January 11, 2017
Voqal recently released its first-ever annual report and is featuring some of the stories from the report on our blog. To read more download Voqal’s Fiscal Year 2016 Annual Report: Taking Risks.
Recognizing that there is a dearth of civics minded programming, Voqal Education decided to lead the charge and fund a civics version of the wildly popular Crash Course series.
Crash Course is an educational YouTube channel featuring 10-minute videos that condense complex topics into quirky, engaging tutorials. Crash Course’s YouTube channel has nearly 3 million subscribers, and the videos are shown in classrooms across the country, as well as watched by the public at large. While funding a proven success like Crash Course may not seem like a bold proposition, funding civics programming with the hope of changing attitudes and behaviors around participating in the democratic process is not the safest of bets. Yes, legions of fans love all things Crash Course, but could quirky civics programming actually increase participation in the democratic process?
Boosted by a partnership with PBS Digital Studios, the Crash Course — U.S. Government and Politics series has 50 episodes covering everything from how a bill becomes a law to gerrymandering. Information is power and the phenomenal viewership numbers bring us hope that our calculated risk has increased participation in the democratic process. At Voqal we believe the root of a healthy democracy is an educated and informed public and are excited to experiment with different ways of increasing access to information.