Our Blog
Up-to-date information about GC and the broader community we serve.
Nov142017Read More >Generation Citizen 2017 Annual Report
We are excited to share our 2017 Annual Report. The report highlights key achievements from the past year, including our new three-year strategic plan, our advocacy work, and the many ways our students have gone Beyond the Ballot, turning political frustration into meaningful, passionate, sustained civic participation. Click here to read on.
Nov132017Read More >Launching Generation Citizen’s 2017–2018 Policy + Advocacy Agenda
Our vision for federal, state, and district policies that will bring Action Civics to every student Generation Citizen’s (GC) policy and advocacy agenda describes our approach to prioritizing Action Civics in federal, state, and district-level policies, laws, education standards, and programming. Our agenda is not intended to serve as a definitive statement to be applied in all communities. […]
Nov072017Read More >A Cycle of Non-Participation: The Breakdown of Our Democracy
A Cycle of Non-Participation: The Breakdown of Our Democracy Our democracy is plagued with non-participation and a large civic engagement gap. What can be done? By Lena Bilik, Generation Citizen Advocacy Fellow It’s election day! And given recent voter turnout rates, it is highly likely you won’t be voting, especially if you are a young, low […]
Nov022017Read More >Taking Action on Gun Violence
Taking Action on Gun Violence: GC student reflects on how an effective civics education can make a difference and prevent issues within a community By Julian Viviescas, Generation Citizen Student Leadership Board member The incident that recently took place in Las Vegas which took over 55 lives still hurts the families of the victims, the city, and the […]
Nov022017Read More >Radeha Haque, Generation Citizen Alumna, Shares Public Testimony on the Importance of Action Civics Education
On October 29, 2017, Generation Citizen NYC alumna, Radeha Haque, submitted public testimony to the New York City Council’s Education Committee. Here she explains her experience in a Generation Citizen class and how it empowered her to address situations of bullying and discrimination. Read on! Testimony by Radeha Haque 9th Grade Student at […]
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Testimony to the New York City Council Education Committee
On October 29, 2017, Generation Citizen NYC Executive Director, DeNora Getachew, submitted public testimony to the New York City Council’s Education Committee during the Oversight Hearing re: the DOE’s Response to Incidents of Bullying, Harassment, and Discrimination in NYC Schools and Efforts to Improve School Climate. Here she explains the role of Action Civics in effectively […]
Nov022017Read More >What We’re Reading
Every few weeks, GC picks out a selection of articles that are relevant to our work and to the civics education space as a whole. We at GC love to expand our learning in every aspect of what we do, and we hope you enjoy our selections! Should we worry that half of Americans trust […]
Oct262017Read More >Why Oklahoma?
Why Oklahoma? By Scott Warren, CEO For the first six years of Generation Citizen’s programming, all of our sites were located on the coasts: Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, and California. We realized though, that if we were serious about proving that Action Civics could work anywhere, we needed to expand to more diverse geographies. […]
Oct232017Read More >Teachable Moments in Civics Class
Teachable Moments in Civics Class: Responding to Misguided Opinions and Declarations by Bonnie Mills, Manager of National Program Development and Partnerships “The Electoral College isn’t fair! Why would I vote if my vote might not count?!” As a former American Government and Politics teacher, I heard this sentiment from students often. Upon learning that the Electoral […]
Oct162017Read More >Learning about Democracy, One Phone Call at a Time
Learning about Democracy, One Phone Call at a Time: Why early experiences with civic engagement matter by Isa Ballard, Finance Manager I stumbled into my first substantive experience with civic engagement. I was a sophomore in college, it was my first presidential election as an eligible voter, and I wanted to get involved but I wasn’t […]
Oct102017Read More >What’s This About A State Constitutional Convention?
A Lesson Package to Educate New York’s Voters Young & Old about This Rare Automatic Ballot Question In just under a month New Yorkers will have a once every 20 year opportunity to decide whether to call a constitutional convention to review our New York State constitution. Despite how little time remains before this rare […]
Sep292017Read More >Listening and Learning from Focus Groups this Spring
GC’s Impact on Students, Post-Programming At Generation Citizen, we’re in this for the long game. We know that a functioning democracy requires the sustained investment and engagement of its citizens, whether it be an emerging democracy, or one 250 years down the road of its citizen-led experiment. We know that the requisite habits of active […]
Sep282017Read More >Action Civics for District Leaders
We’re launching a peer community for school district administrators It is vital for the strength of our democracy that every student in the U.S. receive an Action Civics education. Generation Citizen will teach upwards of 13,000 students this year, and 30,000 per year by 2020. But there are over 50 million K-12 students in the country. […]
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A Lesson on New York State’s Constitutional Convention
Attention Educators: We Have Lesson Plans on the New York State Constitutional Convention! A large portion of New York voters do not understand or even know, about the 2017 Constitutional Convention ballot measure and the potential consequences of the vote. To both ensure a more informed electorate, and to also engage young people in this […]
Sep202017Read More >Improving Democracy Starts with its Citizens
Improving Democracy Starts with its Citizens How a focus on the citizen-centric process of democracy leads to better outcomes By Emely Anico, Nora Howe, Brandon Klugman, Sydney Menzin, Sarah Nicita, Scott Warren Over the last few months, several of us at Generation Citizen, with the help of Brown University students, have been conducting research centered on the […]
Sep182017Read More >We’re Hiring a Generation Citizen Massachusetts Development Manager
Generation Citizen is a quickly scaling national non-profit that works to ensure that every student in the United States receives an effective Action Civics education, providing them with the knowledge and skills necessary to participate in our democracy as active citizens. We envision a country of young people working to collectively strengthen our American democracy. […]
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What We’re Reading
Every few weeks, GC picks out a selection of articles that are relevant to our work and to the civics education space as a whole. We at GC love to expand our learning in every aspect of what we do, and we hope you enjoy our selections! If “Did Not Vote” Had Been A Candidate […]
Sep132017Read More >Action Civics Across the Nation: Our Strategic Plan
When we founded Generation Citizen about eight years ago, the promise of the organization became apparent as soon as we entered classrooms. We immediately saw young people advocating for better public transit, tackling the opioid crisis before it became a national hot topic, grappling with police-community relations. We quickly saw the power of Action Civics. And the […]
