PROVIDENCE, RI—Youth civic engagement takes many forms, from volunteering in a soup kitchen to starting a nonprofit organization. Our nation’s young people are much more civic-minded than tags like “Generation Me” suggest.
Youth in Policy: Civics2, our latest online collection at WKCD, focuses on the increasing role of young people in shaping public policy. Monthly articles and profiles by the youth-led news bureau Y-Press address youth participation nationwide, in policy arenas such as the environment, health care, and public education. Feature stories and case studies by WKCD showcase young people raising their voices around local issues, from pushing a school district to prepare all students for college to fighting cuts in public transportation.
We post new material regularly—do check back!
WKCD STORIES
Youth Voice in Local Government: A Win for All
It sounds revolutionary: creating a formal, substantive role for youth in local policy-making and planning. But for fourteen years, the city government in Hampton, Virginia has done just that—earning Hampton a spot on America's Promise list of 100 BEST Cities for Young People. Its Youth Commission has its own tax-payer supported budget and pushes for youth-friendly policy changes. The city planning department includes paid high school students who work alongside adult planners. Neighborhood advisory groups give young people the chance to try out leadership and activism on a small scale.
Our Schools, Our Future: San Francisco Youth Campaign for Equitable College Access
It’s lunchtime at Balboa High School, once one of San Francisco’s most troubled schools but now on the rebound. Twenty-five students grab a sandwich and a seat, in good spirits on one of the last days of school. They are all members of Youth Making a Change (YMAC), a veteran youth organizing program in San Francisco. In six hours, the San Francisco Board of Education will vote on a policy these students have fought for all year long: to make the “A through G” course curriculum, required for admission to California’s state universities and colleges, the default curriculum for all students in the San Francisco Unified School District.
Political Power: Chicago’s Mikva Challenge Gets Youth Involved in Politics, Policymaking
http://www.whatkidscando.org/featurestories/2009/01_Mikva/index.html
A few days after Barack Obama’s election, a group of Chicago youth gathers on the campus of DePaul University, excitedly discussing their plans to improve the city’s policies toward youth violence. They are not a college activist organization—rather, these high schoolers are part of the Mikva Challenge’s Youth Safety Council, an initiative designed to give Chicago’s teens a voice in a policy discussion that profoundly impacts their daily lives.
Saving “RIPTA”: Rhode Island Youth Battle Cuts in the State’s Public Transit System
When the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) announced that it faced a $10.5 million deficit and would need to eliminate routes, end bus services after 7 pm, and hike fares, a group of Providence, RI high school students decided to stand up. As members of a newly formed “media team” at Youth In Action (YIA), an after school youth organizing program in Providence, they wanted to use media to bring public attention to “The RIPTA Crisis”—which at the time seemed to be passing below the public radar screen.
Y-PRESS ARTICLES AND PROFILES
Youth Activism on Behalf of the Poor | April 2010
Worth Fighting For: Youth Activism and the Arts | March 2010
Shifting Perspectives: Youth Activism and Immigration | January 2010Breaking the Silence: Youth and Social Justice | November 2009
Youth and Health: Public Discussions, Private Decisions | October 2009
Religion, Service, and Activism: Youth and Faith | August 2009
Having a Say: Youth and Education Activism | July 2009
The Clock Is Ticking: Youth and Environmental Activism | June 2009
Taking Stock of Youth Organizing | May 2009
