We believe co-design and play are powerful ways for young people to showcase their gifts and develop civic mindsets and skills. In early 2025, in partnership with Big Thought, we supported 25 young people from Dallas in creating The Porcelain Child—a youth-designed card game that explores how adult words and actions shape a young person’s identity, trust, and sense of belonging.

Unveiled at SXSW EDU 2025, The Porcelain Child is more than a game—it’s a call to reimagine connection, learning, and civic life through relationships and co-creation.

UnTextbooked was co-created by a team of teenagers and the History Co:Lab as a way to showcase the power of history to inspire and inform changemakers. In each episode, a young person interviews a prominent historian about their work and highlights how the themes of the past are relevant for today.

UnTextbooked was nominated for an Ambie in 2024, the highest award in podcasting, has been #1 on Apple Podcasts in History, has won the Spotify Next Wave award winner and was an Apple New and Noteworthy in 2021 and 2023.

The future of school is moving towards highly engaging learning experiences that build competencies, show professional pathways and connect kids with communities.  XQ and the Carnegie Foundation are leaders in that work of transformation. 

We are proud partners, leveraging our expertise in learning through play, game design and … to create learning experiences that draw students into the practice of understanding and making history. 

Each unit shows a unique pathway (diplomat, advocate, geographer) and builds core competencies for the future.

Effective learning requires a connection to the real world, taking place beyond the walls of a classroom. We have created a civic learning ecosystem in Kansas City in partnership with the Hall Family Foundation and Kauffman Foundation’s Real World Learning initiative, weaving over 30 community cultural institutions into the core curriculum with project- and place-based learning.

The impact of this work was published in 2024 in the book “Built for More”, in a chapter on “Leveraging the Community as a Civic Classroom.” See below for a brief video highlighting teacher stories.

Remake Learning in SW Pennsylvania is the nation’s foremost weaver of comprehensive neighborhood based learning networks. In partnership with their team, we co-created a Civic Learning Ecosystem that unites diverse individuals and organizations committed to redefining civic education.

Launched in 2024, this regional working group fosters a vibrant community, curates impactful events, and offers catalytic support for transformative civic learning experiences. For an October 2024 article describing the group’s work, see below.

In partnership with Re-Imagining Migration, we are advancing efforts to build belonging for all youth in a time of rapid demographic change and increasing xenophobia. A key initiative is the development of a Belonging Barometer, designed to assess and strengthen the sense of belonging in schools and across regional ecosystems.

We are collaborating with Pamela Cantor, MD’s Human Potential Lab to ensure that we integrate the biology of belonging into how we help schools and communities create inclusive environments.