Learning Life

Learning Life

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Learning Life is a nonprofit devoted to building democracy and diplomacy learning communities With this mission in mind, we run two programs.

1.

In our increasingly interconnected yet divided world, we develop innovative learning communities in order to widen and deepen participation in democracy and diplomacy. The Family Diplomacy Initiative (FDI) connects families worldwide across lines of country, class, race and religion via the internet to share and learn together with an eye to training family diplomats to advocate for a more caring world.

2. Our DMV Democracy Learning Community (DMV DLC) is a nascent association of individuals and organizations in the Washington DC or DC-MD-VA (DMV) metro area working together to strengthen democracy by developing engaging events, products, services and spaces that nurture fun, learning, networking, collaboration and wider, deeper citizen participation. Learn more at learninglife.info.

Photos from Learning Life's post 08/25/2026

Selected pics from last Saturday’s at the Open Gov Hub in .

The Dinner focused on the gathering area 8th-12th graders this fall.

Thanks to the Open Gov Hub for hosting! Thanks also to our interns, Avery, Leeona, Dylan, Muhammad, Amara, and Mikelle for helping, and to the parents and other guests who took part in the Dinner.

More pics from this and all Dinners since 2019 at:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12lnVAANqz2r4DfaBB9R-z5eDW3AfAb4M?usp=drive_link

Upcoming events this year:

1. Saturdays, Sept 26, Oct 3 and 10: DMVYouthSummitOnYouthPolicymaking. 8th-12th graders interested in government, history or law, learn more and RSVP at: learninglife.info/youthsummit

2. Saturday, Oct 10, 1-6pm: 3rd DMV Democracy Festival at All Souls Church Unitarian in NW DC. Details and ways to engage at learninglife.info/demfest

3. Saturday, Nov 14, 6-9pm: Democracy Dinner on how DMV schools and nonprofits are and could be partnering to strengthen . Details and RSVP link at learninglife.info/democracydinners

08/13/2026

Coming this Sunday at 12:00-1:30pm New York time live via Zoom!

Know individuals and families directly impacted by or ? If so, please share this post as we would like to hear from them at this Sunday's dialogue on the topic, and its impacts on families. Even if they cannot make Sunday's meeting we would like to connect with them.

Want to take part in Sunday's dialogue? Let us know in this post's chat below, and we will send you the Zoom link.

Interested in family diplomacy? Mark your calendar and sign up to get notices of Learning Life's Dialogues: bit.ly/DISPATCH

Photos from Learning Life's post 08/11/2026

Photos and video recording of Learning Life's 5th family diplomacy dialogue of 2026 on July 19. The dialogue focused on how families across the world are impacted by poverty.

See the full dialogue video on Youtube here:
https://youtu.be/o4SphaBAX24?si=jwzeUxEszj4mdun8

Thanks to all those who contributed to the discussion!

Mark your calendars! The next Family Diplomacy Dialogue is Sunday, August 16, 12:00-1:30pm New York time.
Topic: family, online bullying, and sexual harassment.

The Dialogues are part of Learning Life's international Family Diplomacy Initiative. FDI connects people worldwide across lines of country, class, race and religion via the internet to share and learn together about families and citizen diplomacy, with an eye to developing a corps of trained Family Diplomats and Family Diplomacy Ambassadors to advocate for a more caring world via media, businesses, nonprofits and governments.

Learn more about FDI and how you can get involved: http://learninglife.info/fdi

Photos from Learning Life's post 08/04/2026

Photos and video recording of Learning Life's fourth dialogue of 2026 on June 21, focused on how are impacted by .

See the full dialogue video on Youtube here:
https://youtu.be/O2nPJVk4bKo

Thanks to all those who contributed to the discussion. Special thanks to our board member, Suzanne Lachelier, for moderating the discussion!

Mark your calendars! The next Family Diplomacy Dialogue is Sunday, August 16, 12:00-1:30pm New York time
Topic: , and .

