Digital Youth Civic Hub

In the 2014 midterms, just 13% of 18-19 year olds voted. Yes, 13% nationwide! And while an estimated 23% of young people (ages 18-29) voted in 2022—making it the second-highest youth voter turnout in midterms in decades—youth continue to vote at disproportionately lower rates than other age groups. As a New York City based organization, we’re especially concerned about the low youth voting rates in our state and city. Hearteningly, New York was one of only four states to see increased youth voter turnout rates from 2018 to 2022, but only 20.7% of 18-29 year olds statewide cast a ballot—still lower than that year’s national average of 23%. And low voting rates and engagement among youth persist at the local level, too. In 2021, only 11.1% of 18-29 year olds in NYC voted in the municipal election. The trend is clear: young New Yorkers are leaving their individual and collective power on the table by sitting out of critical elections and not being civically involved at and beyond the ballot box. 

Why is it that young people—especially young New Yorkers—continuously disengage from electoral politics? According to CIRCLE at Tufts University, 76% of young people across the country believe their age group has the power to enact change, but only 40% of youth—and 34% of youth of color—report feeling well-qualified to participate in politics. Young Americans are passionate about the injustices facing their communities, but they lack access to the knowledge, skills, and resources that can effectively equip them to make real change, individually and collectively.

While NYC has an abundance of civic resources and organizations, it lacks an infrastructure for making civic opportunities and voter education information known and navigable for young people, their families, and their schools in a systematic way. This limited access to civic activities has contributed to a generation of civically isolated young people, low youth voter turnout, and missed opportunities for civic identity formation beyond basic activism. Further, this lack of infrastructure impedes strategic collaboration across organizations that could provide coherent civic pathways for deepened and sustained civic engagement. Without a systematic way for schools–particularly those in historically marginalized communities whose personnel is already stretched thin–to identify and engage in partnerships with external civic organizations, these valuable civic learning experiences will remain disparate and disconnected from youth. 

A civic hub that creates a coherent and clear platform for youth civic engagement and integrates in and out of school learning is more necessary than ever in the wake of the civic isolation and record level governmental distrust resulting from the pandemic. We need connective tissue in order to achieve collective impact for young people. Through our Digital Youth Civic Hub, YVote is committed to building this connective tissue in order to change the odds–and address the obstacles–young people face in becoming informed, engaged voters and civic leaders.

To equip NYC youth with the tools they need to effectively and readily engage in out-of-school civic learning, it’s vital that we provide systematic and meaningful on-ramps for positive and ongoing civic engagement. YVote is creating these on-ramps through a Digital Youth Civic Hub, a unique and dynamic platform offering a digital database of civic activities and resources for New York City youth, their families, their schools, and communities. The platform—developed, maintained, and promoted by YVote youth in partnership with a web development/software team—will make civic participation opportunities more accessible to New York City’s young people, particularly those from under-resourced schools and communities. It will also help YVote and other organizations improve programming in response to greater awareness and understanding of other organizations in the field.

As a key feature of this Digital Youth Civic Hub, YVote youth and adult allies will develop a badging system through which to measure, document, and record civic learning that happens in and out of school based on a core set of civic competencies. This would provide a framework for sequencing experiences and allow for flexibility while providing validity without standardization. This badging system will align with the New York State criteria for the newly adopted Seal of Civic Readiness, showing how the criteria for the badges correspond with the criteria for civic knowledge and participation, which may occur out of school. This alignment work will help communicate the value of civic experiences to stakeholders within and beyond the state of New York—including in applying to colleges—making it easier for young people to see their achievements and share them with others. Essentially, this badging system within the Hub will recognize, credentialize, and incentivize young people’s civic learning to continue outside of and beyond school. Through this solution, YVote will connect the broadest base of young New Yorkers to the level of knowledge and skills necessary to ensure civic readiness for the challenges and opportunities of our time.

