When I was in 8th grade, my math teacher came into class a day after a substitute taught in her stead, and immediately handed four friends and me a week of detention. She claimed that the substitute wrote we had all acted out throughout the entire class. I immediately protested saying, “Ask anyone else… Continue reading Do Young People Actually Matter?
Author: 3lane
Generating Leadership
Last October, I could not contain my excitement to meet one of my personal heroes, New York State Senator Kirstin Gillibrand, who was coming to visit the Science Barge, an off-the-grid urban farm I worked at in Yonkers, New York. She is an influential voice for farmers in this country, and the grant she garnered for… Continue reading Generating Leadership
Civics Day and Student Voice
The Governor’s Statewide Youth Council Swearing-In Ceremony Last Friday, I had the incredible opportunity to speak at the Governor’s 3rd Statewide Youth Council Swearing-In Ceremony at the Massachusetts State House. Hosted by Governor Deval Patrick and facilitated by some of the most eloquent high school students I have ever encountered, the Ceremony welcomed 28 youth… Continue reading Civics Day and Student Voice
A Note to the Department of Education
The US Department of Education has requested public comment about their strategies for promoting civic learning and engagement. Public comments are part of a much larger process for government public engagement; they then typically use these comments to inform their own work as they move towards final decisions. Generation Citizen staff in collaboration with education… Continue reading A Note to the Department of Education
What’s Our “Market Failure?”
Last Friday, Scott Warren and I were in Atlanta, where we were one of twenty startup “civic ventures” competing to join a new “Civic Accelerator” started by Points of Light and Village Capital. The twenty finalists spanned a wide range of missions and forms, from helping people take action based on news articles to crowdsourcing… Continue reading What’s Our “Market Failure?”
Generation Perspectives
Nadia’s Law Part 3: It Launched!
Skepticism “There’s nothing we can do to change these problems. They are never gonna change.” “Man, if Martin Luther King had thought that, where do you think we would be?” – An interchange between two GC students at the start of the GC program, Fall 2012 As Generation Citizen launches our fall and yearlong programs… Continue reading Nadia’s Law Part 3: It Launched!
GC Joins Draper Richards Kaplan
Very exciting news today – Generation Citizen has been selected to join the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation‘s portfolio. DRKF is a (highly selective) “venture philanthropy” fund that helps social entrepreneurs grow and scale their organizations. In addition to intensive advising and a DRKF board appointee, GC will also receive $300,000 over the next three years.… Continue reading GC Joins Draper Richards Kaplan
Does Civics Ed = Ideology?
In a recent blog post, education expert Diane Ravitch quotes a reader who avers that the purpose of public education is that “the job requirements of a citizen in a democratic society are far and away more demanding than the job qualifications of a serf in a feudal society… It [educating for democracy] is one… Continue reading Does Civics Ed = Ideology?
Making Action Civics Salient
This past week, several members of the GC staff made our way to Philadelphia for two back-to-back conferences: the National Action Civics Collaborative (NACC) and the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC). Though the organizations differ markedly in terms of size and name recognition (NACC was co-founded by Scott Warren two years ago, and NCoC was… Continue reading Making Action Civics Salient