The History of
the Democracy Project
The Democracy Project of Transylvania began in 2016, when a group of Transylvania County residents came together around a shared concern: that civic education needed a stronger foothold in local schools, and that students, parents, and the broader community could all be part of building it.
From the very beginning, our founding committee, and the board that grew out of it, has represented people with a wide range of political positions. That mix is not incidental. It reflects our belief that civic values like listening, service, and mutual respect matter more than any single political stance, and that a genuinely non-partisan approach is essential to an organization with “Democracy” in its name.
DPT launched its pilot program in the fall of 2017 with the theme “Where I'm From,” inviting students at Brevard Middle, Rosman Middle, Mountain Sun, and Brevard Academy to explore how their own experiences shape who they are as members of a family, a school, and a community.
Since those early years, DPT has grown steadily and today reaches students across all four participating middle schools each year.
The program has grown thanks to a small, dedicated group of volunteers: board members who serve as school liaisons, community members who speak each year, judges who evaluate student work, and volunteers who staff DPT's table at Brevard's downtown festivals, where visitors are invited to paint “democracy rocks” with words like listen, serve, and connect.
Our logo tells part of this story too. Designed by Craig Adams with Mary Adam’s help on color and concept, it shows children standing arm in arm on either side of the Liberty Bell, its crack clearly visible, with the mountains of Transylvania County in the background. Democracy is powerful, but it has always required care and attention to keep it whole. That is the work DPT exists to support.
DPT is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and the Transylvania County public school system has given formal permission for the program to operate in its middle schools.
A Non-Partisan Project
We are, by design and by necessity, non-partisan. Some on our board prefer the word “sub-partisan”: our goal is to stay focused on the values that sit beneath and beyond any single political issue or party. We want students to learn to practice democracy, not to adopt any particular political position.