Generation Citizen

GC is Hiring a Development Manager

2012 May 17 by generationcitizen

GC is hiring a Development Manager to work closely with our Executive Director in expanding Generation Citizen’s support and national presence. 

Development Manager

About Generation Citizen:

Generation Citizen (www.GenerationCitizen.org) is an innovative, quickly scaling non-profit that seeks to strengthen our nation’s democracy by empowering young people to become engaged and effective citizens. We partner college students with classroom teachers with college students to teach an action civics course in which teens solve problems they are facing in their own communities.to empower under-represented youth to become active participants in the democratic process.

In just three years, GC has grown rapidly to serve over 4,000 students this year in our three cities, training over 250 college Mentors to work in 160 classrooms. Over the next five years, we will deepen our presence in our current cities, and expand to three new sites to serve more than 20,000 students per year. GC is looking to recruit top talent to effectively run our programs, increase our impact, scale our capacity, and improve our systems as we prepare to scale.

At GC, you will be working in a fast-paced, start-up environment. A successful candidate will possess strong interpersonal and organizational skills, as well as the ability to manage a heavy workload with corresponding responsibilities. The successful candidate will be able to proactively identify opportunities to improve our development operations, structures, and systems. You will be working with a small, but passionate team, giving you the ability to help shape the future of the organization. We are therefore looking for someone interested in committing at least two years to the organization. Apply today if you are interested in putting your entrepreneurial spirit and talent to work in helping to grow and improve GC, ensuring that all students possess the tools they need to make change in their communities.

Job Responsibilities:

The primary responsibilities of the Generation Citizen (GC) Development Manager will be to work closely with the Executive Director on all development tasks.  This will include donor identification, cultivation and stewardship, significant donor and foundation communication, and managing the fundraising plan. The Development Manager will report to the Executive Director.

Donor Cultivation and Communication

• Proactively conduct research on an ongoing basis to qualify new prospects (individuals, foundation, corporate)
• Cultivate prospects through meetings and written communication
• Steward current donors
• Draft appeal letters and related materials
• Draft foundation proposals and applications
• Create relevant donor materials and aggregate and disseminate Generation Citizen stories

Fundraising Management

• Work with the Executive Director to create and manage fundraising calendar
• Manage current donor activity on Salesforce and create accurate reports for the Executive Director and National Board
• Work with National Board, local Boards, and Junior Boards to coordinate all development activities
• Plan all fundraising events and follow-ups

Development Innovator

• Constantly identify and innovatively address areas for improvement in all development aspects of Generation Citizen
• Ensure that Program Team and Development Team are effectively collaborating
• Ensure that donors are constantly exposed to the power of the Generation Citizen program

Qualifications

• Is passionate about Generation Citizen’s mission
• Has a B.A. or B.S. degree
• Has a passion and interest in development and fundraising
• Has exceptionally strong organizational skills
• Has significant leadership experience supervising, managing, and training others
• Has strong communication skills in order to communicate effectively with diverse constituencies, including board members, supporters, and community members
• Has excellent public speaking, writing, and editing skills
• Is comfortable in a fast-paced, high-energy start-up environment

To apply

Qualified candidates should send a resume, cover letter, and a list of 2-3 references to Jobs@GenerationCitizen.org.

No telephone inquiries please. Generation Citizen is an equal opportunity employer.

GC is Hiring Program Team

2012 May 15 by generationcitizen

Two new program positions opening at Generation Citizen this summer! We are looking for dynamic and entrepreneurial candidates to be our new Providence Program Manager and New York Program Associate. Descriptions below. 

New York Program Associate

At GC, you will be working in a fast-paced, start-up environment. A successful candidate will possess strong interpersonal and organizational skills, as well as the ability to manage a heavy workload with corresponding responsibilities. Through programmatic oversight and collaboration with other staff, the successful candidate will be able to proactively identify opportunities to improve our program, structures, and systems. You will be working with a small, but passionate team, giving you the ability to help shape the future of the organization. We are therefore looking for someone interested in committing at least two years to the organization. Apply today if you are interested in putting your entrepreneurial spirit and talent to work in helping to grow and improve GC, ensuring that all students possess the tools they need to make change in their communities.

Job Responsibilities:

The primary responsibilities of the Generation Citizen (GC) New York Program Associate will be to manage existing GC programming in New York City, at both the university and school level, as well as to lead GC’s efforts to increase its presence and effectiveness the city. The Program Associate will report to the New York Program Manager.

