Young people are your constituents today, and your voters tomorrow.
Helping young people see the value of government and how they can work with it — and you — to shape your community will help you to create cohesive communities and accountable policies. You can champion youth civics education and engagement.
1. Consult youth as you shape policies.
Listen to their needs, hear their opinions, seek out their perspectives. Decisions you make affect their lives. Just because they might not be able to vote yet, doesn't mean that they shouldn't have a say.
2. Visit schools and talk about your work and experiences.
Inspire youth to be political actors in their everyday lives—and maybe even run for office one day. You can shift perceptions of the profession and government overall.
3. Introduce and advocate for policies in your schools, districts, and state that require and support Action Civics.
States such as Illinois, Florida, and Massachusetts have passed requirements for civic education in their schools and offered state-wide curriculum recommendations. Districts such as Oakland and Chicago, have hired staff to specifically work on civic engagement.
1. Consult youth as you shape policies.
Listen to their needs, hear their opinions, seek out their perspectives. Decisions you make affect their lives. Just because they might not be able to vote yet, doesn't mean that they shouldn't have a say.
2. Visit schools and talk about your work and experiences.
Inspire youth to be political actors in their everyday lives—and maybe even run for office one day. You can shift perceptions of the profession and government overall.
3. Introduce and advocate for policies in your schools, districts, and state that require and support Action Civics.
States such as Illinois, Florida, and Massachusetts have passed requirements for civic education in their schools and offered state-wide curriculum recommendations. Districts such as Oakland and Chicago, have hired staff to specifically work on civic engagement.
Get in touch with us for more information about how you can support Action Civics policy in your community by emailing Generation Citizen's Senior Director of Policy & Advocacy, Andrew Wilkes, at [email protected].
Don't forget to tell us what you're doing to promote Action Civics and why it's important to you!
Share on social media using #beyondtheballot and tag us for a repost @gencitizen (Twitter) and @generationcitizen (Instagram).
Share on social media using #beyondtheballot and tag us for a repost @gencitizen (Twitter) and @generationcitizen (Instagram).
