Community Guidelines

The mission of Our Democracy’s partnership with NWP is to spark inquiry into the living narratives and concepts that underpin the state of democracy today. Through this collaboration, the Our Democracy team and NWP aim to provide a safe and supportive environment and platform for youth and communities to both read and write about those stories and ideas themselves through journalism, media creation and publishing about personal experiences, local issues and concerns related to democracy.

What does democracy look like?

The Our Democracy team and NWP invite students and people of all ages to produce writing and multimedia reporting that tell everyday stories about democracy in their lives and in their own communities. Stories that demonstrate American democracy’s failings and successes. Stories that challenge or question democracy. And even stories that define, redefine or reimagine it.

Essays, print journalism, photography, audio pieces and video storytelling are welcome. Stories should focus on personal and local aspects of and topics related to democracy.

As a journalism/education project, Our Democracy provides these community guidelines:

• The Our Democracy Map will be read by a diverse national and global audience. We encourage all writers, media makers, and educators to consider this public audience when writing and publishing. We encourage contributors and viewers of the map to read widely across the site as a way to explore and learn from diverse perspectives about democracy from youth and communities around the country. We encourage contributors and viewers of the map to share Our Democracy posts beyond the site in order to promote dialogue about democracy.
• We encourage writers, media makers, and educators to cite sources and provide links to research as appropriate so that viewers of the map can learn more.
• We encourage contributors and viewers of the map to read widely across site as a way to explore and learn from diverse perspectives about democracy from youth and communities around the country.
• We encourage contributors and viewers of the map to share Our Democracy posts beyond the site in order to promote dialogue about democracy.
• We encourage writers, media makers, and educators to cite sources and provide links to research as appropriate so that viewers of the map can learn more.
• We encourage educators to support writers and media makers by creating opportunities for discussion, research, writing, feedback, revision, and publishing.
• When publishing, contributors should respect the privacy considerations of peers and others in their community. See our Privacy Policy. Educators and writers should review our Terms of Use. Please note that hate speech will not be tolerated and will be removed by administrators.
• Community members and readers should report problems or concerns to administrators by flagging content on the site using the Report a Problem feature or emailing us at ourdemocracy@nwp.org.