Civic engagement requires action
Generation Citizen is proud to be a leading organization in a network of groups promoting the concept of “Action Civics.” We believe that students learn about the political process though actively participating and engaging in the political process. You can learn more about “action civics”, and the National Action Civics Collaborative, here.
Action civics, an authentic, experiential approach in which students address problems through real-world experiences that apply to their lives, can be a powerful motivating experience setting them on a path towards lifelong civic and political engagement. In practice, action civics is an iterative process typically comprised of issue identification, research, constituency building, action, and reflection. The process is integral to building the skills, developing the knowledge and cultivating the values and behaviors mentioned throughout this document. During this process, adults provide the guidance and scaffolding for successfully launching youth-driven projects.
Action civics is not content area specific; what matters are the guiding commitments to:
- Action, especially collective action
- Youth voice, including experiences, knowledge, concerns, and opinions
- Youth agency, including action, authority, and leadership
- Reflection, especially as it enriches the process
The organizations that currently comprise the Action Civics Collaborative include:
- CIRCLE, Tufts University (Medford, MA)
- Earth Force (Denver, CO)
- Mikva Challenge (Chicago, IL)
- University Community Collaborative of Philadelphia, UCCP (Philadelphia, PA)
- Youth on Board (Boston, MA)
- Meira Levinson, Harvard Graduate School of Education (Cambridge, MA)