Strategic Plan, 2026-2030

Vision

A more just and equitable world co-created through civic learning, democratic participation, and collective action.

Mission

The Center for Civic Engagement inspires Redbirds to explore their values, learn about community issues, develop civic skills and agency, and act to make the world a better place.

Core Values

The Center for Civic Engagement affirms Illinois State University’s core values as stated in Excellence by Design: 2024-2030, the strategic plan for Illinois State University:

• Community and Civic Engagement — The Center for Civic Engagement prepares students to be lifelong learners and informed, engaged, and responsible community members who embrace democratic practices and principles to make the world a better place.
• Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship — The Center for Civic Engagement supports the co-creation of knowledge through civically engaged and experiential teaching, learning, scholarship, and creative activity.
• Equity, Diversity, Access, and Belonging — The Center for Civic Engagement provides opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to explore privilege, oppression, and social identities and build civic skills to advance equity, diversity, access, and belonging.
• Respect — The Center for Civic Engagement creates spaces for students, faculty, staff, and community members to offer differing opinions, and listen and respond to opposing views with civility.
• Collaboration — The Center for Civic Engagement builds and celebrates mutually beneficial and reciprocal partnerships grounded in asset-based practices. 
• Individualized Attention — The Center for Civic Engagement helps individuals identify their unique civic aspirations and make their Redbird Impact.
• Integrity — The Center for Civic Engagement promotes the development of ethical leaders and scholars who work with their communities to contribute to the public good.

As a member of Campus Compact, we also affirm their five commitments to advance the public purpose of higher education:

• We empower our students, faculty, staff, and community partners to co-create mutually respectful partnerships in pursuit of a just, equitable, and sustainable future for communities beyond the campus—nearby and around the world.
• We prepare our students for lives of engaged citizenship, with the motivation and capacity to deliberate, act, and lead in pursuit of the public good.
• We embrace our responsibilities as place-based institutions, contributing to the health and strength of our communities—economically, socially, environmentally, educationally, and politically.
• We harness the capacity of our institutions—through research, teaching, partnerships, and institutional practice—to challenge the prevailing social and economic inequalities that threaten our democratic future.
• We foster an environment that consistently affirms the centrality of the public purposes of higher education by setting high expectations for members of the campus community to contribute to their achievement.

Strategic Priority 1: Promote Student Civic Literacy and Democratic Participation

Promote civic agency, leadership, and lifelong engagement among ISU students by embedding civic learning across academic and co-curricular experiences, highlighting inclusive and global perspectives, and assessing the long-term impact of civic engagement.

• Goal A: Integrate civic learning throughout every student’s academic journey.
• Goal B: Increase student capacity for civic agency.
• Goal C: Increase voter registration and turnout.
• Goal D: Incentivize student civic engagement to foster student success and career readiness.
• Goal E: Continuously assess students’ civic engagement outcomes to enhance student success.

Strategic Priority 2: Cultivate Civic Networks for Collective Impact

Create and sustain meaningful civic networks through strengthening regional civic infrastructure, developing and maintaining equity-centered partnerships, engaging in collaborative planning, and increasing campus-community engagement.

• Goal A: Strengthen regional civic infrastructure through our role as an anchor institution.
• Goal B: Promote community-based research, public-problem solving, and economic development.
• Goal C: Cultivate mutually beneficial, sustainable, and equitable relationships with internal and external groups to enhance collective impact and prioritize community-identified goals.

Strategic Priority 3: Enhance Strategic Communication to Elevate our Redbird Impact

Strategically communicate to increase the visibility of initiatives and activities, access to resources, and support the recognition of faculty, staff, students, and community partners.

• Goal A: Create and enhance access to digital student-centered educational civic engagement resources and tools.
• Goal B: Increase the visibility of civic engagement initiatives and activities to enhance institutional recognition and elevate impact.
• Goal C: Recognize and reward ordinary and extraordinary civic engagement.

Strategic Priority 4: Invest in Institutional Capacity and Sustainability

Support high-quality, equity-centered civic engagement across the institution through building internal structures, skills, and resources, securing funding sources, and implementing infrastructure improvements.

• Goal A: Strengthen equitable institutional infrastructure/capacity for civic engagement.
• Goal B: Evaluate CCE resources to optimize capacity for civic engagement.
• Goal C: Expand, assess, and promote the Civic Engagement and Social Change (CESC) minor.
• Goal D: Continuously evaluate CCE programs for alignment with institutional and community goals.