This moment requires bold, courageous leadership to respond to the egregious threats to democracy we’re facing.
Our @kettering.org senior fellows are doing the necessary work, and we are honored to have them join us.
Kettering Foundation (@kettering.org) Senior Fellow @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social emphasizes the critical nature of SCOTUS decision in the tariff case for democracy.
@nealkatyal.bsky.social's outstanding work in this case exemplifies the courage and commitment that our democracy depends on!
When the Constitution is challenged, what matters most is whether people are willing to stand up for it. As the president and CEO of @kettering.org, I am deeply proud to see our senior fellows doing just that.
Congratulations to @judgeluttig.bsky.social on this distinguished honor!
His stirring remarks remind us that courage is not only necessary but also worth celebrating.
As 2026 begins, we recommit to a democracy built on clarity, sustained by courage, and strengthened through coalition. Our shared future depends on it.
Happy New Year from the Charles F. Kettering Foundation. 🎆
👂 Keep ideas open. Listen, learn, and make space for everyone to belong.
The #KetteringDemocracyPrize honors those who move democracy forward when it’s hardest. The 2025 laureates, Alexei Navalny and Judith Browne Dianis, show us how democracy depends on people who are willing to act with courage.
Experience the event + full reflection: https://bit.ly/4iy9Vdf
This year, don’t aim for perfection. Aim for participation. 🫱🏼🫲🏾
Open your 2026 calendar and add any of these meaningful actions to each month. You can even invite a friend to join you!
A myth we’re leaving behind in 2025: “We’re too divided to agree on anything.”
Our Kettering-Gallup #DemocracyForAll Project report found that two-thirds of Americans agree democracy is the best form of government. That gives us hope that we can work with in this new year. https://bit.ly/4j18KD1
This is what it looks like to lead with values, even when no one is watching.
In this #ResilienceResistance piece, Accountability Lab’s Naseera Noor-Mahomed honors public servants who choose integrity every day.
Cheers to the 2025 Integrity Icon Award winners 🥂 https://bit.ly/4nkokLW
In our newest episode of #TheContext, we welcomed Colleen Shogan, who served as the 11th Archivist of the United States. We learn what the National Archives protects and what’s at risk when transparency, nonpartisanship, and public access to records are weakened.
Listen here: https://bit.ly/4pKzwlL
Let’s close out the year with a reminder worth carrying forward from KF Senior Fellow Johnnetta Betsch Cole:
Democratic backsliding is coordinated. Our response must be too.
2025 CFK Global Fellows Flávia Pellegrino, @gscheiring.bsky.social, and @ivejvoda.bsky.social share the alliances and shared strategies needed to confront rising authoritarianism today.
Authoritarians rely on our despair. Hope is a form of resistance.
We asked our 2025 CFK Global Fellows what keeps them hopeful. Here are a few of their favorite things:
🎁 Courage is the gift that keeps on giving.
As KF Senior Fellow @kelleyjrobinson.bsky.social puts it, “courage is contagious,” and it’s something we build together when we lift up stories of hope alongside hard truths.
Compromise isn’t a weakness. It’s a gift. 🎁
And most Americans prefer it.
📊 80% say political leaders should compromise to get things done, even when it means accepting parts they don’t like.
Some thoughts from #TheContext host @alexlovit.bsky.social, as we consider the work ahead:
“If there’s one thing I take away from all the guests we’ve had on #TheContext in the last year, it’s to get involved, to connect with others, to do something.
🎄📚 ’Tis the season to read and rest.
In Out of Many, One: Writings on American Universalism, @ketteringfdnceo.bsky.social Sharon L. Davies offers a timely essay on rising authoritarian threats and the democratic values that call us to courage and unity.
Seven poems to cozy up to this season. 📖
In Visual Voices: Storytelling Through Poetry, poets respond to visual artworks shaped by memory, trauma, and resilience, offering language that slows us down and opens space for reflection: https://bit.ly/3FURrEN
When this episode of #TheContext with @ecetemelkuran.bsky.social first aired, her warning about rising autocratic power felt urgent. Now, the threat has only accelerated.
This conversation helps make sense of how we got here and why engagement matters.
Leadership shows up in moments of crisis.
Kettering Senior Advisor for State and Local Government Valerie Lemmie reflects on her early career as a city manager and what navigating the aftermath of a tornado taught her about public service, resilience, and leadership beyond city hall.
When people feel unseen or powerless, authoritarianism grows. 2025 CFK Global Fellows @gscheiring.bsky.social, Koketso Moeti, and Chris Muriithi, explain why addressing fear, inequality, and exclusion is central to defending democracy.
Months ago, what began as warnings are now lived consequences.
Thousands of jobs lost.
Billions of research funds halted.
Countless futures disrupted.
As we did from the outset, the Kettering Foundation continues to stand with our Senior Fellow James Comey, and we applaud his and Attorney General James’ courageous examples.
By dismissing the indictments against former FBI Director @jamescomey.bsky.social and New York Attorney General @newyorkstateag.bsky.social, the court has performed its constitutional duty to serve as a check against an overzealous executive branch and safeguarded the rule of law.
Today, federal judge Cameron Currie delivered a message about the use of criminal prosecution to settle old political scores: not in America.
A critically important warning for American democracy from respected jurist and Kettering Foundation Senior Fellow J. Michael Luttig, published by @theatlantic.com magazine.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
Kettering Foundation Research Fellow Erica Frantz offers a powerful examination of how strongman leaders are reshaping global democracy in her piece for The New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/o...
Sharon L. Davies (@ketteringfdnceo.bsky.social) kicks off today’s #DaytonDemocracySummit with a powerful reminder about why our collective work matters.
