CreditStacker: Gamifying Financial Literacy

Encouraging Youth Civic Engagement Through the Arts

Giving Compass' Take: • This American for the Arts post discusses the importance of listening to young people when designing arts-related programs in their communities, making sure their needs are met. • Are we doing enough to abide by this principle in youth outreach across the board? What initiatives have be proven most effective when it comes to collaboration as described in this piece? • Here's more about the power of representation and opportunity in the arts. I’m writing today as Program Manager for Advocacy & Engagement at Urban Gateways, one of Chicago’s largest in- and out-of-school arts education providers. I’ve been describing my role here as somewhere in the intersection of arts access, civic engagement, youth voice, teen leadership, social justice, and cross-spectrum partnerships. I’m #blessed to be in a position where my values inform my work. Those values include deep collaboration, mutually beneficial relationships, accountability, transparency, cooperation, humility, power-sharing, striving for relevancy, and ever-adaptability. What I think people don’t necessarily realize is that such an act — incorporating the wants, needs, and desires of the community one is working for — is political. Sure, you’ve heard that bold statement before — whether from Thomas Mann, Bob Marley, the second-wave feminism movement, or any number of other riffs from modern history. But to question (and ultimately shift the paradigm of) who has the power to make the decisions that affect one’s daily life, is overtly political.