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Governments Engaging Youth Toolkit

Overview

Governments Engaging Youth Toolkit

Youth Present to the Board as Family and Peers Listen

The Institute’s Governments Engaging Youth (GEY) project seeks to support, expand and enhance school and local government partnerships to develop programs that offer our younger generation the opportunity to learn about public service careers, community issues and how to become a more engaged, civic-minded individual. 

This toolkit offers resources designed to help begin, grow or expand a youth engagement in your community’s programs by providing a framework, assessment tools and case stories highlighting the broad variety of options available to suit your community’s unique needs.

Civics in Action: Municipal & Education Perspective Videos

Governments Engaging Youth Toolkit Inside California Education shares the story of a a summertime civics and work-based learning experience in Sacramento, CA known as “Summer at City Hall.”

Governments Engaging Youth Toolkit

 

Inside California Education shares the story of the Brawley where civics educations is infused in experiences inside the classroom and with government agencies.

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Readiness Assessment: Is Your Agency Ready to Start or Scale-Up a Program?

Because all municipalities are different, starting a Governments Engaging Youth (GEY) program is a process that is unique to each community. The readiness assessment matrix below will help you think through preliminary details for starting a youth-civic engagement program.

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Municipal-School Partnership Resources
Agreements and Resources to Establish or Scale Up a Partnership

Governments Engaging Youth (GEY) promotes strong partnerships between school districts and local government entities to offer students opportunities to gain 21st century work skills, build interest in public service careers, provide tools to become civically aware and engaged and bring an authentic youth voice to community issues. Joint efforts help leverage funds, staff resources and expertise from both entities. The schools bring expertise in teaching students about civics and 21st century skills and have access to students for program recruitment.

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Infrastructure for Successful Programs

Infrastructure for Successful Programs

This section offers resources on setting up the structure of your program including funding, staffing, planning, student outreach and recruitment, leader buy-

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Program Content Development

Program Content Development

Governments Engaging Youth (GEY) programs offer an opportunity to teach youth civic and 21st century skills and competencies. It also helps youth gain real life experiences to practice those skills and to understand local government first-hand through speakers, field trips and internships or job shadows.

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Examples: City, County & Special District Models
Youth-Civic Engagement and Work-Based Learning Examples, Descriptions, Key Resources and Links

This toolkit is designed to help you start your own unique youth-civic engagement program that fits your community’s needs. The timing, duration and intensity of Governments Engaging Youth (GEY) programs depend on your organization’s capacity, and what works best for your community. GEY can be a one-day field trip to the municipal entity, a six-week summer program, school-day/classroom-based action civics projects, public service high school career academy experience or civic engagement in an after-school program format.

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