Before they turn 18, civic education can set young people up to become informed, engaged citizens and voters. But access to civic learning and engagement is profoundly inequitable according to the CIRCLE Growing Voters report from the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University. Instead of the current approach, short-term mobilization during election cycles, the report offers a new framework based on decades of research. Three essential elements combine to make young people more equitably engaged: access and exposure to opportunities for voting and civic participation, structural support to help youth take advantage of opportunities, and cultural norms that value voting and civic engagement.
