Eliza Newlin Carney is founder and president of The Civic Circle, a civic education nonprofit that uses music and the arts to lift youth voices and empower students with civic skills. She launched the group in 2018 after 30 years as a writer, editor and columnist covering democracy, election law and politics at such publications as The American Prospect, CQ Roll Call and National Journal. She has taught journalism at George Washington’s School of Media and Public Affairs, and has served on the board of several arts nonprofits, including Class Acts Arts (now Artivate.) She produced a CD of original children’s songs, “Love Flows Down,” and at The Civic Circle is the principal writer of the program’s civic songs, assembly show and curriculum. She is a longtime advocate of cultural and civic life in Silver Spring, where she has lived for more than three decades.