Restoring Agency to Citizenship

DESCRIBE YOUR PROJECT

Apathetic. Disillusioned. Inaccessible. Non-transparent. This is how young people might typically describe politics. They feel detached from a system that seems to change little in reality even if leaders, policies, and parties in power change. All they see or hear about politics, if at all, only reflects polarization and dysfunctionality. We focus on combatting the lack of relatability to politics. People should be politically aware, but voter turnout shouldn't be the only focus. We will create welcoming, supportive, "nonpolitical" public spaces that would encourage young people to share their thoughts on life in their communities openly. By having open discussions with others their age, young people might see that some feelings, experiences, and problems are shared. We expect the supprtive atmosphere and open discussion to create a collective consciousness that would spur service projects, in which young people would enact their own social change and feel its benefits themselves.

We hope to hold these open, supportive discussions as "coffee hours." The food/drink and the presence of relatable young people there would hopefully attract people to get to know others in their community and find the common ground in their experiences. As people begin to see that others may face similar, local issues as they do, the desire for change should come. Since issues are local, they should be more manageable. We expect coffee hours to organically produce local service projects conducted by its participants. Addressing one's own problems with their community, feeling the results, and building relationships in the process should orient young people in a more socially purposeful way.

Where does your project take place?: West Philadelphia, PA

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