Youth Civic Action Across the United States: Projects, Priorities, and Approaches

2019 ◽  
pp. 0044118X1988373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Gustafson ◽  
Alison K. Cohen ◽  
Sarah Andes
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Urban Youth ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
The United States ◽  
Similar Proportion ◽  
Youth Voice ◽  
Civic Action ◽  
Youth Civic Engagement ◽  
Action Projects

Youth civic engagement is relatively low in the United States. However, when students are involved in an action civics class (like Generation Citizen), they enthusiastically take action on a wide variety of topics. To systematically assess what issues youth are interested in, we analyzed administrative data from 1,651 action projects conducted by students in Generation Citizen classes across the United States from fall 2012 through fall 2017. We found that the most common issues of interest were related to safety and violence or schooling. Over one quarter of projects tackled issues of trauma, and a similar proportion tackled issues of equity. This exploratory study helps reveal what urban youth in Generation Citizen classes around the county view as of civic interest and important to them. We encourage future researchers and practitioners to further document youth voice regarding civic action as we seek to understand and lift up young people’s unique insights.

scholarly journals An Exploratory Study of Civic Engagement and Participation Among a Panel of Adults Ages 85+

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 612-612
Author(s):  
John Rudnik ◽  
Taylor Patskanick ◽  
Julie Miller ◽  
Lisa D’Ambrosio ◽  
Joseph Coughlin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Small Body ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
The Past

Abstract The past twenty years have seen a surge in public attention devoted to increasing civic participation opportunities for older adults in the United States. At the same time, technology has transformed the way that information related to political and social issues is shared. A relatively small body of research has explored how older adults use technology-mediated platforms for political participation. In this study, the 85+ Lifestyle Leaders were surveyed to understand their experiences of civic engagement and participation. Responses to a questionnaire (N = 24) and focus groups (N = 22) indicate that participants are interested in and feel knowledgeable about social and political issues, but some forms of participation have decreased. Findings also suggest that there are opportunities for technology to facilitate engagement with and participation in social and political issues, for adults ages 85 and over. Issues of equity and accessibility will be highlighted in this presentation.

Pathways to Participation: Class Disparities in Youth Civic Engagement

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 400-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melody L. Boyd ◽  
Jason Martin ◽  
Kathryn Edin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
The United States ◽  
Youth Civic Engagement ◽  
Population Turnover ◽  
Family Level ◽  
Over Time

Recent research finds that there is a growing class gap in levels of civic engagement among young whites in the United States. Much of the literature on civic engagement focuses on individual– and family–level factors related to civic engagement. Our evidence suggests that it is critically important to consider variation and change in community–level factors as well, and that such factors may play a key role in facilitating or inhibiting civic engagement. To explore the puzzle of the growing class gap among young whites in civic engagement, we conducted two–generation in–depth qualitative interviews in white working class neighborhoods in Philadelphia and its inner suburbs, with companion interviews among Philadelphia–area youth living in middle class communities. We complement these interviews with quantitative measures of institutional and demographic changes in these neighborhoods over time. Our evidence suggests that a withdrawal of institutional investments in working class neighborhoods (and relative to middle class neighborhoods), along with an increase in population turnover and racial and ethnic heterogeneity, which has disproportionately impacted working class neighborhoods as well, may be important factors in understanding the growing class gap in civic engagement among white youth.

Having Their Say, Leaving Their Mark

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-153
Author(s):  
Adolphus G. Belk ◽  
Robert C. Smith ◽  
Sherri L. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Black People ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Historical Documents ◽  
Adverse Conditions ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Independent Organization

In general, the founders of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists were “movement people.” Powerful agents of socialization such as the uprisings of the 1960s molded them into scholars with tremendous resolve to tackle systemic inequalities in the political science discipline. In forming NCOBPS as an independent organization, many sought to develop a Black perspective in political science to push the boundaries of knowledge and to use that scholarship to ameliorate the adverse conditions confronting Black people in the United States and around the globe. This paper utilizes historical documents, speeches, interviews, and other scholarly works to detail the lasting contributions of the founders and Black political scientists to the discipline, paying particular attention to their scholarship, teaching, mentoring, and civic engagement. It finds that while political science is much improved as a result of their efforts, there is still work to do if their goals are to be achieved.

Beyond home and school: community-based media and youth voice on pandemic life in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-116
Author(s):  
Rafi Santo ◽  
David Phelps ◽  
Colin Angevine ◽  
Alexandra Lotero ◽  
Lucy Herz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
School Community ◽  
The United States ◽  
Youth Voice ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Home And School

247. Disparities in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Education and Testing Between Rural and Urban Youth in the United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. S125
Author(s):  
Ashley Morgan Ebersole ◽  
Samantha J. Boch ◽  
Andrea E. Bonny ◽  
Deena J. Chisolm ◽  
Elise Berlan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Urban Youth ◽  
The United States ◽  
Hiv Education ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Immunodeficiency Virus

scholarly journals Reconceptualizing civic education for young children: Recognizing embodied civic action

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-46
Author(s):  
Katherina A. Payne ◽  
Jennifer Keys Adair ◽  
Kiyomi Sanchez Suzuki Colegrove ◽  
Sunmin Lee ◽  
Anna Falkner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Head Start ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Civic Action ◽  
Civic Skills ◽  
Early Childhood Settings

Traditional conceptions of civic education for young children in the United States tend to focus on student acquisition of patriotic knowledge, that is, identifying flags and leaders, and practicing basic civic skills like voting as decision-making. The Civic Action and Young Children study sought to look beyond this narrow vision of civic education by observing, documenting, and contextualizing how young children acted on behalf of and with other people in their everyday early childhood settings. In the following paper, we offer examples from three Head Start classrooms to demonstrate multiple ways that young children act civically in everyday ways. When classrooms and teachers afford young children more agency, children’s civic capabilities expand, and they are able to act on behalf of and with their community. Rather than teaching children about democracy and citizenship, we argue for an embodied, lived experience for young children.

scholarly journals A Nation of Organizers: The Institutional Origins of Civic Voluntarism in the United States

2000 ◽  
Vol 94 (3) ◽  
pp. 527-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theda Skocpol ◽  
Marshall Ganz ◽  
Ziad Munson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Institutional Form ◽  
Current Discussion ◽  
Institutional Origins ◽  
Membership Associations

We challenge the widely held view that classic American voluntary groups were tiny, local, and disconnected from government. Using newly collected data to develop a theoretically framed account, we show that membership associations emerged early in U.S. history and converged toward the institutional form of the representatively governed federation. This form enabled leaders and members to spread interconnected groups across an expanding nation. At the height of local proliferation, most voluntary groups were part of regional or national federations that mirrored the structure of U.S. government. Institutionalist theories suggest reasons for this parallelism, which belies the rigid dichotomy between state and civil society that informs much current discussion of civic engagement in the United States and elsewhere.

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