Youth Civic Engagement

Numerous studies indicate that in recent decades, young people's participation and engagement in democratic processes has declined substantially. Since 1972 (when the voting age was lowered to 18), turnout among young people under 25 years of age has slipped by about 15 percentage points, whereas there has been no decline among people 25 and older. In 1998 and 2000, young people (ages 18 to 24) constituted 5 and 8 percent, respectively, of all voters. Parallel evidence, however, reveals that young people are becoming more involved in community service and volunteering. An international assessment of 90,000 14-year-olds found that students in the United States are more likely to say they have volunteered than are students in any of the 27 other countries examined.

The debate over the extent to which young people are civically engaged and what this means has led to disagreement about which strategies are effective in helping youth become active and long-term participants in U.S. democracy. Some define "civic engagement" as involvement in politics or political processes and view youth electoral disengagement as a problem that needs to be addressed. Others argue that community service can be a foundation for other types of participation, including those associated with democratic, governmental, and political types of processes and efforts.

Recognizing that individuals do not automatically become engaged and responsible citizens but must be educated for citizenship, there has been a growing call for new strategies that will capitalize on young people’s idealism while addressing their disengagement from political and civic institutions to better preserve and enhance America’s tradition of civic involvement. How to achieve this goal, however, has been a matter of debate among experts representing various disciplines and perspectives. Political scientists, for example, focus on the political; educators focus on what happens in or near the classroom; service-learning advocates focus on service and volunteering; and youth development specialists focus on the developmental experience of the young person.

Recently, however, there has been increasing agreement among these experts—including teachers, civic leaders, policymakers, federal judges, and politicians—that school-based civic education can and should be seen as an essential strategy for increasing young people’s informed engagement with political institutions and issues. It is also a promising way to spur interest in and commitment to service and voluntarism.

Recognizing these trends, in late 2001, Carnegie Corporation of New York launched its Youth Civic Engagement subprogram with a focus on supporting and promoting a richer and more comprehensive approach to school-based civic education. This approach provides: 1) instruction in the fundamentals of democracy; 2) experiential opportunities—including community service, service-learning, and/or political engagement—that are integrated into school curricula and that allow students to be direct actors or change agents in addressing community or social issues and problems; and 3) time for reflection and analysis regarding these experiences. Moreover, this approach is applied throughout the school-age years, instead of being a "one-time-only" experience, and in developmentally appropriate ways.

This approach rests on three assumptions: 1) both political involvement and community service are critical to strengthening civic engagement and democratic participation; 2) service has the potential to act as a springboard for future political participation if young people have the opportunities and information needed to understand the link between service and civics; and 3) civic engagement is a developmental process—young people may participate in different activities at different points in their lives—such that participation in politics and/or political activism is only one of many indicators of civic engagement.

For a more detailed understanding of how the Corporation determined this focus, please see From Inspiration to Participation: A Review of Perspectives on Youth Civic Engagement, an edited version of a white paper prepared by Corporation Program Officer Cynthia Gibson, in the development of the subprogram. (The report can be downloaded from the web site of the Grantmaker Forum on Community and National Service, which published the report, at www.gfcns.org.) Also, please see The Civic Mission of Schools, a national report on U.S. civic education co-authored by Gibson and Peter Levine, deputy director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), University of Maryland. The report summarizes the research about and offers policy recommendations for U.S. civic education and is signed by sixty leading scholars and practitioners in this area. It can be downloaded at no charge at www.civicmissionofschools.org.

PLEASE NOTE: While the Corporation will, from time to time and on a case-by case basis, consider proposals from higher education institutions, this subprogram is focused primarily at school-based efforts at the K-12 level. In addition, please note that there are several other areas and/or types of projects that will not be considered and are discussed below under “What This Subprogram Will Not Support.” It is, therefore, strongly advised that potential grantseekers review this section carefully before submitting proposal applications.

Program Goals and Guidelines

The goal of the Corporation's Youth Civic Engagement Program is: To promote and improve civic education for young people in the United States so that they can participate fully in the instrumental and deliberative processes essential to a healthy democracy.

Therefore, the Corporation will consider support for:

• Research on and evaluation of effective school-based civic education practices and programs, particularly longitudinal evaluations of school-based service-learning or community service programs that include (but are not limited to) political/civic engagement indicators (voting, etc.) to assess the effectiveness of the programs and whether they contribute to the adoption of behaviors and skills over time, and assessments of existing civic education programs, especially empirical or comparative studies that attempt to identify the components that are most likely to contribute to students acquiring civic skills, behaviors or attitudes over time (i.e., "best practices”).
  
  
• National or regional organizations working at the policy or system levels to promote the incorporation of comprehensive school-based civic education programs across institutions, states, and/or nationally. Ensuring that comprehensive or melded approaches to civic education become integral parts of school curriculum will require efforts to advocate for and develop policies that support the establishment, development, and expansion of such programs across institutions and at the district, state, and national levels. The Corporation, therefore, will support national or regional organizations working at the policy or system level to address these issues and to encourage cross-institutional adoption of such approaches.
  
  
• Efforts to promote and incorporate model school-based civic education programs or approaches as part of larger advocacy efforts at the district, state, regional, or national policy levels. The development of effective school-based civic education programs and policies at the district, state, and national levels will require information about effective programs, especially those that have been evaluated and have shown promising results in several sites. The Corporation, therefore, will consider support for programs that meet these two criteria and that are engaged in efforts to bring these programs—through, for example, communications, advocacy, and/or evaluation—to the attention of policy- and other decision-makers at the district, state, regional, or national levels as part of larger advocacy efforts to promote civic education in schools.

What This Program Will Not Support

• Individual service-learning, civic education, or youth development programs unless they meet all of the following criteria:
  
  

- They are school-based or linked to schools.

- They are operating in more than one site or institution.

- They have been rigorously evaluated.

- They are engaged in work at the policy level, specifically, promoting incorporation of these programs at the district, state, regional, or national levels.



• Case studies, research efforts that do not include civic variables or outcomes, or research that are not rigorously designed.
  
  
• The day-to-day operating expenses or replication efforts of individual service learning, civic education, or youth development programs.
  
  
• Conferences or events that lack clear and comprehensive dissemination plans.
  
  
• Organizations that are not based in the United States or that have an international focus.
  
  
• Documentary film production or media projects.
  
  

Please note that the Corporation has formal proposal application and formatting procedures, which can be found at our website at www.carnegie.org. For more information about the program or the application process, please contact Cynthia Gibson, Program Officer, at (212) 207-6272 (CG@carnegie.org).