Speaker 1: Welcome to How to Citizen with barratun Day, a show
Speaker 1: where we reimagine the word citizen as a verb, reclaim
Speaker 1: it from those who have weaponized it, and remind ourselves
Speaker 1: how to wield our collective power. I'm barratun Day. We
Speaker 1: want this show to do a few things for you,
Speaker 1: make you feel better and more empowered, and give you
Speaker 1: things to do to improve your community and our democracy
Speaker 1: as a whole. That feels super essential right now as
Speaker 1: the election season ratchets up and we get more dispirited
Speaker 1: and assaulted by a lot of noise, keep your head
Speaker 1: up and if you need to just take a time out,
Speaker 1: trust me, I get it. I truly hope this episode
Speaker 1: how restore you a bit. It's designed to give you
Speaker 1: a turbo boost of people power. We've recorded it with
Speaker 1: our live Zoom audience as usual, which you can join
Speaker 1: by visiting how to citizen dot com. Sign up for
Speaker 1: my emails or text messages. That's where we put the
Speaker 1: invite to protect our Zoom universe. And speaking of email,
Speaker 1: I want to thank you if you've sent us a
Speaker 1: message to action at how to citizen dot com or
Speaker 1: comments at how to citizen dot com. And thanks, especially
Speaker 1: if you shared a rating or review in your podcast app.
Speaker 1: It really helps with the trolls. Now, I'm going to
Speaker 1: hand the mic to myself as we all learn to
Speaker 1: let the kids lead. In this episode of How to
Speaker 1: Citizen with barretton Day, we are going to explore two
Speaker 1: things that get a lot of lip service in the
Speaker 1: worlds of philanthropy and democracy, civic participation and youth empowerment.
Speaker 1: Can you hear the white papers ringing in your hair
Speaker 1: and an uninspiring fashion when those terms bring not so
Speaker 1: loudly in the streets. Civics, as we've talked about it
Speaker 1: on this show, is a topic that's gets very watered
Speaker 1: down out there in the quote unquote real world. There
Speaker 1: a civic education and participation project that often shy away
Speaker 1: from addressing the idea of people power, the history of
Speaker 1: injustice in this country and why our systems are the
Speaker 1: way they are, the questions about power in the system
Speaker 1: and who benefits from those decisions, and why the grounding
Speaker 1: in that deep understanding of power. Instead, this diluded version
Speaker 1: of civics, it focuses on the idea of being informed
Speaker 1: and making sure your representative knows your views and maybe volunteering, maybe,
Speaker 1: And none of those are bad things. They are in
Speaker 1: fact necessary, but they're not sufficient. They aren't the whole picture,
Speaker 1: and they miss key aspects that I just mentioned would
Speaker 1: come down to true accountability and things that make real
Speaker 1: change happen. We think this idea of youth empowerment and
Speaker 1: civic participation needs a reset because at the same time
Speaker 1: we're facing some pretty big challenges I don't know, climate change,
Speaker 1: racial inequality, economic inequality, and the purposeful erosion of our
Speaker 1: democratic institution. And during all that we hear this refrain
Speaker 1: the youth will save us. It's now up to the kids.
Speaker 1: This dastardly commencement speech which burdens the next generation with
Speaker 1: the failures of all those who came before, who should
Speaker 1: have handled it. It offends me. That's not how we
Speaker 1: do that. That is not fair. We don't tell kids
Speaker 1: to clean your room and then clean our rooms too.
Speaker 1: I say to the youth, welcome to our democratic society.
Speaker 1: We will be there with you, beside the front and
Speaker 1: sometimes behind to let you leave. Now we hear this
Speaker 1: talk about many in the adult population talking about gen
Speaker 1: z is self obsessed and checked out with social media,
Speaker 1: and they're disengaged and they can't be counted on to vote.
Speaker 1: At the same time, we put the pressure of the
Speaker 1: literal world on them. We brate them for not believing
Speaker 1: in institutions. We've given them very little reason to believe it.
