The historical portrait of youth civic and political participation in the US over the last 50 years suggest that youth are capable of intensive civic and political participation and leadership in the right circumstances, but they face barriers to participation in civic and political life that yield lower rates of overall engagement. Those under the age of 25 often lack the official status, experience, access, or motivation to participate in the process of making important public decisions, which hurts not only their ability to advocate for their own rights and welfare now, but prevents them from gaining the experiences that will shape their future civic identities. 

Author:

Ellen Middaugh, Mills College

Contributions from:

Jerusha Conner, Villanova University
David Donahue, Mills College
Antero Garcia, UCLA
Joseph Kahne, Mills College
Ben Kirshner, University of Colorado, Boulder
Peter Levine, CIRCLE