 250th, the more than 360 members of the national CivxNow Coalition advance our movement for high quality universal civic learning through awareness, policies, and collective will to invest in our youth and our democracy. Whether you’re a student who is learning, an educator who is teaching, a community member who is encouraging, or a policy- or decision- maker who is empowering teaching and learning, you can center civic learning as an essential foundation of what schools do in your community, state, and nation. How youth come to celebrate the nation’s 300th anniversary in 2076 is dependent on the decisions you make now.  

Founded in 2009 by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, iCivics is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to advancing civic learning by providing educators and students with the knowledge, skills, and resources needed to embrace and engage in our civic life together. We empower educators and lead the movement to make civic education a nationwide priority so all young people have the confidence to shape the world around them and believe in our country’s future.