The Dialogues are part of Learning Life's international Family Diplomacy Initiative. FDI connects people worldwide across lines of country, class, race and religion via the internet to share and learn together about families and with an eye to developing a corps of trained Family Diplomats and Family Diplomacy Ambassadors to advocate for a more caring world via media, businesses, nonprofits and governments.

Learn more about FDI and how you can get involved:
learninglife.info/fdi

08/02/2026

Meet Learning Life's summer Democracy & Diplomacy Interns hailing from Howard University, The George Washington University, American University, Davidson College, and our and summer-fall Democracy Interns, hailing from School Without Walls High School, Bullis School, Sidwell Friends School, Georgetown Preparatory School, British International School, and DC International School.
https://learninglife.info/spotlight-summer-2026-learning-life-interns/

Learn more about our internships for university students:
https://learninglife.info/intern/

And middle and high school students:
https://learninglife.info/democracyintern/

Photos from Learning Life's post 07/14/2026

Photos and video recording of Learning Life's third of nine Family Diplomacy Dialogues of 2026 on May 17. The dialogue focused on how families are impacted by war, including refugee issues.

See the full dialogue video on Youtube here:
https://youtu.be/EJNoCOeHclo?si=vOp09sSHv0kfIVjX

Thanks to all those who contributed to the discussion. Special thanks to our Family Diplomat, Thaïs Hill Jones for moderating the discussion!

Mark your calendars! The next Family Diplomacy Dialogue is Sunday, July 19, 12:00-1:30pm New York time. Topic: and .

The Dialogues are part of Learning Life's international Family Diplomacy Initiative. FDI connects people worldwide across lines of country, class, race and religion via the internet to share and learn together about families and citizen diplomacy with an eye to developing a corps of trained Family Diplomats and Family Diplomacy Ambassadors to advocate for a more caring world via media, businesses, nonprofits and governments.
Learn more about FDI and how you can get involved:
https://learninglife.info/fdi/

07/01/2026

Three days from the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it's worth asking: why don’t we celebrate more often, especially in our nation's capital?

Well, we do, and you can follow, support and take part.

Learn more about the in the region. http://learninglife.info/demfest

06/01/2026

Citizen Diplomacy International (CDI) meets tomorrow/Tuesday, June 2, 11am-12:30pm ET (New York/Washington DC time) to discuss development diplomacy. Email me for the Zoom link.

About CDI:
CDI is a program and network of Learning Life, a Washington DC-based nonprofit building inclusive learning communities in order to widen and deepen participation in democracy and . CDI gathers scholars, students, professionals, and observers every three months online via Zoom for 1.5 hours to share news and presentations on (CD) research and practice, local to global, with an eye to building a vibrant global CD sector for a more participatory, equitable and sustainable world.
https://learninglife.info/cdi/

Subscribe to get email notices of CDI meetings:
https://bit.ly/cdbulletin

Photos from Learning Life's post 04/29/2026

Photos and video recording of Learning Life's Family Diplomacy Dialogue on Sunday, April 19.

The dialogue focused on (a) how families are impacted by genderbasedviolence or GBV, with a focus on women and children, and (b) how families can help address GBV. You can see this rich and moving dialogue on Youtube here:
https://lnkd.in/et9M9dVA

Mark your calendars! The next Family Diplomacy Dialogue is Sunday, May 17, 12-1:30pm New York time. Topic: Families and war.

The Dialogues are part of Learning Life's Family Diplomacy Initiative. FDI connects people worldwide across lines of country, class, race and religion via the internet to share and learn together about families and citizen diplomacy with an eye to developing a corps of trained Family Diplomats and Family Diplomacy Ambassadors to advocate for a more caring world via media, businesses, nonprofits and governments. Sign up here to get email notices about family diplomacy, including the live dialogues and their topics: https://bit.ly/FDDispatch

03/24/2026

Meet Learning Life's spring 2026 interns, hailing from The George Washington University, Georgetown University, Marymount University, American University, George Mason University, UCLA, and Agnes Scott College.

https://learninglife.info/spotlight-spring-2026-learning-life-interns/

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