YVote is currently working with a civics-focused tech organization to test a prototype of the Hub that will provide valuable initial data around youth participation and use of the Hub. The prototype is a website with activities, lessons, and resources focused on Participatory Budgeting, a citywide process in NYC allowing residents as young as 11 to vote on the allocation of $5 million of the mayor’s budget. These funds will go towards the community projects that receive the most votes in their boroughs. We selected this topic as the focus of our Digital Youth Civic Hub prototype because of its timeliness (voting takes place from May 10-June 25) and its accessibility for young New Yorkers who are typically excluded from electoral processes. By completing the experiences in our prototype, users can earn a Participatory Budgeting badge. This web prototype will provide us with useful information to then guide and inform subsequent pilot phases of the Hub, which will take place in late summer and early fall.

The Digital Youth Civic Hub is being designed to serve multiple populations, but it is first and foremost a by-youth, for-youth solution intended to reach and impact the broadest possible range of teens in New York City. This includes youth from marginalized and disenfranchised communities—particularly those represented by the Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity consisting of 33 neighborhoods that were most negatively impacted by Covid, youth who are already involved in civics and looking for more robust engagement and leadership opportunities, and youth who want to get involved but face barriers such as job responsibilities, family commitments, or lack of network and resources. This Hub will ensure every high schooler in New York has access to a high quality civic opportunity that aligns with their interests in order to equip them for success and satisfaction as future voters, tax payers, and citizen contributors to a diverse, dynamic global city. In doing so, we will increase the number of young people able to identify, connect, and organize campaigns and events with peers who share their interests and who come from different backgrounds and different parts of the city. It will also open more doors for youth to access positions of power and decision-making when it comes to their own learning and civic engagement. We envision this Hub as the key to creating lifelong civic participants who will advocate for a more just and equitable  New York. 

In order to most effectively serve these youth populations, we know this solution must also serve those who work with them. Thus, the Digital Youth Civic Hub will also be a resource for parents and guardians, educators and school communities, out-of-school time programs and civic organizations, city government officials, and arts and cultural institutions. By creating the city’s first dynamic database and calendar of youth civic programs, opportunities, and events, the Hub will expand civic collaboration and opportunities for meaningful partnership among youth-centered organizations in NYC. It will shape the work done by these organizations in order to better meet the needs of youth and to fill urgent gaps in the youth civic engagement field. 

Overall, the Digital Youth Civic Hub will help young New Yorkers from all backgrounds find the right civic opportunities for them, especially youth who often lack the resources and networks to find such opportunities. While there are a variety of opportunities that exist, young people tend to be unaware of them, unable to find ones that match their skills and interests, and/or have life situations preventing them from finding relevant and interesting opportunities. Funding for this Hub will support steps toward a city in which every young person impacted by systems of government understands they have a voice and critical role to play in politics, regardless of inequitable power dynamics, voter suppression efforts, or other forms of disenfranchisement. It will mobilize the advancement of civic education and empower youth to take advantage of opportunities for their own civic learning and that of their peers.

YVote is uniquely positioned to successfully deliver this solution for NYC youth because our organization operates through a for-youth, by-youth model. The sweeping majority of YVote’s staff are young people who are instrumentally involved in all aspects of programmatic and organizational design and decision making, from strategic planning to running our social media channels to editing and producing our youth-hosted weekly podcast and blog. Our out-of-school workshops and program sessions are designed and led by youth facilitators and peer leaders, who were previously participants in the programs themselves. We utilize a peer-led, intergenerational approach because we know that youth are more likely to become invested and motivated when they are inspired and taught by their peers and by people with backgrounds similar to their own. We also recognize that youth are the experts when it comes to addressing their own needs as a generation. 

YVote is particularly tuned in to the civic resources and opportunities available to NYC youth, as we are one of the lead organizations for a newly convened NYC Youth Civic Participation Coalition. The coalition—made up of leaders of key local civic nonprofits and youth-focused city government agencies—is working to develop an integrated vision and plan for a civic ecosystem in NYC, which will be supported in part through the Digital Youth Civic Hub. The connections YVote has made through this coalition will ensure that the Hub effectively reaches its intended audiences of youth and community organizations and accurately represents the many civic opportunities available to young people. 