Relationship Manager

• Establish relationships with administrators and schools to lay groundwork for successful and enduring school relationships
• Manage ongoing school relationships with program teachers and administrators at assigned schools
• Supervise and support assigned college leaders in building their college cohorts

Program Trainer

• Provide initial and ongoing training and support for:
• New York college volunteers to ensure their own civic growth and their ability to be successful in the classroom
• College leaders to ensure their own civic growth and their ability to successfully recruit and support high-quality college volunteers throughout the semester
• Teachers to ensure that they can successfully co-teach the action civics course alongside a GC college volunteer
• Conduct regular classroom observations and provide constructive feedback to GC volunteers, Directors, and teachers

Program Coordinator and Improver

• Ensure that GC meets its NY strategic output goals (# of classes, # of volunteers, % retention, etc.)
• Design and implement systems of volunteer-to-school placement, communication, and data collection to ensure smooth day-to-day program operation (alongside NY Program Manager)
• Plan and execute culminating semesterly NY Civics Day (science-fair style event) in which students present their action projects to community leaders and public officials (alongside NY Program Manager)
• Collaborate with Director of Programming and other Program Managers to continually improve and contribute to national efforts in order to achieve overall desired program outcomes
• Cultivate high level relationships across sectors (elected office, on campus, and in community) to further and deepen program impact

Qualifications

• Is passionate about Generation Citizen’s mission
• Has a B.A or B.S. degree
• Has significant leadership experience supervising, managing, and training others
• Has strong communication skills in order to communicate effectively with diverse constituencies, including college students, high school partners, board members, supporters, and community members
• Has excellent public speaking, writing, and editing skills
• Is comfortable in fast-paced, high-energy start-up environment
• Has knowledge of the New York City community (very highly preferred but not required)

To apply

Qualified candidates should send a resume, cover letter, and a list of 2-3 references to Jobs@GenerationCitizen.org.

No telephone inquiries please. Generation Citizen is an equal opportunity employer.

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Providence Program Manager

At GC, you will be working in a fast-paced, start-up environment. A successful candidate will possess strong interpersonal and organizational skills, as well as the ability to manage a heavy workload with corresponding responsibilities. Through programmatic oversight and collaboration with other staff, the successful candidate will be able to proactively identify opportunities to improve our program, structures, and systems. You will be working with a small, but passionate team, giving you the ability to help shape the future of the organization. We are therefore looking for someone interested in committing at least two years to the organization. Apply today if you are interested in putting your entrepreneurial spirit and talent to work in helping to grow and improve GC, ensuring that all students possess the tools they need to make change in their communities.

Responsibilities:

The primary responsibilities of the Generation Citizen (GC) Providence Program Manager will be to manage existing GC programming in Providence, at both the university and school level, as well as to lead GC’s efforts to increase its presence and effectiveness the city. The Program Manager will report to the Director of Programming.

Job Responsibilities:

District Relationship Manager

• Manage relationships with Rhode Island (RI) districts and school administrators, alongside the Director of Programming
• Systematize and saturate schools and seek opportunities to tightly integrate action civics into the Providence Public School District’s (PPSD) approach to Civics Education
• Establish relationships with administrators and schools to lay groundwork for successful and enduring school relationships

Program Trainer

• Provide initial and ongoing training and support for:
• Providence college volunteers to ensure their success in the classroom and their own civic growth (leadership retreats, classroom observations, etc)
• College chapter leaders to ensure and their own civic growth and their ability to successfully recruit sufficient quality college volunteers and be able to support them throughout the semester (in Providence and other cities)
• Teachers to ensure that they can successfully co-teach the action civics course alongside a GC college volunteer

Program Coordinator and Improver

• Ensure that GC meets its Providence strategic output goals (# of classes, # of volunteers, % retention etc)
• Visit and observe all Providence classrooms throughout semester to provide feedback to Mentors and collect data on program
• Design and implement systems of volunteer-to-school placement, communication, and data collection to ensure smooth day-to-day program operation
• Plan and execute culminating semesterly RI Civics Day science-fair style event in which students present their action projects to community leaders and public officials
• Collaborate with the Director of Programming and other Program Managers to continually improve and contribute to national efforts in order to achieve overall desired program outcomes
• Cultivate high level relationships across sectors (elected office, on campus, and in community) to further and deepen program impact

Qualifications

• Is passionate about Generation Citizen’s mission
• Has a B.A or B.S. degree
• Has significant leadership experience supervising, managing, and training others
• Has strong communication skills in order to communicate effectively with diverse constituencies, including college students, high school partners, board members, supporters, and community members
• Has excellent public speaking, writing, and editing skills
• Is comfortable in fast-paced, high-energy start-up environment
• Has knowledge of the Providence community (very highly preferred but not required)

To apply

Qualified candidates should send a resume, cover letter, and a list of 2-3 references to Jobs@GenerationCitizen.org.

