Youth Civic Action Across the United States

Projects, Priorities, and Approaches

Bibliographic Data

ID2329322
AuthorsElena Gustafson (University of California, Berkeley), A K Cohen (0000-0001-9848-934X, University of San Francisco, CA, USA, corresponding author), Sarah Ande (Generation Citizen, New York City, NY, USA), Sarah Andes (Generation Citizen, New York City, NY, USA)
Year2021
Volume53
Issue4
Pages654-675
Publication date2021-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueYouth & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0044-118X • E-ISSN: 1552-8499
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0044118x19883737
OpenAlexW2981523638
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited22

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

Action (physics) · Civic engagement · Civics · Geography · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Quarter (Canadian coin) · Sociology · Variety (cybernetics) · Youth participation · Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression · Diverse Education Studies and Reforms · Law · Youth Development and Social Support

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