In 2025, a group of Philadelphia high school students asked a question few adults consider: Where are young people actually welcome to be? To talk and connect with each other? Looking beyond home and school, they felt the city’s “third places” like parks and libraries were scarce, poorly maintained, or uninviting. Their research revealed underfunding at the Parks and Recreation Department, and they decided to focus their efforts on influencing the City Council, building youth civic confidence through local engagement.

Some students approached the idea of advocacy shaped by prior experiences of being dismissed, or with skepticism or fear. This time was different. With a structured process and the guidance of their civics teacher, they moved from discussing their concerns to researching the issue and practicing civic skills, from analyzing budgets to communicating effectively. By the time they met with the chair and vice chair of the City Council’s Parks and Recreation Committee, they felt confident and respected as community members offering solutions.

At a City Council meeting, they delivered persuasive remarks that helped secure passage of a 2025 resolution formally integrating youth voice into departmental decision-making. City leaders followed through, earning the students’ trust. The students were not learning civics just for a grade; they were practicing democracy in real time.

Building Youth Civic Confidence: The Problem

While exemplary, the experience of these young people in Philadelphia is not the norm nationwide. The core problem of the accelerating decay of American democracy is driven not only by actors and conditions in the halls of power but by the context in communities. The democracy crisis sits atop a crisis of hope, a crisis of belonging (marked by isolation and fractured community ties), and a pervasive crisis of trust in institutions. As shared in America’s Promise Alliance’s 2024 State of Young People Report, young people in the United States are increasingly disillusioned with democratic institutions: Only 12 percent trust government leaders, with trust even lower among Black and Hispanic youth. Only 16 percent believe democracy is working for them. Yet the data also reveal an entry point for a future for democratic participation: 65 percent of young people trust their peers, pointing to the potential of classroom-based civic learning and local problem solving to rebuild civic confidence.

Read the full article about schools as civic infrastructure by Elizabeth Clay Roy at Stanford Social Innovation Review.