YVote youth and adult allies have spent months establishing clear goals and objectives for the Digital Youth Civic Hub. We have undertaken an extensive research and planning process to outline the key components of the Digital Youth Civic Hub to ensure that the platform is unique, accessible, comprehensive, and an all-encompassing solution to common causes of civic disengagement among youth. Within this extensive planning process the team has shared the concept of the Digital Youth Civic Hub with partnering organizations in order to collect feedback which has been used to tailor and refine aspects of the platform further. This feedback has confirmed that there is great need for the Hub, as well as great support for this platform among leading youth engagement organizations in the city. The team is now creating plans for web development and partnering with civic tech aligned youth serving organizations in order to develop and test out a prototype of the Digital Youth Civic Hub specifically around local participatory budgeting efforts. Once we analyze the data this prototype provides, we’ll be ready for the next phase—getting the first pilot of the Hub off the ground and running!

We recently launched a prototype of the Hub with support from a civics-focused tech organization. This prototype consists of a website where users can create an account, complete activities and lessons around Participatory Budgeting, and earn a Participatory Budgeting badge upon completion of the modules. The prototype will run through May and June of this year. After the prototype phase ends in June, we will gather and analyze the data it provides in order to begin building a first pilot of the Hub. While we were able to reach this prototype phase without additional financial support, we will not be able to move forward until we have increased funding and tech support. 

YVote youth and adult allies have spent the last 6 months putting together a framework for the Hub—what it should look like, what it should include, and how to appeal to young people—and worked to begin mapping civic opportunities in NYC. Although we have reached the prototype phase, and look forward to gathering and analyzing the critical data that prototype will provide, we are in need of additional financial and technical support in order to move forward with the Hub. 

YVote is applying to this program for our Digital Youth Civic Hub initiative because of its mission to support and accelerate solutions to address some of the world's most pressing democratic challenges. Our Digital Youth Civic Hub aligns with this mission, as it seeks to tackle the problem of civic disengagement among youth in NYC (and ultimately, in cities across the country.) Our Hub idea is an innovative platform that aims to provide comprehensive information and resources to help young people engage in civic life, particularly those from underrepresented communities. We are seeking financial and technical support to help us launch and scale this project. The Hub prototype that we are launching this May and June is a crucial first step towards achieving our goals. However, in order to develop and implement a fully functional platform, we will need additional resources and expertise. The funding, connections, and technical expertise offered by this program will be instrumental in helping us reach our objectives.

This program's focus on supporting initiatives that are sustainable, scalable, and equitable aligns with our values and goals. We believe that the Digital Youth Civic Hub has the potential to be all of these things. By providing young people with the tools and resources they need to engage in civic life, we can create a more equitable and inclusive society for all. As a youth-led organization, we are also excited to connect with other like-minded innovators within this program's community. We believe that by working together and building collaborative solutions, we can build a stronger network of resources and knowledge to drive the social impact and change needed to meet today’s most pressing problems.

Our solution is innovative because, unfortunately, nothing like it yet exists. Despite our team’s extensive searching, we have yet to find an active, dynamic database that maps civic organizations and opportunities in NYC, especially with a youth focus. Further, no space exists where youth can earn credentials for their out-of-school civic learning, which disincentivizes youth from pursuing these civic opportunities. From what we have found (or, more accurately, not found), every aspect of this Hub will be first-of-its-kind for NYC. 

The Hub is also innovative because of our youth-led approach to its development, creation, and maintenance. This approach is at the center of our organization’s work. Many out-of-school programs operate as hierarchies that exclude youth from the decision-making processes directly impacting them and their experiences. YVote was co-founded and co-led from the start by an intergenerational alliance, with youth not only developing and implementing our peer-led curriculum but also acting as integral decisionmakers. The Hub’s creation process intentionally centers collaboration with and input from young people instead of adultist power dynamics. Young people will design and maintain the Hub alongside a tech partner funded by this grant. 

