Giving Compass' Take:

• Scott Warren, writing for The 74, explores how adults can make fundamental transformations that will encourage kids to lead active political lives through civic engagement.

• How are donors helping to foster civic engagement opportunities for young people?

• Read more about teaching democracy and civic engagement. 

There are many potential changes that would create a more equitable and effective democracy in which all voices are represented in our government: better voting laws to ensure all individuals can vote, less gerrymandering and splitting up congressional districts to ensure certain parties remain in power, less money in politics to rig the game. Much has been written about these reforms.

In keeping with the theme of elevating youth voices in politics, I argue for three specific but fundamental transformations we can make to help lift up young people as real and legitimate political players. These structural changes would ensure that more young people are able to live a political life:

  1. Ensure Schools Promote Democracy We need to make sure that an equitable, effective, and holistic civics education is available to all students. It would help us ensure that more young people are able to participate in our political process, just like the students we saw come out of Parkland.
  2. Lower the Voting Age to 16 More and better comprehensive civics education is necessary. So is giving young people real ways to participate in the political process, starting now.
  3. Put Equity at the Forefront We need to ensure that we are creating a democracy that increasingly places equity at the forefront. And specifically, racial equity. Young people can help achieve this goal of ensuring that every single young person, irrespective of their background, can have a real voice and say in our country’s future.

Read the full article about empowering children to lead a political life by Scott Warren at The 74.