Generation Citizen at Northeastern University

This is a fantastic opportunity to build relationships with Boston youth and other members of the community being held on Saturday, April 6th. Learn more & sign up at besj.weebly.com if you'd like to connect on a deeper level with those that aim to build a more equitable Boston.

Here’s some additional information about the conference: The 2019 conference is organized by a coalition of teachers, students, community activists, and organizers. This conference is the result of a collaboration between The Boston-area Educators for Social Justice and TAG Boston, who came together in 2011 and merged to plan a conference which would convene educators, activists, students and interested others and create a network of people interested in energizing education with a social justice practice.

Their goals are to:
1. Facilitate dialogue, share resources, and build strategy among those interested in learning and teaching about education for liberation;
2. Develop youth leadership and youth voice in education; and
3. Build a movement for liberatory education that combines the visions of youth, communities, families, and teachers.

Once again, if you’re interested in attending this event & forging real, long-standing relationships with Boston communities, head to besj.weebly.com & register for the event!

Seeing as we are one day removed from it’s highly fitting to kick off by giving attention to the work of Kimberlé Crenshaw.

Born in Canton, Ohio in 1959, Crenshaw received bachelor’s degrees in government & Africana studies from Cornell University as a member of the Quill & Dagger Honors’ Society in 1981. Three years later, Kimberlé received a J.D. from Harvard Law School, followed by receiving her Masters in Law (LL.M) in 1985 from the University of Wisconsin as a William H. Hastie Fellow.

It was during her tenure with the UCLA School of Law that Crenshaw founded the scholarly field of critical race theory, as well as keying the term “intersectionality” to describe the frames of reference necessary to empower & provide justice to our world’s most marginalized communities. Influenced by the 1976 court decision to dismiss Emma DeGraffenreid’s claims of racism & sexism in GM’s hiring practices, Crenshaw had published her piece “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and S*x: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Policies” in 1989.
For scholars such as Crenshaw, Audre Lorde, bell hooks, & others who advocate for an intersectional approach to social issues, intersectionality isn’t simply about “identity politics” or “political correctness.” It’s about ensuring for the marginalized populations of our communities that the perpetuation of “the invisibility of many constituents within groups that claim them as members, but often fail to represent them” is brought to an end. It’s about utilizing whatever resources you have to not only empower yourself and your community, but also creating space at the table for those that are commonly forgotten by society, allowing them to speak about their experiences & become recognized as dignified members of society. Ultimately, it’s about equity, recognition of humanity, and utilizing our differences to achieve the common goal of societal improvement.

Hosted by the Generation Citizen Associate Board of Young Professionals, our annual bar night is focused on going ‘Beyond the Ballot’ and the ways that Greater Boston community members can impact their communities and engineer change beyond voting. We will be hosting three amazing local change-makers who epitomize modern civic engagement for a casual Q/A and networking session.

Join us tonight at 6:30 at the TripAdvisor Boston space for our annual event! RSVP by following the link provided in the poster above.

DID YOU KNOW - The midterm elections are coming up on November 6th and the MA voter registration deadline is October 17th... if you haven't done it yet, do it now! It's as simple as going to this website - https://www.boston.gov/departme…/elections/how-register-vote

Are you not from MA and don't want to change your registration? Do you work or have class on election day and don't think you'll have time to get to the polls? Then go to this site and request your absentee ballot!! https://www.vote.org/absentee-voting-rules/

To all my fellow college students - I know it feels like your vote doesn't matter, but in these local and state elections, we have so much power! There are so many issues (ie. housing) that directly affect us as students - and if we all voted - we could have SO MUCH ELECTORAL POWER! Your voice matters and your vote matters.

Generation Citizen has been an action civics provider in Massachusetts for almost 10 years and has served thousands of youth. We see how action civics curriculum has changed lives, inspired, and taught students how to engage with the democracy. Our Northeastern chapter is so proud to call Massachusetts home and will continue to be excited about supporting the Greater Boston Area's civic learning!

Massachusetts Legislature shores up civics education A bill that passed the Legislature would enhance the state's civics curriculum and require students to complete a civics project.

Actively participate in the democracy. Join GC. Teach youth how to participate in the democracy.

