YVote is looking for partners to aid in the expansion of this first-of-its-kind Democracy Camp. Ideal partners are youth serving organizations who are interested in augmenting their summer programming to include civic engagement, cross-partisan dialogue, and democracy education. The Democracy Camp curriculum is designed to be youth-led, so organizations with experience supporting and facilitating youth leadership will be given preference.
We believe we have capacity to support and learn from 1-2 satellite locations this upcoming summer beyond our flagship program in NYC, ideally with at least one location outside of NYC, whether that’s within New York State or elsewhere nationally.
What is Democracy Camp?
Democracy Camp is a week-long experiential summer learning intensive for high school students culminating in student-designed and -led Democracy Projects implemented over the course of the following school year. Democracy Camp teaches the history of democracy in the US and encourages students to think critically about how its original promises diverge from current realities. Taking an action-oriented approach, our curriculum encourages students to reconnect with America’s social contract and identify roles they can play in bolstering our democracy. Our youth facilitators encourage campers to see themselves as agents of democracy as they plan and execute Democracy Projects to manifest the macro-ideas of democracy at the micro-level of their schools or communities. Democracy Camp is a launching pad for a year – and hopefully a lifetime – of civic engagement with ripples felt far beyond campers themselves.
Our first two years of Democracy Camp have been full of rich conversation, deep relationship building, curiosity, and reckoning with the often unfulfilled or unequally fulfilled promises of democracy. Participants reported improved critical thinking skills related to democratic processes, including analyzing root causes of issues, assessing political candidates' platforms, and evaluating media impact on democracy. A higher level of knowledge of these processes equips participants with the tools to make informed decisions and instills a greater sense of agency among participants, encouraging them to take ownership of their role in shaping our democracy and U.S policies.
Who is an ideal partner organization?
- **Experience working with high schoolers and supporting youth-led programming**
- Passion for Democracy and local civics
- Eagerness to engage in open conversation with youth about difficult or political topics
- Capacity to listen to and learn from YVote's experience with Democracy Camp
- Initiative, drive, and organizational capacity to make your Democracy Camp a positive experience for youth involved
- Willing to use YVote's Civic Skills Matrix to assess program impact, strengths, and growth points
What does this partnership entail?
YVote has developed and implemented our Democracy Camp curriculum over the last two summers and we want to make it available to students outside of our network! We're looking to share our curriculum and impact measurement tools with additional organizations. Through doing so, we hope to increase the range and reach of vital democracy-building work and learn more about what is entailed in scaling successfully with outside organizations in order to foster future growth. To that end, we will provide a partner organization with the following resources:
- Democracy Camp Curriculum with customization options and alternative lesson plans
- Training for youth Facilitators
- Pre-and Post-Camp surveys for program evaluation
- A timeline and curriculum for supporting Democracy Projects throughout the 2024-25 school year
- Support from YVote staff for Democracy Camp planning during Spring and Summer 2024
You can learn more about Democracy Camp's history and our hopes for expansion
here and explore our Partner Resource Guide
here!
Submissions will be considered on a Rolling basis