Speaker 1: I find it interesting that this generation is putting pressure
Speaker 1: on the system in their own way and have their
Speaker 1: own savvy critique as to how change will happen. Given
Speaker 1: my perspective on this, you're gonna understand why I was
Speaker 1: thrilled to learn about this relatively new organization and campaign
Speaker 1: that is tackling these things head on, but in a
Speaker 1: very new, reel and promising way. I am rilled to
Speaker 1: welcome the co founder and CEO of Civics Unplugged, Josh Thompson,
Speaker 1: along with Zoe Jenkins, a CIVICS Campaign Steering Committee member,
Speaker 1: to talk with me today about the founding of Civics
Speaker 1: Unplugged and the launch of their Civics twenty thirty campaign.
Speaker 1: Welcome Josh, Welcome Zoe. What is the mission of Civics
Speaker 1: Unplugged and what was the motivation for founding it? So
Speaker 1: you want to take the mission and I'll talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about the founding. Sure that sounds great. So
Speaker 1: it's in everybody's email bio. The kids will lead. You know,
Speaker 1: we have so many systems that are falling apart, and
Speaker 1: we're tuned. I thank you phrased it perfectly. You know,
Speaker 1: we're putting the impetus on Generation Z while also not
Speaker 1: believing in them, and so it's civic unplugged. We're totally
Speaker 1: flipping that that the kids aren't just the future, you know,
Speaker 1: they aren't going to just be our future presidents and
Speaker 1: our future leaders. They're going to be leading us right now.
Speaker 1: And we're seeing that just perfectly in this moment. So
Speaker 1: I think that's really demonstrated by the fact that our
Speaker 1: steering committee, which I'm a part of, we're all high schoolers,
Speaker 1: all under the age of eighteen, helping run a campaign
Speaker 1: to find other Gen Z projects and stuff like this
Speaker 1: isn't being done because we're not trusting kids to lead
Speaker 1: when we know that they have all the power and
Speaker 1: the knowledge and the spirit to be able to do so.
Speaker 1: So I think that is really the core of our
Speaker 1: mission is really operationalizing that and letting kids start leading
Speaker 1: right now because we desperately need the leadership of young people.
Speaker 1: If that's not been made any clear by everything that's
Speaker 1: going on, and I'll toss it over the Josh to
Speaker 1: talk a little bit more about the founding. I was
Speaker 1: part of a mission of Senator Corey Booker from New
Speaker 1: Jersey and from Newark, New Jersey, and he was deciding
Speaker 1: to run for the highest office in our country. And
Speaker 1: he's helped me so much in life that it's not
Speaker 1: even a question that when he does something, I usually
Speaker 1: tell people, do you need me or want me? With Corey,
Speaker 1: it's either one, I'm in. And so I was traveling
Speaker 1: around the country and I was at all these different
Speaker 1: rallies and convenings and a lot of campaign not his
Speaker 1: others and other adults. We're looking out into the rallies
Speaker 1: and saying, I can't believe the adults and these parents
Speaker 1: dragged these kids out, And I was like, you know what,
Speaker 1: I think it's the other way around, and there's only
Speaker 1: one way to find out, which is to get out there.
Speaker 1: And started talking to the kids, and I call them
Speaker 1: kids in our community. They asked to be identified as that,
Speaker 1: and so yeah, all the things I think that we
Speaker 1: may all in this community have a feeling of, you know,
Speaker 1: I would go up to someone like Zoe, and I
Speaker 1: would say, hey, did you get dragged out here? And
Speaker 1: the big do you know what I had to do
Speaker 1: to get my mom out here? Like she's got to
Speaker 1: be more involved, Like I had to bring her out
Speaker 1: here to tell her where it was, to get her there,
Speaker 1: getting here on time. And that's just when it started
Speaker 1: to come together. And it's a bit of a misnomer.
