The US onAir Network will be working with volunteers from Maryland universities, colleges, and nonprofit organizations to oversee the curation and moderation of posts, aircasts (online discussions), and in person events for the Maryland onAir Hub …  related to federal, state, and local elections and government.

Our first outreach will be to University of Maryland partly because of its proximity to the state capital. We have identified many of University of Maryland’s civic engagement, academic, internship and research programs related to making democracy and civic responsibility a focus of higher learning on their campus … for students, faculty, staff, and local community. This post, over time, will have similar information on other collaborating organizations in the state.

Contact ben.murphy@onair.cc for more information on how to involve your organization.

Johns Hopkins University is Democracy onAir’s most recent Champion of Democracy in the US and globally.  JHU has as many quality educational, research, and service programs helping to support local, state, and federal democracies as any university in the world. These programs will be further enhanced by the new JHU School of Government and Policy that will bring together programs throughout the university to pursue evidence-based solutions to society’s greatest challenges.

Some specifically democracy-enhancing programs include:

• The NSF Agora Institute in the Homewood campus in Baltimore “strengthening global democracy through powerful civic engagement and informed, inclusive dialogue.”
• Special events like the annual Democracy Day offering students an introduction to the democratic process and the ways they can engage with it and the Democracy and Freedom Festival a series of events aimed at educating citizens about the importance of democracy and its essential role in advancing freedom, justice, and equality for all.

For more information, see the JHU slide show and the experimental Agora Custom Hub.