We are extremely excited to share our Generation Citizen 2012-2013 Annual Report.
Click here to download our PDF and read below for an introductory letter from Executive Director, Scott Warren.
Dear Friends,
It would be a little bit trite to say that Generation Citizen is in the midst of finishing an incredibly busy year. Over the course of the 2013 calendar year, we worked with over 7,000 students, trained over 200 college Democracy Coaches, and saw our classes use effective advocacy to act on issues including introducing and testifying for public safety legislation in Rhode Island, taking action and meeting with legislators on stop and frisk policing tactics in New York City, and working on teen jobs legislation in Boston. We also opened a new site in the San Francisco Bay Area, doubled our budget, refined our curriculum, concentrated on testing and honing our impact through extensive evaluation efforts, and operationalized many of our systems.
But what excited me most about our year is not all of that. We are proud of our accomplishments and feel that they do give us necessary energy and momentum in our road ahead. But more than that, I’m energized by the fact that slowly but surely, we are building a demand for action civics education. Our schools recognize that our program is helping to both engage their students, and to create a more engaged community. Our Democracy Coaches are using their experiences with GC to do great things after they graduate, ranging from teaching to creating a civics education organization in Pakistan. And our supporters are engaging with us in substantive conversations on the importance of an engaged youth citizenry in our larger democracy.
All of this is in the context of a deeply troubled American politically system, and a deeply flawed education system. The two are inextricably tied- if our education system is failing to educate the next generation of citizens, our democracy is in great peril.
We cannot solve these joint crises on our own. But each year, I become more convinced that GC is a completely necessary component to helping to educate young people to become individuals capable and motivated to come together to make a collective difference. I hear students who have a fundamentally different view of their own role in our society after realizing that our society cares what they think. I hear from politicians who have implemented ideas that our students gave them. I hear from supporters who are motivated after visiting one of our classrooms.
There’s a lot of work to be done, and we’ve only just started to break ground. But I think we’re on the right track.
~ Scott Warren, Executive Director
Generation Citizen is a nonpartisan, 501(c)3 tax exempt organization which does not endorse candidates; our goal is to engage our staff, participants, and stakeholders in political and civic action on issues that matter to them personally and in their communities. The opinions expressed in this blog post are those of the writer alone and do not reflect the opinions of Generation Citizen.