Finally, we recognize that although we are fortunate to benefit from a number of civic resources and opportunities in NYC, they remain inaccessible for many of the city’s youth and their families as a result of the absence of a systematic database like the Hub. Creating the Hub won’t automatically fix this issue, which is why accessibility is at the heart of this project. Our team is aware of the well-documented digital divide correlated to income and education and how a lack of digital literacy among many NYC residents compounds these challenges of digital access. To account for this digital divide, YVote will create a Hub that is multi-modal, allowing people with varying levels of access and literacy to easily access and use it. YVote will also ensure that libraries and schools help distribute information about the Hub, allowing people to access it even when they lack at-home broadband. 

Goal for next year: Launch and pilot the Digital Civic Hub for at least 500 youth in New York City.

Strategies: We will utilize the prototype phase to refine and test the platform, partner with youth-serving organizations to promote and recruit participants, and conduct targeted outreach to schools and community organizations who will engage youth with the Hub’s pilot platform.

By the end of the next year: Add at least 50 NYC community organizations to the Digital Youth Civic Hub, with at least 1,000 youth participants engaging with the platform's resources and opportunities.

Strategy: To achieve this goal, we will leverage strategic partnerships with youth-serving organizations, government agencies, and other stakeholders, especially through our collaborative work with the NYC Youth Agenda Steering Committee and the NYC Civic Engagement & Participation Coalition. We will also continue to develop and refine the Digital Youth Civic Hub platform to ensure it meets the needs and preferences of our target audiences. Additionally, we will leverage social media and other marketing channels to promote the platform and increase its visibility among young people and community organizations.

Goal for next five years: Expand the reach of the Digital Civic Hub to at least five other major cities across the United States.

Strategies: To accomplish these scaling efforts with efficacy, we will first develop a scalable platform architecture that can be easily adapted to other cities. We will conduct research to determine in which cities a Hub like ours is most needed and most viable. We will also establish partnerships with local youth-serving organizations and city governments in cities across the US, to ensure we are meeting the needs of local youth. Finally, we will conduct outreach and marketing campaigns to promote the Hub to a national audience.

Goal for next five years: Build a sustainable revenue model for the Digital Civic Hub that enables ongoing expansion and impact.

Strategies: We plan to explore various revenue models, such as charging fees to partner organizations or offering premium features for a subscription fee. We will also engage in fundraising efforts to secure additional grants and donations, such as appeal campaigns and fundraiser events. And we will leverage the platform's impact metrics and success stories to attract corporate sponsorships and social impact investors who understand the urgent need for a systematic platform that bolsters civic engagement and opportunities for the country’s youth.

To measure progress toward the impact goals listed above, we will utilize both quantitative and qualitative methods to assess the success of the platform and to inform ongoing improvements. Some specific examples of how we plan to measure progress include:

• User engagement metrics: We will track the number of users accessing the platform, their frequency of use, and how they engage with the resources and tools available on the platform. This will allow us to monitor the level of interest and investment in civic engagement among youth in NYC and to identify areas where the platform could be improved to better meet their needs.

• Partnership engagement metrics: We will also measure the level of engagement from partner organizations who will contribute to the development and delivery of the platform. We will track the number of partner organizations who participate in the Digital Civic Hub and the frequency and quality of their engagement. This will allow us to evaluate the effectiveness of our outreach efforts and partnerships in fostering a more connected and supportive civic ecosystem for youth.

• Outcome-based metrics: We will measure the success of the Digital Civic Hub in achieving our impact goals by collecting feedback and data from users and partner organizations. This could include surveys, focus groups, and other forms of data collection to assess the effectiveness of the platform in increasing youth civic engagement, building awareness of civic opportunities, and fostering connections and collaborations among youth and organizations.

While we have identified these initial metrics for measuring progress toward our impact goals, this is also an area where we would be grateful for more support. If selected as a Solver team, we plan to further develop and hone our impact strategy within the nine months of the MIT Solve program. We are eager to learn from the expertise of Solve and its partners to refine our metrics and to identify new and innovative ways to measure the impact of the Digital Civic Hub in the service of strengthening it and ultimately scaling it.

