Youthquake is a civics program that empowers young people to make changes on local issues by working with peers and community members across party lines. We’re motivated to create a space in education that addresses the stressors we have about our communities and world and empowers students to take on these challenges together. We’ve developed a curriculum that’s been piloted as spring break and summer immersion programs in IL and NH and are working to bring these lesson plans to after school programs for the upcoming school year.
1. What was your inspiration behind creating youthquake?
Growing up, there weren’t structured pathways to get involved in civics. I thought that until I was 18, there wasn’t anything I could do. After attending a political summer camp junior year, I learned that my voice could matter and that the diversity of my peers’ voices made us stronger. Illinois, my home state, has significant differences across political affiliations, urban/rural divides, and more. With Youthquake, I sought to create youth-led spaces for dialogue and action on important, but politically controversial topics that purposefully engaged with these differences.
2. Have you been successful in engaging your community on community issues?
In our pilot, community engagement was crucial. We worked with a few policy organizations in Chicago who work on issues like gun violence and responsibility to bring their voices into the conversations and policymaking negotiations. There’s room for growth here, like building stakeholder interviews and primary research earlier into research on an issue or having conversations with policymakers rather than only presenting to them at the end of the program or engaging with more diverse community partners during the program.
3. How do you plan on expanding your platform so that it reaches a larger audience?
Youthquake is looking to expand in a few ways. First, Illinois has recently required middle school students to take a civics class; we’re looking to partner with middle school teachers in Illinois this year to pilot our program with them. Second, we’re looking for student ambassadors who are interested in adapting and bringing Youthquake to empower youth in their communities. Third, we’re partnering with community organizations to incorporate parts of our modules into their programming, like workshops on having difficult conversations on political issues.
4. What was your favorite discussion or experience while engaging with youthquake?
My favorite discussion was with a group of students in the program’s pilot about gun violence and responsibility. It was easy to stereotype students based on their political leanings, but it wasn’t black and white. While our perspectives on guns more broadly differed, we all had fears about school shootings. I helped students negotiate on gun policy and by the program’s end, they presented a bipartisan plan to aldermen which was amazing to see come together.
5. Why was the name youthquake chosen (i.e. what is the meaning behind the name)?
In 2017, Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year was ‘Youthquake’, which they defined as a significant cultural, political, or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people. I named the organization Youthquake with this vision in mind - to build a program that would enable and empower young people to create lasting change in their communities. It’s also important to me that the program is by students and for students, which is reflected by ‘youth’ being in the organization’s name.