Events & Opportunities
July 18, 2026
Democracy in Motion
The constitution grants congress the power to establish post roads and regulate interstate commerce. For 250 years, political decisions rooted in these powers have shaped how we travel from place to place and even who can travel from place to place. For some, transportation is a mundane issue: the vehicles and routes that are needed to get where they need to go are available and convenient, even if they might not work perfectly sometimes. For others, getting around can be difficult and exhausting, or even impossible. Some find joy in getting around and others face barriers. How does transportation reflect our democratic values? Does how we get around foster democracy? If not, could it be made so?
11:30 a.m., Grants Pass Library, Grants Pass
September 19, 2026
Civicus: What Does It Mean to Be a Citizen?
In the United States, most people would say they believe in democracy. But do we all understand the word in the same way? Where does the concept of democracy come from, and what makes “the rule of the people” work? This conversation will dig into the history, philosophy, and practical workings of democracy. We’ll look at the words of important political thinkers from the past, the US Constitution, and research on challenges to democracy in the present day. We’ll leave with a better sense of what we mean when we say democracy and how to participate in the democratic process locally and nationally.
11:00 a.m., Grants Pass Library, Grants Pass
November 7, 2026
Are We Created Equal?
This conversation will explore equality. It is a core national value of the United States, even if we have not always lived up to that value. What does it mean to say, as the writers of the Declaration of Independence did, that “all men are created equal” and to declare that this is a self-evident truth? In what ways are or should we be equal? How does this ideal of equality show up in our daily lives, our communities, and our politics? How, finally, has this ideal of equality changed over the past 250 years—and how might it change further over the next 250?
11:00 a.m., Grants Pass Library, Grants Pass