Members of The Democracy Project, a joint enterprise of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, Freedom House, and the George W. Bush Institute, were at Penn Oct. 16 to launch the first of four events aimed at engaging college students in the Project’s bipartisan initiative to strengthen support for fundamental democratic values. 

About 25 students took part in discussion groups led by Penn Biden Center staff Ariana Berengaut, director of programs, partnerships, and strategic planning; Antony Blinken (pictured above), managing director; and Jeffrey Prescott, strategic consultant, along with Lindsay Lloyd of the Bush Institute and Sarah Repucci of Freedom House. The focus group was one of a series of events planned at university campuses across the country to deepen understanding of young Americans’ attitudes about democracy. 

Together with Jeffrey Green, professor and director of Penn’s Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy, and Scotty Reifsnyder, lecturer in the Penn School of Design, the three organizations hosted an in-depth discussion on the health of American democracy.