No telephone inquiries please. Generation Citizen is an equal opportunity employer.

What I really want to talk about…

2012 May 14 by generationcitizen

The following is a speech given by our Brown University College Coordinator, Elena Maker, at a recent GC event after Providence Civics Day celebrating Mayor Taveras and our Board Chair, Mary Vascellaro. Elena, having worked with Generation Citizen for three years, has an amazing track-record of commitment to civic education and especially to her students. Her words are a powerful testament to the impact of our amazing Mentors. 

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As a campus coordinator and classroom Mentor who has been involved with Generation Citizen for three years now, there are many things I could stand up here and say this evening.

I could speak about how impressed I am at Generation Citizen’s enormous growth in only four years; an accomplishment that I believe speaks to the organization’s promise to help transform this country’s conception and implementation of civics education.

Alternatively, I could talk about the dedicated GC Mentors and staff who have sustained my enthusiasm and interest in this program for over three years now, thus taking this time as an opportunity to express how thankful I am to have the great privilege of being part of such an inspiring team.

Or, perhaps I could reflect upon how much Generation Citizen has both exposed me to and convinced me of the distressing inequality pervading our education system, but how it has also proved to me the value and impact of people passionately dedicated to improving the future of our country.

These are all extremely important things that I want you to know about Generation Citizen. But what I really want to talk to you about this evening, and what I want you to know most of all, is that my eighth graders at Roger Williams Middle School are truly awesome young people and I am so proud and excited to be here with at least some of them this evening.

These students have constantly awed me with their mature, wise perspectives on the world, their relentless energy and drive to pursue their goals, and their ability to imagine and create real change within their school community. But before expounding upon their accomplishments any further… I want to preface by saying emphasizing that the outstanding work that I now get the pleasure to tell you about is entirely the product of my students. My students, who true to the form of Generation Citizen, chose, pursued, and achieved their own vision of change.  

Because of these phenomenal young people, real strides have been taken to bring sex education to a school that currently offers no standard health education at all. The students have collected valuable data to prove that their peers could benefit from sex ed. They have started conversations to their school principal, the RI Commissioner of Education, Deborah Gist [thank you again for joining us last Wednesday Commissioner Gist!], and the education coordinator for Planned Parenthood… all to determine how to best educate their peers on health and sex, so as to ultimately prevent future pregnancies to young people not yet prepared to raise a child.  

But speaking to decision-makers wasn’t enough for my motivated students this spring. They also wanted to share what they had found about the challenges of young parenthood with all of their peers, so as to begin educating their classmates starting now. Thanks to these assemblies my students planned and conducted, the entire school community now has a stronger, more informed understanding of the impacts of teen pregnancy and parenthood on one’s education and overall life trajectory.

I was overwhelmed with pride during that day of the assemblies, when everyone put in 120 percent to ensure that the event was a complete success. When we realized that an older version of the survey had accidentally been printed, each and every student in the class immediately picked up a pencil and stack of surveys, and within twenty minutes every single survey has our most important question penciled in, helping us to discover that a full 86% of the eighth grade class would like sex ed. classes.

I was yet more full of admiration for their hard work this past Friday, when everyone stepped up to the challenge of preparing for Civics Day at, admittedly, the very last moment. Students fulfilled their tasks seriously and quickly; many even volunteered to stay after class to keep working. Evan and I drove away from that class glowing, and remarking on the unique, meaningful contributions of every single student.

In conclusion, I want to say thank you to these students for bringing to fruition the urgency and importance of addressing the current situation of teen parenthood in Rhode Island…. I spent all year tackling this issue in my thesis and yet, I have paled in comparison to what they have succeeded in doing this spring. Perhaps this reflects the power of young people, illuminated by the framework of Generation Citizen.