Speaker 1: Sure you introduced me as as the CEO of civics
Speaker 1: Unplug my contract and in my title within the community
Speaker 1: is that I'm the executive Assistant to Generation Z. It
Speaker 1: is an intergenerational theme of service and in action and service.
Speaker 1: But it started with us saying, let's have an all inclusive,
Speaker 1: paid for a trip to our nation's capital. Let's start
Speaker 1: their accesses everything. We say that kids will be the change,
Speaker 1: but they've never even been to the nation's capital, majority
Speaker 1: of them. So I started going around speaking about that
Speaker 1: kind of connective tissue. And that's when I met a
Speaker 1: couple other kids and young folks and another co founder,
Speaker 1: Gary Shane, who was part of Google and building out
Speaker 1: the Google Cloud, and he said, I'm gonna build your
Speaker 1: digital platform, And I said, what digital platform? We're all
Speaker 1: going to d c and he goes right, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: build your digital platform. And that's when we started to
Speaker 1: bring in this community that has led us to today.
Speaker 1: Before we catch up to today, Josh, I want to
Speaker 1: go a little bit further into your background because what
Speaker 1: you shared is fascinating. What I've learned about you before
Speaker 1: the Corey Booker speed dial moment is also fascinating. Okay,
Speaker 1: And you talk a bit about your personal journey pre
Speaker 1: that with St. Benedict's and even a bit of your childhood.
Speaker 1: I'm a multiple time high school dropout. Talk about a
Speaker 1: system not serving right, just getting handed one education system
Speaker 1: was was not serving in that sense. And for the
Speaker 1: age of eleven, lived in over five states, you know,
Speaker 1: a couple dozen homes, but the home and where I
Speaker 1: became a man, as I say, is in Newark, New Jersey,
Speaker 1: and at St. Benedic's And you know, guiding in into
Speaker 1: that community. St. Benedict's really threw me for many many reasons.
Speaker 1: One father Edwin Leahy much like our community. Yeah he's
Speaker 1: the headmaster, but no way that the kids run that
Speaker 1: entire school. And Father Revan found me at a time
Speaker 1: where I had no community, did not know where the
Speaker 1: next place I was going to sleep, and he welcomed
Speaker 1: me in to this experience that I'm so thankful for
Speaker 1: everything at St. Benedic's. It was the first time where
Speaker 1: I was brought in and the first day I went
Speaker 1: up to him, sucked my teeth, told him everything I
Speaker 1: didn't even experienced it. I told him everything that I
Speaker 1: didn't like about the school, and he goes, great, don't
Speaker 1: bring me problems, bring me solutions. And even more to
Speaker 1: the story is we know at St. Benedict's, so there's
Speaker 1: a boarding facility there and a majority of us in
Speaker 1: that boarding facility are in a situation where we don't
Speaker 1: have parents, need not be with our parents, or we
Speaker 1: need a more structured community in that sense. And that's
Speaker 1: where I learned, and it was called out that there's
Speaker 1: a time in my life all I wanted was a
Speaker 1: door to hide me from everyone, right, like, I'm good,
Speaker 1: Just just put me behind the door and I'll be
Speaker 1: all right. Well, the dormitory that I was put in,
Speaker 1: they didn't have doors. H And I found out that
Speaker 1: because if you are depressed, if you're feeling this anxiety,
Speaker 1: what you do is retreat. So the whole concept of St.
Speaker 1: Benedic's is living out in brotherhood and our sisterhood as
Speaker 1: we welcome young women. When I was brought into the
Speaker 1: home of St. Benedict's, that is when I met the
Speaker 1: goofy thirty one year old wearing birkenstocks, Corey Booker mayor,
Speaker 1: a hopeful running for our city. And you know, I'm
Speaker 1: part of what was called the Street Fight Gang and
Speaker 1: worked the Central Ward. I used to work it when
Speaker 1: I was not in high school, hustling, playing basketball, putting
Speaker 1: around ball through a round hoop. And you know, I
Speaker 1: found Corey. I found Forget a Campaign. I found his
Speaker 1: movement right. He was welcoming in people who were not
Speaker 1: of the age to vote like me, people because of
Speaker 1: our criminal justice system and equities, had lost their right
Speaker 1: to vote. And that's when it was really imparted upon me.
