'Project Citizen' Teaches Youth the Power of Democracy

Youth engaged in politics explore lawmaking at the annual meeting of The National Conference of State Legislators.

Evergreen Story: Revised from first publication in The Colorado Statesman (August 2002)

Photo by Paul Moody on Unsplash

"Project Citizen is teaching young people to monitor and participate in the legislative process as a way of socializing a lifelong commitment to active citizenship," said Michael Fischer from the Center for Civic Education in Calabassas, Calif.

In a partnership between CCE and the National Conference of State Legislature (NCSL), Project Citizen as a nationwide program giving middle school students hands-on experience formulating and advocating new laws on the local, state and federal levels.

"We invite students to take on real-world problems," Fischer said, "so there's lots of cooperative learning in teams that gives them a chance to practice higher-order thinking along with developing their social interaction skills."

"The goal is for students to know they can make a real difference in the world," said Barbara Miller, Colorado state coordinator for Project Citizen. "We want them to see the importance of participating as a citizen in our representative democracy."