These students have taught me so much about teamwork, dedication, and sincere passion for making the world a better place. They will quickly tell you themselves that young people can make a change, but I want to take it a step further and tell you that young people are our best hope for change and that we need to keep striving to provide all youth with an education that gives them a chance to prove how smart and capable they truly are. 

Class in America: Civic Consequences

2012 April 18 by generationcitizen

So I finally got a chance to read the book every wonk’s been talking about, Charles Murray’s Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010. Murray has stirred controversy in the past for his critiques of welfare and his 1994 book, with Richard Herrnstein, The Bell Curve, which presented research showing that America’s poor had lower-than-average IQs, and that this was the basis for our society’s bifurcation into a “cognitive elite” and (growing) underclass.

New York Times columnist David Brooks summarizes the book’s argument very well – “that America is dividing into a two-caste society” – so I’d encourage interested readers to check out that column. The reason Murray examines “white America” is to make the argument that America is now actually more divided by class than by race. There’s actually a good deal of evidence to back that up. America’s rich-poor achievement gap, for example, is roughly double the size of its black-white achievement gap. And at the end of the book, Murray brings minorities into the statistical picture and it turns out that his argument more or less holds for all Americans, not just whites.

Murray argues, rather convincingly in my view, that America now has two classes sorted not so much by income as by college education – which has in turn resulted in two distinct cultures. The upper class for example (roughly 20% of the population) watches far less TV than the average American (who watches about 34-35 hours of TV per week) and is less likely to be overweight. And Murray argues that the lower class, roughly 30% of the population, shows signs of social breakdown, from rising levels of single motherhood (especially in the “never been married” category) to falling levels of adult male participation in the workforce (where there’s lot of circumstantial evidence of disability insurance being abused). Some commentators have quibbled with certain elements of his analysis, such as divorce, but otherwise the stats seem sound.

Thus, among the upper class, social capital and civic engagement are actually very high, and roughly where they were in 1960. Not so for the lower class. The point Murray wants to make is that because these trends continued through both boom and bust years, culture is responsible for the poor economic conditions among the lower class; not the other way around. (Many commentators, of course, disagree, seeing widening income inequality as the independent variable in this equation.)

One can accept Murray’s evidence without reaching his conclusions (his animating fear seems to be that the U.S. will turn into a European welfare state). But what really intrigues me is the link between Murray’s analysis and our contemporary politics. The class divide turns out to be a useful heuristic in figuring out which issues will play well with whom, and why.

And what’s most concerning, from a civic perspective, is that the upper class lives in unprecedented geographic and social isolation from their lower class counterparts – and worse, they don’t even know that they are isolated. (If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone in the top 5% of income earners describe themselves as “upper-middle class,” I’d be in the top 5% of income earners myself.) Yes, that’s partly due to growing income inequality – but that hardly explains everything. When we lose the ability to truly understand and empathize with our fellow citizens, we lose a civic cohesion that can make politics incredibly difficult and vicious. I don’t think it’s an accident that those are the politics we have today – the politics of mutual incomprehension.

-Daniel Millenson

From Worker to Citizen

2012 April 17 by generationcitizen

I learned about the importance of sustaining student momentum the hard way. At first, my students were gung-ho about tackling the racial dynamics in their school and were even outlining the steps to create a school-wide performance exploring these dynamics. By December, we were delegating tasks and brainstorming fund-raisers. Then, the worst possible series of events that could befall a group of dedicated GC students occurred: weeks and weeks and weeks of no GC.

I’m not exaggerating. Ask my co-Mentor, Sean; he’ll tell you: Christmas break, winter break, advisory days, a new teacher, PSATs—all contributing to weeks and weeks and weeks of no GC. Eventually, I was suffering withdrawal symptoms. Ok, now I may be exaggerating. But, seriously: I was worried. I was concerned that my students wouldn’t care about their project once we got back in the swing of things. Unfortunately, my concern proved valid.

According to them, the tension had ceased. Confused by how this could be, Sean and I accepted the fact of the matter and moved on. Then, we encountered the second worst scenario that could befall a team of GC students: apathy. Ask my co-Mentor, Sean; he’ll tell you: We tried almost every trick in the book to inspire our students to take action. We shared our personal stories of empowerment; we talked about past successes of GC students; we even played jeopardy with them, using contemporary social issues as categories.

