For many years, democracy has been alive and well across Tri-C's campuses in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. Ranked as one of the top five community colleges in America, we serve more than 40,000 traditional and nontraditional students each year. Plus, 85% of our students remain to live and work in the region — so preparing students to serve as stalwart community stewards of civic engagement is a basic tenet of the College.

The Democracy Fellows Program is mentored by Tri-C Government Relations and held in partnership with the Fair Elections Center's Campus Vote Project. It's an annual, nonpartisan, civic engagement year of service for our Fellows.

Six scholars — Afolabi, Alexis, Cherise, Rishi, Sarah and Verona — will be serving as Tri-C Democracy Fellows in 2026 through Tri-C Government Relations. The 2026 cohort is the ninth in the program's history and is focused on nonpartisan civic engagement.

The Democracy Fellows' year culminates in The Voting Experience at Tri-C.

The Voting Experience at Tri-C

Our annual, award-winning voter education event — for students, by students — serves as the capstone event of the Democracy Fellowship year.

• Since 2018, Tri-C has been holding the voter education event for the fall semester that we've dubbed The Voting Experience.
• The branded, pop-up voting event, offered in person and online, serves as an ever-growing legacy project for each cohort of Campus Vote Project Democracy Fellows serving at Tri-C. It also supports our role as a Voter Friendly Campus and an Ask Every Student Codesigner Campus.
• The Voting Experience takes place on every campus in the two weeks surrounding Constitution Day (Sept. 17) and National Voter Registration Day (Sept. 15 in 2026). Event dates and details will be shared closer to the fall term.