Sending a HUGE thank you to everyone that came to our How Change Happens event last night! We had an awesome discussion about organizing: how to do it, how it's communicated, and why it's important. Our panelists inspired and educated the audience and left us wanting to go make change.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this event a success: Generation Citizen NU chapter members, GC Eboard, the Human Services Program, specially Natalia Stone and Emily Mann for all their help on logistics and planning, and the Social Impact Lab for co-sponsoring!

Thanks GC Mass for having an awesome training for us on Saturday! Can't wait to get into the classroom this semester

Hi all! If you're interested in becoming a DC or interested in learning what that means, come to our info session on Sunday at 6 in the basement of EV (room 08). Hope to see you all there!

GC description S18 We are Generation Citizen Northeastern... ...the Northeastern chapter of an organization which sends college students into high school classrooms to teach an action-based civics course. What exactly does this mean? We go into local Boston public high schools as Democracy Coaches and guide the st...

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE TODAY IN BOSTON!

You can find your polling station here: http://www.sec.state.ma.us/wheredoivotema//bal/myelectioninfo.aspx.
This article is a good starting point if you need to get a late start on researching the mayoral candidates and the city council races: https://www.metro.us/news/local-news/boston/boston-2017-election-everything-you-need-to-know.

Can Teaching Civics Save Democracy? Democracy thrives off an informed and active community, researchers say. The way to secure that future is integrating civics classes in K-12 education.

GC National's statement on the events in Charlottesville:

What happened in Charlottesville, Virginia, this past weekend is an American tragedy at once familiar, yet still disconcerting. In the last few days, former U.S. presidents from both parties, journalists, educators, and many others have appropriately condemned the assemblies of white supremacy within the greater University of Virginia area. Equally significant, a wide cross-section of the country has rejected “on the one hand, on the other hand” responses concerning nativist visions of our common life that have come from the highest levels of U.S. leadership. Again, appropriately so.

Generation Citizen is not a partisan organization. But condemnation of this sort is not partisan. It clarifies our commitment to decency and democracy. Across the country, to start the school day, many young people recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The concluding portion of that pledge narrates a reality which could exist, but does not yet exist. It speaks about a nation characterized by “liberty and justice for all”. This principle is perhaps the foundation of the American democracy — a system in which “all” have liberty, justice, and are equal. We have never reached that principle. The hallmark of our democracy is that we keep trying to get there.

As a national organization which prepares youth for a lifetime of civic engagement, Generation Citizen feels a special responsibility to address glaring instances where our country diverges from this journey to the ideal of liberty and justice for all. Charlottesville is such an instance. This work must take place both internally, in how we conduct our own work, and externally, in how we implement our programming.

Last year, we initiated a robust diversity, equity, and inclusion process within our team to ensure that our internal practices increasingly reflect the democratic practices which we hope to see in wider society. That process is necessarily an ongoing one, and one which will never actually conclude. But we are committed to making adjustments as needed and doing our part to ensure that our own organization is better reflective of the America we wish to help create.

We also must reflect on our obligation to the students, college volunteers, and teachers we work with every day. This includes a concrete obligation to ensure that our main constituents, students, and those that teach them in Action Civics are adeptly equipped to address this issue, and the challenges that will undoubtedly unfold over the next months and years in our classrooms. We have commenced conversations within our program team on ways to provide resources to this end. As an organization, this is our uppermost priority. Given the immediate needs of this moment, however, you may consider using the following resources: NPR’s resource guide for educators, Facing History’s Charlottesville collection, and Chalkbeat’s compilation of discussion aids.

We cannot and will not seek to do this work alone. Those in the civics education space, especially, have an important role to play. In the wake of Charlottesville, VA, we look forward to equipping young people with the fundamental skills needed to constructively address the overlapping areas of racism, violence, and the changing demographics of America. We pledge to do our part to move America closer to the ideal which it constantly tries to achieve, but has not yet.

Scott Warren,
Generation Citizen, CEO

Andrew Wilkes,
Generation Citizen, Director of Policy and Advocacy

GC statement on Charlottesville, VA – Generation Citizen – Medium Our response to the events of last weekend