When I realized nothing was working, I emailed Daniel Millenson a desperate cry for help. He came in, spoke with my students, and helped them determine a problem they were willing to do something about: joblessness—particularly, their own state of being jobless. How Daniel was able to do it beats me. But, at least now we have an issue to work with.

Here’s where I feel conflicted: On the one hand, it’s great that my students are learning how to write a résumé, how to dress professionally, and how to prepare for a job interview. These are all essential skills for career development. On the other hand, I wonder whether they would be doing themselves a disservice in the long run by juggling school and part-time work at the same time.

Needless to say, it would be very interesting to compare the rate at which black or Latino students at NYC’s public high schools pursue part-time employment against that at which white students at the city’s elite private schools pursue part-time employment. After all, when I consider my experience at a private high school in the Upper East Side, I don’t remember my classmates as eager to find work. Rather, they were more preoccupied with doing well academically and with extracurriculars that were meaningful to them or that looked nice on their résumés.

I guess the question I’m wrestling with is this: By helping our students secure part-time employment while they’re in school, are Sean and I contributing to a vicious cycle that ultimately renders them noncompetitive in terms of upward mobility? After all, to me, it seems like the student who has violin or chess or fencing lessons after school is better equipped than the student who stocks shelves after school—better equipped with what Lisa Delpit calls “the accoutrements of the culture of power.”

At the end of the day, the environment and activities that confer the accouterments of the culture of power usually cost a pretty penny. And a pretty penny is not what a lot of my students’ families have compared to those families who enroll their kids in schools like Riverdale Country School or Dalton. But, hey: this is the reality my students face. Thankfully, GC empowers them to change that reality. And it does so not by focusing, like most public education does, on producing the worker. Rather, it does so by focusing on producing something far more powerful: the citizen.

~Ivan Rahman, Mentor from NYU teaching in New York City

To GC or not to GC?

2012 March 27 by generationcitizen

My first weeks at Brighton High School were not easy. My class, a group of JROTC ninth graders, was quiet, defiant, and disinterested in Generation Citizen’s mission. Facilitating class discussion resembled pulling teeth, and very few of them took my co-mentor and me seriously. So, in an attempt to refocus the class, their teacher, Ltc. Fife, gave students two options: to opt out of the Generation Citizen curriculum, or return to regular classwork. Their response was, at the very least, unexpected. Every student in class volunteered to continue to work with us. For the first time, their enthusiasm showed. Ever since, the class is more engaged, eager, and serious about pursuing change in their community. And this week, they began work on their project, a student job fair at Brighton High School.

After expressing some need for accessible, after-school jobs, the kids voted and chose to work toward a job fair at Brighton. They wanted jobs that fit their schedule, skill level, interests. So, in their project teams, the class is researching and contacting businesses that hire young people, and ones that they’d like to work at. Other teams are in charge of logistics, advertising, and gathering student and administrative support. I’m impressed with what they have accomplished thus far, and am completely confident that they will achieve their end goal. I know that easy access to employment will not only make a huge difference in their lives, but also the lives of students at Brighton High.

- Elinor Mitchell, Boston College

Democracy Day at Generation Citizen

2012 March 26 by generationcitizen

As part of Rock the Vote’s Democracy Day 2012, I visited one of our fantastic Generation Citizen classes at the Another Course to College high school in the Brighton community of Boston.  The students, a group of seniors and juniors, had identified as their focus issue the lack of community service options for students in their school, and had decided to institute a Community Service Day for all students in their school. “Students here want to do more community service,” they said, “and it needs to be stuff that actually makes a difference.”

Generously, the students took a break from their project work to let me step in and do a quick lesson from Democracy Class. The lesson, a “Mock Election,” had two students square off as candidates for a new Class Representative position. After the candidates made quick speeches (pictured) and everyone got ready to vote, I threw them a curveball: I randomly picked half of the students to go the back of the room and told them that they couldn’t vote because they hadn’t registered. Then, I gave the candidates each three pieces of candy and told them that they could hand these out as “gifts” to any student they wanted prior to the election. Unsurprisingly, none of the “unregistered” students received any candy from the candidates.

After we actually went through with the election, we talked about what happened. What did it feel like for the disenfranchised students to not be able to participate?  “I felt unequal.”  “I felt like an immigrant who is not allowed to be part of this country.” “I felt like I didn’t have a choice.”  “I felt useless.”

