Centering Youth Voice During Civic Learning Week

Take time during Civic Learning Week to highlight youth your organization works with, appreciate them, and discuss how they embody your organizational values and purpose. Does your organization have youth board members or advisory group members? Use Civic Learning Week as an opportunity to publicly thank them. Be sure you have the proper permissions from the youth and parents/guardians!

Tips: 

• Tag youth in social media, being additionally cognizant of the platforms youth themselves are using, to ensure they can share with their networks.
• Invite the young person to write a blog, do a podcast episode, or submit a video speaking to the impact the organization has had on their civic learning.
• Share youth testimonials about engagement with your program or organization. 
• Provide youth with a template to make story-telling easier, empower them to choose the format for communication they feel most comfortable with, provide plenty of lead time, and tag them as you share so they can share too!
• Have the CEO and/or Board Chair publicly thank youth leaders within your organization with a formal acknowledgment.
• Invite young people to share a story about their leadership experience that can be shared on your website and through social media.
• Present youth with an award or certificate, and send a letter to their school to acknowledge the honor.

Regardless of whether it’s an election year or not, young people become eligible to vote every year, and we want all those eligible to vote and pre-register to do so. Eligible voters between the ages of 18–29 historically have lower turnout than other age cohorts. Take some time to register young people, and prepare them to vote in their first election, as actually voting is a strong indicator of continuing to do so. 

Tips: 

• Engage alumni to help plan the event.
• Invite younger students to learn, too! Seeing older youth get excited to vote can inspire those younger to become engaged.
• Engage youth election judges/poll workers to share their experiences.
• Support youth hosting voter registration and/or pre-registration events.
• Partner with local election officials in your registration efforts.

Additional activities for engaging in non-election years:

• Volunteer
• Hold discussion sessions, learning about the political landscape
• Educate peers on civic responsibilities and democratic principles
• Engage in local government meetings and discussions
• Contact elected officials
• Join or form civic engagement groups
• Host a town hall with elected officials

Ensuring balanced perspectives is key to civic education. When discussing civic topics, encourage youth to critically analyze multiple viewpoints and engage in respectful discourse.

Tips:

• Host structured debates or discussion forums.
• Provide resources that present diverse perspectives.
• Encourage information literacy to help youth identify bias and misinformation.

Many young people want to make a difference but aren’t sure how to start. Providing guidance and exposure to different opportunities can help them discover civic passions.

Tips:

• Offer mentorship opportunities with civic leaders.
• Provide assessments to help youth identify areas of interest.
• Share stories of youth-led civic initiatives to offer inspiration.
• Encourage participation in existing youth councils or civic organizations.

Have youth create tangible products like a media message, capstone project, service project, etc. that demonstrate civic values. Find ways to showcase that work during Civic Learning Week. 

Tips:

• Invite youth to submit items to be showcased. 
• Publish items, giving credit to youth creators. Consider highlighting in newsletters, social media, etc.
• Invite youth to share their “why” for creating the product that is included in the showcase.

Youth are highly creative and can bring enthusiasm to the planning process. 

Tips: 

• Start early! 
• Provide timeframes and guidelines (number of events possible, budget, etc.).
• If creating committees, define roles and responsibilities for keeping committees on task.
• Connect youth to the right staff members (marketing, programs, CEO, etc.) to bring their plan to life and support success. 

In today’s digital world, online engagement is critical to reaching young people effectively.

Tips:

• Use platforms where youth are most active.
• Work with youth to create interactive and visually engaging content.
• Encourage user-generated content and peer-to-peer sharing.
• Establish safe online spaces for dialogue and collaboration.
• Provide clear calls to action that empower youth to take meaningful steps.