Speaker 1: If sure, Corey wanted to win and he knows how
Speaker 1: to account votes, but it was something bigger, as he said, Josh,
Speaker 1: what were you doing with your time before this movement?
Speaker 1: So I met him at the same time I met
Speaker 1: my wife to be and that's when I started to
Speaker 1: get deeply involved as well with the Jackie Robinson Foundation. MS.
Speaker 1: Rachel Robinson is an angel on this earth, and I
Speaker 1: started to uh intern and work around there, which the
Speaker 1: motto is education as our pitch. So I never had
Speaker 1: a choice, man, uh and I'm happy for that. So
Speaker 1: in a roundabout way, that's some of the background, thank
Speaker 1: you for going there. A bit with us. Elphant helps
Speaker 1: to understand where you're at. I know him, where you've
Speaker 1: come from. A bit, Zoe, I want to know a
Speaker 1: bit more about you and your connection to Civics Unplugged.
Speaker 1: How did you get connected to this merry band? Yeah, so,
Speaker 1: I guess I'll walk back because I'm I was an
Speaker 1: inaugural fellow with CUS. So I applied last November, but
Speaker 1: I want to go back a little bit of how
Speaker 1: did I even, you know, come to the point of
Speaker 1: wanting to apply? Um So, my mom, she is a
Speaker 1: c p A. She's an accountant. She worked at her
Speaker 1: parents trash company. They were first generation college students, paid
Speaker 1: for it on their own, got alone during Jim Crow,
Speaker 1: which was really difficult for African Americans, and so they
Speaker 1: really instilled in her and all of their children that's
Speaker 1: like you're going to college or you're not. My child,
Speaker 1: like education was like the pathway to success. You know,
Speaker 1: for them to be able to start a trash company
Speaker 1: that's still profitable fifty years later. They're like, Yeah, you're
Speaker 1: going to college and you need to take your school
Speaker 1: work very seriously. And that's something that she and my
Speaker 1: father have both instilled in need. And then going through
Speaker 1: elementary and middle school with you know, that attitude and
Speaker 1: seeing a lot of students who don't have that attitude
Speaker 1: for a myriad of reasons. There are a lot of
Speaker 1: students who I guess, quote unquote don't care about school,
Speaker 1: but there's something going on at home that's why they're
Speaker 1: not caring about school, or you know, there's something going
Speaker 1: on with how we're catering to different types of students.
Speaker 1: There's something with the way that we handled discipline in
Speaker 1: school that makes students not want to go. And so
Speaker 1: with all of that experience, I got involved with the
Speaker 1: group in Kentucky around education advocacy and student waste Because
Speaker 1: students go to school thirty five hours a week, it's
Speaker 1: a full time job, but they're not at the decision
Speaker 1: making table deciding what's going to be on our curriculum,
Speaker 1: how are we going to discipline students, what does the
Speaker 1: school they look like, and so I've been doing that work. Um,
Speaker 1: I guess I'm approaching almost four years, four or five
Speaker 1: years of doing that work. And then the application specifics
Speaker 1: on PLUG came about, and I was like, Wow, this
Speaker 1: is a great opportunity to take you know, education work
Speaker 1: to a macro's scale. Um. I think I kind of
Speaker 1: skimmed over the word civics because I was like, that
Speaker 1: doesn't apply to me. Education and civics. It's not the
Speaker 1: same thing. And then I think probably within like three
Speaker 1: weeks of being in the Fellowship, I was like, oh wait.