We also talked about the significance of those candy gifts. Students recognized that those “gifts” could represent money, jobs, support, or publicity that candidates give out as ways to win votes, and that those gifts are only going to people who vote.  I shared the statistic that only about 50% of youth vote in elections, compared to about 75% of older Americans.  If I were a candidate looking to get votes, I certainly wouldn’t try to secure youth jobs or support youth-related causes when I knew that their turnout was so low.

Through Generation Citizen, youth experience the value of participating in democracy.  While our definition of democratic participation goes beyond voting –we help youth discover how they can effect change by lobbying elected officials, mobilizing local decision makers, and attracting media attention– motivation to register and to vote is part of the key outcomes we hold ourselves accountable to as a program. Why do we think it’s important to improve voting motivation in our mission to empower youth?  In the words of one Another Course to College student: reflecting on the activity: “If you register to vote and you actually vote, you won’t feel useless.”

Thank you to Rock the Vote, Elise, our Mentor from Northeastern. and Mr. Howland, our partner teacher at Another Course to College, for making the activity possible.

Gillian Pressman, Greater Boston Program Manager

The Case for Civics Education

2012 March 23 by generationcitizen

Wednesday evening, the 92^nd St. Y hosted a panel entitled “The Case for Civic Education,” moderated by the editor of a essay collection of the same name and including several of the book’s contributors as panelists.

What a perfect outing for the Generation Citizen crowd. GC New York staff and College Coordinators huddled in the back of the auditorium together, wondering what our civic-minded allies at the front might say.

In NYU College Coordinator Johnny DeVito’s words:

“The Case for Civic Education Panel was a compelling discussion. The four panel members shared the goal of a more civic-oriented society, but held differing view about how to turn that goal into a reality. Juan Williams of Fox News took a more conservative approach in suggesting that promoting assimilation of immigrants promotes civics. I found his argument a little short-sited. A decline of civic engagement is measurable across the spectrum of people in the United States.

Seth Andrew, Superintendent of Democracy Prep, argued that schools, not families, are the primary promoters of civic engagement. This suggestion is debatable and even today I am still reflecting the role of schools and families in forming a child’s appreciation of civics.

Joel Klein, former chancellor of the NYC Department of Education was by far the most entertaining speaker and was not afraid to lighten the mood with jokes. Iris Chen of the I Have A Dream foundation won the audience over by taking a very astute, intellectual approach to answering every question. All in all, the discussion avoided turning into a debate and each speaker made his or her points. Perhaps our political leaders could learn from such respectful, intelligent discourse?”

I think that Johnny makes a good observation – the conversation was polite. Maybe a little too polite. Speaker after speaker highlighted the importance of fostering civic knowledge, motivation, and pride amongst our young people and bemoaned the fact that students aren’t currently engaged in their civic courses, if offered any. But they didn’t propose how to foster this engagement.

Students have to enjoy school.

Students have to understand how democracy relates to them.

Well, yes.

But each panelist (zero teachers, I might point out) stopped short of offering tangible advice on how to make that happen, and neither of those events occur naturally.

As we walked next door to the reception, whispering about the future of our democracy in hushed tones, I couldn’t help but wish that we had been on stage as well because I think that we, that the action civics movement as a whole, do offer a solution. Model the values and structure of our political system by creating a democratic classroom culture and then give students the opportunity, and the power, to experience the process for themselves through taking action in a real, local, and relevant way.

In my opinion, the case for civic education is growing louder. Now it’s time that the model of civic education receives attention, as well.

- Sarah Andes, NYC Program Manager

Want to Be Refreshed? Observe a Class

2012 March 15 by generationcitizen

As a College Coordinator, it’s been two semesters since I’ve actually Mentored in a high school classroom. As a 20 year old college student, it’s been years since I’ve stepped foot into a middle school classroom. As I embarked on the very long ride to KIPP Lynn middle school to observe a few of my Mentors’ classrooms, I felt a small sense of dread. It was like sinking back into the setting of one of the most awkward periods of your childhood. Needless to say, I shouldn’t have been worried. All three classrooms, students and Mentors, blew me away.

You never really know what’s going on in a Mentor’s classroom aside from what they tell you, unless you go yourself. Our KIPP Mentors leave for their Friday class at 6:30am, which meant that I too had to live the agony of waking up in a pitch black room without the sun’s welcome. I definitely shared my Mentors’ fatigue! But after that, I got a chance to also live my Mentors’ intrigue and excitement of entertaining a crowd of middle schoolers as they thought about  cultural expression. Any fatigue I had was wiped away.

