Youth civic engagement
Friday, Mar 21, 2008
In St. Paul, Some Policy Makers Are Still in High School
Ninth-grader Dohneshia Moran told a reporter that she has been dropping by the Doorway nearly four times a week since it opened. “This is a great way to get help,” she said (New center’s goals hinge on helping kids aim for college, Mar. 16, Star Tribune).
The Doorway is a community-based career services office that operates from the Dayton’s Bluff Recreation Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. It is the first of at least two planned centers, and was developed by the City of Saint Paul, a roundtable of college officials, and Second Shift Youth Commissioners.
The Second Shift Youth Commission was created in 2006 by Mayor Chris Coleman as a way to involve young people in policy making and planning. It includes a high-school aged representative from each of the city’s neighborhoods.
Thursday, Feb 21, 2008
"Youth Caught Being Intelligent!" post by Sara Benincasa
Peter Levine's Feb. 19 post led us to Sara Benincasa's Feb. 15 post on Think.MTV.com. She writes about a young man who took a reporter by surprise with his well-informed, rational responses to questions about politics and the policy proposals of candidates for United States president. Sara asks for more stories she can highlight of "wise, erudite youth" from different "political corners."
Whether or not you identify as a youth, and whatever your political leanings, another way to amplify your voice and be a part of making change happen this election cycle is to organize with others off-line. The November 5th Coalition has tips for organizing a house meeting and sample questions for candidates. The all-partisan alliance "invites all Americans to shape a new civic politics that can galvanize the energies of the nation, drawing us from the shopping mall back into the public square....to renew Abraham Lincoln's 'government of the people, by the people, for the people.'"
Friday, Feb 15, 2008
The Voices of Second Shift Youth Commission
We invite you to learn about the St. Paul Second Shift Youth Commission, a group of young people from across the City of St. Paul who know they can make a difference in their communities. Listen here to the fifteen minute story on what motivates the different teens to do what they are doing.
This audio report was funded by the Surdna Foundation and was produced through a collaboration of the St. Paul Second Shift Youth Commission and the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.
Thursday, Feb 14, 2008
These youth apprenticeships have civic impact
Youth (yooth) - a set of thoughtful, passionate leaders who come to the table with curiosity and power, with curiosity and power to be unleashed
Apprenticeship (ə-prěn'tĭs-shĭp) - relationship between youth and mentor, from which the youth derives skills, guidance, and challenge, and the mentor derives renewed outlook, meaning, and challenge
Project (prŏj'ěkt') – a grand connection that yields great change
Youth are powerful agents of change. This summer, 30 young people ages 14 to 19 will be connecting to the West Side neighborhood in St. Paul, Minnesota, and impacting the way it works and grows.
They’ll engage in this process through the Youth Apprenticeship Project (YAP), a program initiated by the Neighborhood Learning Community.
Wednesday, Jan 30, 2008
Lights, camera, youth action!
On a blistering hot afternoon last summer, five young people from the West Side neighorhood of St. Paul, Minnesota, sat down with film makers from the St. Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN) to begin a week-long session of documentary film making. The goal was to learn, plan, and produce two short documentary films about the West Side community.
The youth were a part of an All Around the Neighborhood (AATN) youth leadership initiative called West Side Youth Guides. West Side Youth Guides is a leadership and mentorship program for kids in grades 6 to 8 who go to school or live on the West Side neighborhood. With coaching by a community member, an Urban 4H youth worker, and myself, youth guides practice their leadership and mentorship skills through facilitating, mentoring, and working with younger children and adults at AATN day camps.
Monday, Jan 7, 2008
A day on, not a day off
Two weeks from now on Monday January 21st, we will celebrate Martin Luther King Jr Day with what will be for many a day off of work or school. In 1994 Congress passed the King Holiday and Service Act, designating the King Holiday as a national day of volunteer service. Instead of a day off from work or school, Congress asked Americans of all backgrounds and ages to celebrate Dr. King's legacy by turning community concerns into citizen action.
Learn more about MLK Day and how to make it a day on at http://www.mlkday.gov/
Thursday, Dec 6, 2007
Getting started with Public Achievement: self-interest
At InterDistrict Downtown School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Public Achievement is part of the ninth-grade civics curriculum. Danielle Peterson, Minnesota organizer for Public Achievement and an experienced PA coach, is working with social studies teacher Molly Keenan to co-coach two ninth-grade teams as they develop skills to be powerful, active citizens.
In an interview, Danielle described an exercise she uses to help students articulate their self-interest and understand the role of self-interest in doing effective public work with others.
Friday, Nov 9, 2007
Podcast: Students should get a (public) life
Kelly Heskett, a 20-year-old student at "the U" doesn't come right out and say "get a public life." But it's clear she thinks that she and other students at the University of Minnesota have opportunities - and a responsibility - to organize and make change on campus. Kelly talks about how she came to see herself as an organizer, and what she wants to change first.
In her interview, Kelly refers to an organizing class called Community Organizing Skills for Public Action, taught by Harry Boyte and Dennis Donovan. Read the PA1401 course description.
Tuesday, Sep 25, 2007
Bertelsmann Prize
In May of 2007, Public Achievement was named one of 15 finalists for the prestigious Carl Bertelsmann prize. Awarded annually since 1981 by the Bertelsmann Foundation, the Carl Bertelsmann prize is an international award that recognizes "innovative approaches and outstanding ideas that help shape and further develop democratic societies."
Although the Bertelsmann Foundation has just announced that the prize will be awarded to another initiative, the London-based Citizenship Foundation, we all have a lot of reason to celebrate, as well as to reflect and develop more our work to create democratic societies with citizens at the center of public work.
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