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Not sure how to start conversations with your staff about bringing in civic engagement? These frequently asked questions – compiled through surveys, focus groups with DYCD staff, and workshops with youth-serving CBOs like you – will help you answer your most pressing questions about introducing civic engagement with young people and direct you to shareable resources.
Not sure how to start conversations with your staff about bringing in civic engagement? These frequently asked questions – compiled through surveys, focus groups with DYCD staff, and workshops with youth-serving CBOs like you – will help you answer your most pressing questions about introducing civic engagement with young people and direct you to shareable resources.
What is civic engagement?
What is civic engagement?
What the DYCD Framework for Civic Engagement says…
Individual or collective action that seeks to enhance the well-being of individuals, families, and communities.
What that means in practice…
Working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values, and motivation to make that difference; promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes.
For a more comprehensive collection of terms associated with civic engagement, check out our Civic Engagement Vocabulary Companion, but it's worth noting that civic engagement exists on a spectrum from knowledge to action:
My staff doesn’t know anything about civics and doesn’t feel comfortable teaching it. What should I do?
My staff doesn’t know anything about civics and doesn’t feel comfortable teaching it. What should I do?
Great news! Civics is just one small part of civic engagement. Think of “civic engagement” as the umbrella term, under which lives some of the community engagement practices with which we’re more familiar.
To help clarify these ideas, we recommend using our Civic Engagement Vocabulary Companion as a starting point to discover what aspects of civic engagement resonate with your staff. This guide to civic engagement terminology offers side-by-side comparison of familiar (and new!) terms as well as common examples that can offer clarity on different levels of civic engagement.
A great option for civic engagement practice is inquiry-based project work where participants drive the conversation. This hits on the DYCD’s Framework for Civic Engagement Co-Creating Conditions for Civic Engagement and takes some of the pressure off of your staff to have all the answers.
The Civic Engagement Resource Guide is designed to take the legwork out of civic engagement planning by providing a number of virtual and local organizations and digital resources that offer examples and opportunities for engagement. Looking for a great video? See what The Museum of the City of New York offers! Want to learn what projects are possible in your community? Poke around the Center for Urban Pedagogy for some inspiration! Whether it’s lesson plans, community action initiatives, or research statistics, this guide will help you implement an intentional civic engagement program that fits within your organization.
How do I ‘do’ civic engagement if we’re not allowed to get politically involved?
How do I ‘do’ civic engagement if we’re not allowed to get politically involved?
Civic engagement isn’t limited to the political realm! You can learn more about opportunities to engage civically across New York City in our Civic Engagement Resource Guide. There are a number of ways to get involved in the community without getting “political,” and teaching young people (and those of all generations) that their voice can make an impact on multiple levels is a powerful lesson. On page 15 of the guide, there is a map of New York City with ideas and links to opportunities for civic engagement that are community-based and not politically-affiliated at all.
How do I make civic engagement intentional in my programs?
How do I make civic engagement intentional in my programs?
Reflection is an integral part of intentional civic engagement. Having ongoing discussions with participants during activities, initiatives, and events helps young people process their experiences. There are question starters on page 6 of the Civic Engagement Vocabulary Companion.
Using this Civic Engagement Planning Workbook will help you and your team set goals for including civic engagement concepts within youth programming. It walks you through ways of incorporating elements from each domain into your program offerings and using these concepts to build on participants’ interests to improve engagement and impact. This is a new tool that TYTHEdesign is rolling out to support an intentional civic engagement planning process. More supports and additional materials will be available in FY ‘22-’23.
What does civic engagement look like as a standalone program?
What does civic engagement look like as a standalone program?
While civic engagement doesn’t need to stand alone in order to be effective, if your organization is interested in offering a civic engagement program, here are three case studies featuring DYCD-funded community-based organizations that model impactful civic engagement work at a variety of ages:
Casita Maria Center for Arts and Education: Civic Engagement Club
Grades K-8
A bi-weekly club leads to conversations about social issues and inspire change within a community
Queens Library: Voices of Queens Podcast
Grades 6-12
A group of young people learn about careers in journalism and media production through interviews and community service initiatives
W!se: Quality of Life INNOVATIONS Research Project
Grades 9-12
Young researchers explore various topics that impact their lives, collect data, consult with experts, and propose and present real, actionable solutions
CBOs whose funding is contingent upon forming Youth Councils are already on their way to youth civic engagement. Activities like the Personality Compass can help build essential civic engagement skills like self-awareness, collaboration, and reflection.
There are additional ideas for civic engagement initiatives in Part 2 of the Civic Engagement Resource Guide.
What does civic engagement look like when it's integrated into existing programs?
What does civic engagement look like when it's integrated into existing programs?
