Scholarship & Access Program
Access to civic education — not a discount program.
The Scholarship and Access Program helps reduce financial barriers to practical, nonpartisan civic education. As funding becomes available, scholarships may support registration, travel, online access, accessibility needs, student access, and resource support for people whose participation advances the Institute’s educational mission.
Awards depend on available funding and donor restrictions. You can join the interest list before full applications open. You do not need to identify as a First Amendment auditor to apply.
What scholarships can cover
Support takes several forms.
Awards may be full or partial, depending on funding, donor restrictions, and the applicant pool.
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Registration scholarship
Full or partial admission to the 1A Auditor Summit or a related training program.
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Travel assistance
Airfare, mileage, lodging, or ground transportation when attendance would otherwise be impossible.
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Accessibility support
Captioning, interpretation, mobility support, caregiver access, or other reasonable participation supports.
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Online access scholarship
Livestream pass, recorded course access, or remote training for national reach.
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Student & youth access
Registration, materials, and group education support, with appropriate screening.
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Resource support
Printed materials, templates, and training guides for community learning.
Who the program is for
The program is open to applicants whose participation advances the charitable and educational purposes of the Institute.
- Independent journalists, citizen journalists, documentarians, and community media creators.
- Public records users, transparency advocates, researchers, students, and educators.
- Civic volunteers, nonprofit workers, and community accountability advocates.
- Individuals with limited financial means who could not attend without support.
- People serving communities with limited access to legal education or civic media resources.
Priority when funds are limited
When qualified applications exceed available funding, we may prioritize applicants who meet one or more of these factors.
- Demonstrated financial need.
- Serving or representing underserved communities.
- Students, emerging civic educators, and early-stage citizen journalists.
- Plans to create public resources, report responsibly, or improve local records access.
- Ability to share learning with a community, newsroom, school, or audience.
- Areas with limited access to civil liberties or public records training.
What recipients agree to
Recipients agree to follow the event code of conduct, safety rules, lawful participation requirements, and media policies. Scholarship support is for education, lawful documentation, records literacy, and responsible civic participation — never to encourage unlawful conduct, harassment, intimidation, trespass, or unsafe confrontation.
See the Code of Conduct.
Join the interest list
Tell us you’re interested.
This is an early interest list, not a full application. We’ll follow up with timelines and eligibility when the application window opens.
For donors
Fund a scholarship cohort.
Restricted scholarship gifts directly expand access for students, journalists, and community advocates. Recipient information is shared with funders only in aggregated or anonymized form unless a recipient consents.