Youth Collaboratory
Equipping the next generation with the skills to build civic power and use it for good.
It’s easy to feel powerless — especially as a young person. In the Youth Collaboratory, high school students dive deep into how civic power works and how to harness it in order to solve pressing challenges they notice in their community.
The Youth Collaboratory connects cohorts of high school students who are ready to step into their civic power.
We provide a course of learning rooted in relationship, responsibility, and care for the people and places that shape them. Through immersive gatherings, creative practice, and real-world action, students explore the forces that shape their experience of civic life. They use that understanding to launch Power Projects: activities and initiatives strengthen civic culture and circulate power to the people around them. Along the way, they meet civic innovators from across the country, build trust with peers, and practice how to embrace a sense of civic responsibility with integrity and heart.
Since 2017, over 250 students from more than 40 states have participated in Youth Collab, reaching thousands in their communities. This is more than a leadership program — it’s a launchpad for lifelong civic imagination.
Applications will open in 2026. For updates, join our newsletter.
Before this program, I thought civics was all about politics and voting. Now I understand it’s also about community care, collaboration, and making space for different voices.
Youth Collaboratory student Ciera Roseboro shares how claiming your power can come from helping others claim theirs.
Anishka Durvasula stepped up as a civic catalyst after noticing a lack of current events coverage at her high school.
Since she was young, Harmonie has been increasing her literacy in power and using it for good.
Ellie Friedman shares how she built power — and intergenerational relationships — as a member of the Youth Collaboratory.