Perhaps the easiest way to begin intentionally infusing programming with civic engagement principles is to start integrating elements from the domains into existing program offerings. One way to start this process is to utilize the Civic Engagement Planning Workbook to set intentions and plan to incorporate these principles into course offerings. For examples of how to do that, here are two case studies featuring DYCD-funded programs that are modeling this:
Manhattan Youth at the Salk School of Science: Devised Theatre
Grades 6-8
A theatre club explores social issues through the performing arts by conducting community research and writing original theatre pieces for a fully-staged production
DreamYard Project: Fashion as Activism
Grades 9-12
An arts-focused club frames fashion and garment-making as a means to achieve Social Justice
Bringing in activities that build civic engagement skills can get the ball rolling on intentional integration. Your staff can start with storytelling activities like Story Circle to encourage active-listening, empathy, and community research. Activities that introduce Participatory Decision-Making lay the groundwork for centering the voice and choice of program participants. These activity guides provide context and background for civic engagement, as well as step-by-step instructions and extension opportunities.
How do I bring civic engagement to grades Pre-K through 2?
No child is too young to begin learning the principles of civic engagement. There are a number of ways to encourage youth voice and choice and community-engaged learning with the very young through hands-on activities and projects. Picture books can be powerful in helping the youngest children see themselves out in the world. Maybe Something Beautiful (by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell and illustrated by Rafael López) reveals how art can inspire transformation— and how even young artists can accomplish something big. In the Civic Engagement Resource Guide, there are additional examples and a wide variety of virtual resources organized by grade level and topic.
Below are some highlights from the guide that demonstrate that even the youngest among us can find value in this work:
iCivics provides educators with well-written, inventive civic education lesson plans, activities, and games that champion equitable, non-partisan civic education.
Learning for Justice provides resources to educators that can be used to supplement curriculum, inform practices, and create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued, and welcomed participants.
Young Voices for the Planet provides curricula that helps educators establish an action plan with young people around the environment.
Why should I prioritize civic engagement if it’s not required by DYCD?
Why should I prioritize civic engagement if it’s not required by DYCD?
While there is no explicit civic engagement requirement in an RFP (yet), as detailed below, civic engagement overlaps with several other DYCD frameworks and activities–such as Youth Councils–that are required of many youth providers. Thinking about leadership development and social-emotional learning through the lens of civic engagement can help focus activities and facilitation styles on youth interests, agency, voice, and choice.
Many providers have developed an interest in facilitating civic engagement programming as a way of deepening these conversations among the young people in their programs. Afterschool programming serves as a valuable space where young people can ask questions and process events happening around them: in their schools, in their communities, in the city, and in the world at large. In these situations, promoting civic engagement is not about generating interest but rather about supporting staff, using the framework, and incorporating civic engagement in a consistent and intentional way that helps deepen participants’ learning.
How is this framework connected to other DYCD frameworks?
How is this framework connected to other DYCD frameworks?
The DYCD Framework for Civic Engagement connects to other existing DYCD frameworks in several significant ways.
Building global awareness and a sense of social responsibility (as outlined in the Framework for Civic Engagement’s “Knowledge, Attitude, & Skills” domain) reinforces key SEL competencies, such as social awareness and responsible decision-making.
A civic-minded curriculum that is emotionally and socially responsive to the participants challenges them not only to learn more about their own identities, but to learn about the world and others around them.
Youth leadership and civic engagement are interconnected concepts that emphasize the importance of empowering youth as decision-makers and agents of change in their communities.
For some young people, the term “leadership”can be intimidating. The civic engagement framework presents inclusive language and a focus on collaboration that attracts a wide variety of young people.
To learn more points of similarity and overlap between these two frameworks, see page 11 of the Civic Engagement Resource Guide.
How will I be evaluated on the effectiveness of a civic engagement program?
How will I be evaluated on the effectiveness of a civic engagement program?
As with any program, it’s important to keep in mind your program goals and objectives when prioritizing what to assess. Use the Framework for Civic Engagement as a guide to consider the extent to which a program:
Builds participants’ civic knowledge, attitudes, and skills
Engages participants in actions to learn about and benefit their communities
Provides opportunities for reflection
Creates conditions conducive to teaching and learning civic engagement
As mentioned above, there are no formal indicators for civic engagement at this time, but there are a number of indicators already in DYCD’s assessment framework that apply to civic engagement programs, such as:
Providing program environments that are inclusive and promote a sense of belonging
Incorporating opportunities for youth to reflect on what they learn at various times throughout an activity
Expanding participants’ horizons and knowledge; offering activities that expose participants beyond their current educational, academic, and personal experiences
Where do I start? This is too much!
Where do I start? This is too much!
Start by reviewing this paraphrased version of the Framework for Civic Engagement. Each domain is broken down into its key components, as well as the overarching conditions that build an environment that supports civic engagement.
From there, look over the DYCD Civic Engagement Case Studies that feature successful standalone and integrated civic engagement initiatives across a variety of boroughs and grades, and check out the relevant tools and resources from the Civic Engagement Resource Guide.
Use the Civic Engagement Planning Workbook to help design a starting point for incorporating intentional civic engagement practices into your programming. While organizing the learning plan for civic engagement initiatives, the Civic Engagement Activity Guides can offer concrete lesson plans, modifications, and materials for implementing new and exciting community-engaged learning at any age.
Finally, you can find all of these resources organized to support you with your needs in our Resource Index.
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