PACE’s Civic Language Perceptions Project seeks to understand peoples’ perceptions of the language associated with civic engagement and democracy work.
The words Americans use to describe our civic values, ideals, and practices are also the words we use to connect, share, and co-create our community and national future. What can we know about how aligned we are on our language choices related to our civic lives? Perhaps a more important concern underlies this question: Are we talking past each other about values we think we share?
PACE started exploring civic language over 5 years ago. Since then, the world has changed, the need to understand has grown, and the questions about what we do have become more urgent.
PACE is facilitating 7 webinars that present a deeper look into Americans’ perceptions of specific terms, as well as how certain audiences receive civic terms. On our webinar recaps page, you will find a recording and synopsis of each webinar along with slide decks and featured graphics.
Access an interactive dashboard from our 5,000 person, nationally representative survey. See toplines and crosstabs for 2021 and 2023 data; run your own analysis on questions related to your work and communities.
Pluralytics’ proprietary AI tools are aligned to our CLPP data; they will evaluate your communication content and help you generate more effective messages.
See the wording, format, and order of questions we asked participants.
Join us in person or virtually at a variety of conferences, meetings, and events this spring and summer.
Explore 2021 findings and learn more about the history of the Civic Language Perceptions Project.
Have a question that this page can’t answer? Email our team, who will reply within 24-48 hours.
View our most compelling insights from our 2021 research, including the assumptions about civic language that our data affirm, the assumptions they complicate, and the findings we need to face.
Learn from civic funders and practitioners who share 24 areas of guidance based on their experience experimenting and navigating specific civic language challenges.
PACE appreciates the work of the entire team at Citizen Data, our polling partner, and Kyle Chambers, our data scientist, for bringing this project to life. We also appreciate the many partners and friends who gave advice and feedback during the development process. This project is a reflection of countless conversations that shaped it to be of greatest service to the civic field. This project would not be possible without the generous funding and support of PACE members, especially the McKnight Foundation, Rita Allen Foundation, Lumina Foundation, and Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.