Connecting Civic Educators + Youth Leaders
Across the country, young people are ready to be not just heard, but invited to lead. And at the same time, civic practitioners around the country are experimenting with bold new forms of learning and engagement. Youth leadership efforts and powerful educational opportunities often remain siloed, generationally disconnected, or constrained by outdated convening models — and in the worst cases, end up competing for scarce resources rather than maximizing impact through partnership.
This project aims to bring these energies together—to co-create a national experience that reflects the democracy we aspire to build: relational, inclusive, imaginative.
Citizen University is planning a national co-generational civic convening that reimagines how youth and adult civic leaders work and learn together, and that aims to support and grow the co-generational youth empowerment field.
This will not be a traditional conference with panels and passive audiences. Instead, it will be a dynamic, participatory gathering designed with and by young people, in collaboration with civic practitioners across generations. It will bring together youth organizers, civic educators, local leaders, and national innovators to ideate and connect in ways that young people imagine. This convening will push past transactional youth/adult relationships and spark the type of co-generational collaboration that is more than the sum of its parts — tapping into heightened creativity and resilient solutions by working together.
This will be a field-shaping effort—serving four key purposes:
- A place to gather: The planning process and convening will bring together a mix of innovators from across domains– practitioners, media, education, research–alongside young leaders themselves
- A place to practice: Through participatory design and shared leadership, we’ll model new ways of co-generational learning. Across sessions that may include civic rituals, dialogic circles, mutual learning, the emphasis will be on practicing and learning together, not just meeting static outcomes. This convening will model the kind of relational, community-rooted citizenship we know is essential to the future of democracy.
- A launchpad for collaboration: The project will cultivate lasting relationships and seed partnerships that extend beyond the convening itself. Following the gathering, we will work to build from the relationships and ideas that surfaced, supporting and helping to steward co-generational partnerships and relationships that can support the entire field.
- A platform for amplification: Insights, tools, and stories will be captured and shared widely to benefit the broader civic field. We will intentionally invite co-generational pairs or groups to tell their stories and share learnings together.
Want to join initial advisory conversations and participate in the design of this offering? Get in touch with Davis Endava