Report on the First Democracy Festival in the U.S. Capital Region
Learning Life held the first Democracy Festival in U.S. capital region on Saturday, October 26 at 1-6pm. Held at Friendship Collegiate Academy in northeast Washington, DC, DemFest:
- Drew at least 182 participants from the DC region and beyond.
- Fostered collaborations with 35 organizations, including high schools, university partners, government agencies, businesses, and nonprofit advocacy groups in the DC region.
- Included diverse democracy-related discussions, skill-building workshops, a democracy wall, organizational tables, comedy, theater, and a youth assembly on mental health. Click here to view the full 2024 DemFest schedule.
- Substantially expanded Learning Life’s event organizing experience and materials for future DemFests, including lists of potential partners, volunteers, interested participants, as well as documents and goods (DemFest sign-up sheets, surveys, posters, tote bags, t-shirts, magnets, etc.).
See the photo collage below for a visual sense of DemFest 2024.
“DemFest 2024 marks the beginning of new democratic tradition in our nation’s capital region. It helps make democracy more engaging for a wider spectrum of DC area residents, including youth, who constitute the future of American democracy. Thus, we intend to expand DemFest with each subsequent year in order to widen citizen participation, especially in this era of serious challenge to American democracy,” said Paul Lachelier, Learning Life’s founder.
DemFest is the second significant step in the development of a wider DMV Democracy Community in the Washington, DC area, following on the first step, Learning Life’s Democracy Dinners. Launched in June 2019, the Dinners began as a way to connect and engage a growing number of democracy professionals in the DC region in conversations about the threats and opportunities for democracy at local to global levels.
With now 48 Dinners completed, 300+ participants, plus a wider network of 8,000+ democracy-related professionals in the capital area with whom Learning Life communicates, in 2025 Learning Life is launching the third step in the development of the DMV Democracy Community: the DMV Democracy Dispatch, an email newsletter to expand the Community, and help regularly inform and connect interested democracy stakeholders in the DC region, including government and nonprofit professionals, democracy-related business leaders, plus school and university teachers, staff and students.
“With the 2024 elections over, and challenging years ahead for democracy, what we as citizens do now, together, matters for the future of our nation. If you live in the Washington, DC region, there is no better time to take part in the growing DMV Democracy Community to connect, learn, and strengthen democracy,” said Lachelier.
Learning Life would like to thank our DemFest sponsors: our site host, Friendship Public Charter Schools and their staff, as well as Open Gov Hub, Allied Telecom, and individual sponsors, Michael Brown, Matt Clausen, Laurie Cooper, Nichola Dyer, Amy Fisher Bruey, Ana, Francois, Philippe and Suzanne Lachelier, Cindy Mah, Bill Schneider, Nusrat Sultana, and generous anonymous donors.
We would also like to thank the many organizations and individuals who contributed publicity, tabling, speakers, performances, volunteers, ticket purchases, discounted goods, and/or else. The contributing organizations, in alphabetical order, were:
Alliance for Regional Cooperation (ARC)
AmeriCorps
Better Angels – DC Chapter
Capital City Restaurant Group
Center for Free, Fair, and Accountable Democracy (CFFAD)
Center for Partisanship
Center for Religion & Diplomacy
Center for Values in International Development
Cesar Chavez Public Charter School
DC American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
DC Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, Office of
DC Board of Elections
DC Statehood Green Party
DC Tutoring & Mentoring Initiative (DCTMI)
DC Vote
Defending Rights & Dissent
Friendship Public Charter Schools
Georgetown Democracy, Education + Service (GeoDES)
Governance Alive LLC
Grassroots Comedy
Guided DC Museum Tours
GW Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service
The makers of “Join Or Die,” a documentary film
League of Women Voters of DC
Lutheran College Washington Semester
Make All Votes Count DC
Maryland Libertarian Party
Marymount University Center for Career Development & Community Engagement
Mikva Challenge
Multilateral Project Against Extremism (mPAX)
Open Gov Hub
Rising Organizers
Ron Brown College Preparatory High School
The Civic Circle
Tonic Theater Company
We were honored to have Prince George’s County Council Member Wala Blegay speak as part of a panel on careers in politics, and the former Mayor of Minneapolis, MN, Betsy Hodges, speak on democracy, race, gender and immigration. Other contributing individuals, in alphabetical order by first name, were:
Alaina Leasure, Alannah Poplawski, Amy Nilsson, April Calderon, Audrey Banks, Avery James, Avram Reisman, Ben Yavitz, Bill Schneider, Caitlyn Shrewsbury, Carolyn Elder, Carolyn Lukensmeyer, Chase Bowsher, Chris Blackwood, Conor Kellicutt, Diya Jaisankar, Dorothy Simon, Elene Japaridze, Ellen Myers, Elton Skendaj, Emily Tang, Eunjin Park, Gabriela Hilario, German Eiras (wife, Andrea, and their daughter), Grace Anderson, Harrison Reinisch, Hasan Abumelha, Ian Bastida, Jacob Schwartz, James Liska, Jeffrey Richardson, Jenna Tooley, Jessie Tucker, Jiayi Wang, Joshua & Cindy Kisubika, Julee Sharma, Kadir Jun Ayhan, Kailee Sullivan, Kate Griesemer, Kayla Huong, Kurt Elftmann, Kiyono Hasaka & James Gomez, Kyle O’Donnell, Kymone Freeman, Leslie Figueroa-Borja, Lorelei Kelly, Luke Nathan Phillips, Ma’Shayla Hearns, Maddy Keen, Maebelle Faragallah, Maggie Yang, Mahum Shah, Matt Hurtt, Matt Turanchik, Melani McAlister, Mike Cooper, Nichola Dyer, Nick LaCascia, Nkosi Crawford, Paule Ndjiki-Nya, Peter Amponsah, Peter Vicenzi, Racquel Garcia, Danielle Reiff, Remaya Campbell, Rylee Christian, Samantha Cruz, Sami White, Summer Anwer, Sunny Kim, Suzanne Lachelier, Theo Kim, Trevor Ruszczyk, Valery Mayorga Garcia, Vinay Orekondy, Walter Heiser, Yvonne Oh, Zaineb Majoka, Zayd Hamid, and Paul Zeitz. Our apologies for anyone we missed! You can notify us of any omissions via email@learninglife.info.