We have heard from both youth and civic actors in the field that a Hub like this would effectively connect youth to the civic opportunities and resources NYC has to offer in a way that is very appealing and accessible, particularly to youth from under-resourced communities. Our Youth Steering Committee is currently working to develop and get feedback on a concrete and comprehensive theory of change. For a collective impact initiative such as the Hub, it is important that the logic model is collectively developed and ratified by a broad array of civic actors.  Our NYC Youth Civic Participation Coalition and the NYC Youth Agenda Steering Committee are working on doing so now and will continue this work in greater depth through the upcoming summer.

The Hub will initially be developed as a website that includes an updateable calendar of events, resources on community issues, elections, and voting, and opportunities for civic learning and engagement with local and national organizations. It is our goal that, once the website is developed and tested, we will develop a companion mobile app to increase accessibility of the Hub. Specifications around this technology will be co-developed with a yet-to-be-hired software development team, which will happen once funding is received.

YVote has valued and prioritized diversity, equity, and inclusivity since its founding by 50 high schoolers of wide ranging backgrounds in New York City and like-minded adults in the aftermath of the 2016 election. Our youth co-founders were concerned by the breadth of civic breakdown in our country, the low youth voting rates, the minimal level of action-oriented civics in our schools, and the extent of segregation of students within even diverse and dynamic cities like New York. So, they launched an inclusive cross-partisan youth social movement around voter motivation and engagement through peer-led out-of-school civic programming. By offering citywide and nationwide programming, YVote brings together teens from different socioeconomic classes, ethnic and racial backgrounds, political ideologies, religious beliefs, gender and sexual identities, and geographic areas with the intention of promoting active listening, dialogue and deliberation, and understanding others’ perspectives and lived experiences. This distinctive structure provides a unique opportunity for sustained, meaningful, and positive interactions with peers with whom youth would otherwise be unlikely to cross paths with. 

The Digital Youth Civic Hub initiative began in order to address the civic deserts that exist in cities where they don’t need to, such as diverse and well-resourced NYC. It is estimated that one-third of urban / suburban youth perceive their communities to be civic deserts, where they lack the resources and opportunities this Hub aims to provide. It is documented that youth in high-poverty neighborhoods have lower levels of civic knowledge and that Black youth in those neighborhoods are less likely to believe they have power to influence community decisions. Our goal is to dramatically democratize and improve access to opportunities for youth, particularly those who are currently left out and left behind as a result of language barriers, living in a civic desert, attending under-resourced schools, or simply not having knowledge about and access to the opportunities they should. 

As with YVote’s own youth leadership team, we are also committed to the leadership of the Digital Youth Civic Hub being reflective of the diversity in NYC. The majority of the team will be comprised of racially, ethnically, and gender diverse NYC youth, who often do not hold decision making positions in organizations. It is a goal of ours to equip young people with the knowledge and skills that will prepare them for increasing positions of leadership as they embark on postsecondary education and/or career paths.

The Digital Youth Civic Hub will be used by, and benefit, NYC youth & community members, schools and educators, local organizations and civic actors, and government officials and agencies. Youth and their communities will use the Hub to find resources and opportunities to increase their civic learning and community involvement. Schools and educators will use the Hub to find opportunities for their students, which will make it easier for high school students to earn their Seal of Civic Readiness now offered by New York State. Organizations will use the Hub to engage with youth and community members, promote their own programs and resources, and gain a better understanding of what is available to NYC youth and where there are gaps that need to be filled. Government agencies and officials can also utilize the Hub to find youth volunteers and interns and share relevant information about upcoming elections or important policies. 

YVote itself is financially sustained through multi-year institutional grants, in addition to individual donations and contracted work for other community-based organizations and government agencies. Our plan for the Digital Youth Civic Hub is to initially sustain this work through grants, such as MIT Solve. A five-year goal of ours is to build a sustainable revenue model for the Digital Civic Hub that enables ongoing expansion and impact.

We plan to do this by exploring various revenue models, such as charging fees to partner organizations using the Hub for promotion, marketing, and amplification of their work or offering premium features of the Hub for a subscription fee. We will also engage in fundraising efforts to secure additional grants and donations, such as appeal campaigns and fundraiser events. And we will leverage the platform's impact metrics and success stories to attract corporate sponsorships and social impact investors who understand the urgent need for a systematic platform that bolsters civic engagement and opportunities for the country’s youth.