Generation Citizen
Teaching Kids to Change Their Futures
The Difference They Make/Why We Fund Them
At its very core, a democracy’s strength is measured by the participation of its citizens in the process of government, and representation of all its citizens’ needs. Yet many young people today do not believe they can have an impact on their communities, and do not know how to participate as citizens. This is especially true in poor neighborhoods, where kids often believe that government decisions are far beyond their sphere of influence.
Scott Warren, founder of Generation Citizen and the son of a State Department Foreign Service Officer, witnessed the first elections in Kenya during his childhood, and saw first hand the transformation from dictatorship to democracy. That experience gave him a special appreciation for the rights and responsibilities of citizenship – and a desire to expand the understanding of our democracy to young people in minority groups and poor areas in this country. Three years after its founding in Providence and Boston, Scott and his team are now engaging students in fifteen New York City schools, working with over 1,200 students in the City this year (and over 4,000 in their three cities).
An Afternoon at Generation Citizen
No dry lectures for the kids in Generation Citizen classes—GC’s philosophy is that action breeds engagement. Generation Citizen students are mentored by “near-peers,” students from local colleges, who help them engage directly in civic endeavors—meeting with representatives, lobbying local legislators, organizing letter-writing campaigns, writing opinion pieces for newspapers, and making documentaries about community issues. Students decide their own issues, determine how to take action, and assess their results.
Initial evaluation results have demonstrated that students who participate in Generation Citizen programs increase their overall academic skills, and are more engaged in both class and extracurricular activities. That’s because beyond influencing government decisions, these youth learn that they can have a real impact on many areas their futures.
Our Goal for Generation Citizen
With The Catalog’s assistance, Generation Citizen intends to broaden their reach into even more schools throughout the City; GC hopes to work with over 2,000 students in NYC in the 2012-2013 school year. Additionally, GC will work to deepen its impact, partnering with community organizations so that students can continue their life-long pursuit of civic engagement after the class is done. Generation Citizen hopes to become the pre-eminent civics education organization in the City, empowering thousands of young people to take action on issues they care about.
Generation Citizen empowers underrepresented youth to be active participants in the democratic process. To fulfill our mission, GC partners college volunteers with teachers to facilitate “Action Civics” classes in low-income secondary schools.
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