Youth Civics 2.0

The Constitutional Convention: Building Democracy 2.0 Summit was a marathon of a weekend that provided a great return for everyone who invested in it and we at Youth Civics 2.0 – Ana, Jason, Pam and Jared – all feel very fortunate to have been a part of it. All of the attendees, especially those who prepared proposals for the Summit, will fondly attest to the packed nature of the schedule, which demanded efficient time management on all of our parts. Thankfully, the Mobilize staff displayed a keen awareness of the situation, a great deal of enthusiasm and a willingness to be of help, which was invaluable to the individual successes that took place, and the success of the Summit as a whole. The pitches and presentations, interspersed with advice from panelists, was definitely one of the most important of all benefits the Youth Civics 2.0 team gained from this amazing weekend. Getting help and advice on crafting our pitch and writing more effective proposals from those with experience in the field helped our understanding of our project mature in leaps and bounds. All of us also found it intensely inspiring to network, make friends and compete with other 'youth civics nerds' throughout the course of the weekend, as is clearly evidenced by the eventual composition of our team. In fact, the most rewarding part of the weekend was not the competition itself, but the sense that all of the ideas that were presented and all of the people involved were part of something bigger than their own projects – the sense that we all shared a common goal and that we were all, in one way or another, doing our best to bend the moral arc of history towards greater justice for our generation.

Since returning to New York City and getting somewhat caught up on sleep, the Youth Civics 2.0 team has been strategizing and conferring with one another in order to facilitate the speedy and effective implementation of our projects' goals. In order to keep ourselves engaged and build on the experience with the grant-seeking process we gained at the Democracy 2.0 Summit, we have already submitted another grant application. This time, we applied to the Ashoka Changemakers-sponsored The Power of Us: Re-Imagine Media contest. Each team member has also been assigned at least one grant opportunity to initiate before bringing it back to the group. Thanks to friends and allies in the field – some of whom we met at the Summit - we are becoming heavily involved in other important events, like this past month's Youth Coordinators Conference in Washington, DC. Additionally, we are planning visits to New York City high schools and colleges to begin face-to-face outreach.