One KIPP class of students chose an issue that was close to them; they wanted to know why they were not allowed to speak Spanish in school, especially when the school’s makeup consisted of a majority of Hispanic students. The conversations that flowed from the impassioned students’ mouths were conversations I’ve heard college students at Tufts University too afraid and uncomfortable to speak about. I began to think that if we replaced those students with the kids from this classroom, we could have a much more productive conversation about the campus climate.

When prompted for a root cause of the school’s unpopular policy, one female student raised a hand and said that she thought because the people on the school board and the people making the decisions were mostly racially homogenous, they made decisions according to their own values and beliefs without taking into account the great diversity within the school.

When it was rebutted that there are other ways to express culture, another student thrust out an arm and asserted that because students must wear uniforms and can’t listen to music in class, language was the only way they could express themselves.

“Spanish is not a bad language,” said another.

I couldn’t believe that these middle school students were basically talking about systems of power and injustice. Their voices were strong, diverse and unwavering–but also thoughtful and critical. Generation Citizen is founded on the student’s voice. A trip to Kipp Lynn reminded me exactly why granting young people the tools to harness that voice is so empowering. The potential in these classrooms can be equal to that of a college campus.

Every Coordinator should find the time to visit their Mentors’ classrooms. It’s as refreshing as it informative.

–Bianca Blakesley, College Coordinator at Tufts University

Generation Citizen and the Kony Video

2012 March 8 by generationcitizen

Unsurprisingly, all of us at Generation Citizen have been bombarded about Invisible Children’s “Kony 2012″ video in the last 2 days.  Our Mentors are using it in classes, students have seen it through social media and want to take action on it, and partners are sending it on. I personally watched the video, and have read numerous articles and held a ton of conversations with friends and peers the last few days on it.   It’s especially interesting to me as I ran the student division or an organization dedicated to international activism (www.STANDnow.org) and I lived in East Africa for three years (where my parents live now).  So here are my conclusions for now:

Let’s highlight the positive first: As my friend Mark Hanis (founder and ex-president of the Genocide Intervention Network) told me today: There are now over 35 million Americans that have viewed a 27 minute documentary on a crisis in Uganda.  This is real awareness, and is important.  That is undoubtedly a positive.  Additionally, Invisible Children has engaged in some incredibly effective advocacy work over the last few years.  They have made the war conducted by the LRA in Uganda an issue that American policymakers care about, and are taking real action on.  They have raised awareness, conducted lobbying campaigns, and moved the dial.

But here is the problem: we need 35 million Americans to watch that video, and engage deeply with Uganda.  They need to finish watching that video and immediately research the war, read policy papers, look at the profile of the Invisible Children organization (which does not spend a high percentage of its funds on direct services and spent over $1 million on travel and video last year) and make informed decisions on how to participate.

Instead, Invisible Children asks viewers to tweet at celebrities, to order $30 action kits and $25 t-shirts.  My worry is that too many people will watch the video, be incredibly inspired, and immediately want to get involved through these soft-asks, or through raising money, rather than doing the necessary research required to be informed activists.

Invisible Children, as an organization, has done an amazing job at motivating everyday citizens to care about this issue.  But they do it by being “sexy.”  In other words, in a young generation that is encapsulated by the Kardashians and social media, Invisible Children is meeting young people where they currently are.  It’s smart.  But it’s not nuanced.  The video is simplistic.  It uses way too much imagery from the West (ie the narrator’s young son) and not enough from Uganda itself.  It’s neo-colonialistic. 

What I would rather have happen is for organizations to worry less about making activism sexy, and more about working towards a future in which citizens are inquisitive enough to want to get the nuance.  Instead of meeting young people where they are by encouraging them to Tweet the video at celebrities, make them read an International Crisis Group policy paper.  Make nuance sexy.

And so what do I hope happens in Generation Citizen classes?  I hope that students are inspired by the video.  And then I hope that Mentors and teachers help them ask smart questions.  Let’s use this to start a productive conversation about the role of social media in advocay.  About the actual ability of the United States to make a difference in an international conflict.  In how we portray Africans in the Western media.  In the history of how this war started in Uganda.  In what arresting Joseph Kony will actually result in.

Let’s get motivated.  And then let’s get nuanced.