Speaker 1: I was like education, reform, civics, and that's all the
Speaker 1: same stuff. And I was like, this is a great
Speaker 1: opportunity to kind of unite those two things. And then
Speaker 1: you know, going through the Fellowship, we had our launch
Speaker 1: event for Civic and I hosted that event um where
Speaker 1: we had Corey Booker speak, we had Andrew Yang, and
Speaker 1: then was kind of the launch pad for me getting
Speaker 1: more involved with the steering committee. And then I'm just
Speaker 1: getting more committed ever since. And it's just it's been
Speaker 1: fantastic the whole way through. Zoe used the word launch pad,
Speaker 1: and now I want to give you an opportunity to
Speaker 1: talk about this organization you launched, tell us the name
Speaker 1: and what your mission is. Okay. So with Civics Unplugged,
Speaker 1: I launched a diversity inclusion, equity and anti racism training
Speaker 1: for gen z Ears called DICE and it was inspired
Speaker 1: off of some stuff that happened in my own school. UM.
Speaker 1: I was in this math and science program predominantly white
Speaker 1: and Asian students, and a lot of them were using
Speaker 1: the N word, and I was like trying to figure out,
Speaker 1: how do I like educate my peers on why that's
Speaker 1: not appropriate? And I think what I realized that I
Speaker 1: was like, I've been in k through troup education all
Speaker 1: my life and I cannot even put the words to
Speaker 1: it of how do I explain to someone why that's
Speaker 1: exclusive language and why that's not okay. And So, with
Speaker 1: a little bit of extra time during quarantine, with school
Speaker 1: being were flexible, I did a lot more research into
Speaker 1: there must be some kind of diversity inclusion training for
Speaker 1: young people right Apparently that's not the thing, and so
Speaker 1: I partnered with some people at the University of Kentucky,
Speaker 1: partnered with Verda, one of the co founders, and just
Speaker 1: an amazing resource and all things anti racism and see
Speaker 1: you to create a curriculum that's free and open source,
Speaker 1: and we're starting our own pilot cohorts here in the
Speaker 1: next week or so. So just super exciting to try
Speaker 1: and get this to as many young people as possible
Speaker 1: because it's so important. It always blows my mind that
Speaker 1: we were on this train probably in February, so before
Speaker 1: a lot of us were I think more in tune
Speaker 1: everything going on, and so we were just kind of,
Speaker 1: you know, perfectly positioned I think, to really jump off
Speaker 1: in the summer here. How old are you doing, I'm
Speaker 1: seventeen years old. I have a huge smile on my
Speaker 1: face right now. I also have noting that I think
Speaker 1: part of why this training didn't exist is because we
Speaker 1: have this assumption that young people just magically no things.
Speaker 1: But like the next generation just it's in the air,
Speaker 1: they breathe different air, or their genetics are slightly modified
Speaker 1: to a more woke setting, and uh, someone's got to
Speaker 1: be a part of that educational process. So I'm really
Speaker 1: grateful for the effort you've taken to either of you.
Speaker 1: You know, do you have this term in your movement
Speaker 1: called civic superheroes? Who or what is a civic superhero
Speaker 1: to you. So, you know, I think we all have superheroes.
Speaker 1: Like when we were younger, we all looked up the
Speaker 1: Superman and Batman. We were like, we I love these superheroes.
Speaker 1: They're so powerful and they're going to save the world.
Speaker 1: And I think that, you know, we ascribe to them
Speaker 1: the ability to fly, this crazy ingenuity, all of this
Speaker 1: wealth in the case of Batman, digeneral to buy any
Speaker 1: gadget that you want. And you know, I think our
Speaker 1: society is in the place where we need superheroes. We
Speaker 1: need people to look up to who we know that
Speaker 1: these are the people leading systems change. And so I
Speaker 1: think that that is the inspiration behind the use of
Speaker 1: the word. I mean, we would normally call them. These
Speaker 1: are icon hants. They're they're tighten social entrepreneurs. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're great words and they describe who they are, but
Speaker 1: they don't really get at the powerfulness of somebody who
Speaker 1: can really unite a group of people around the betterment
Speaker 1: of a society. And so I think that's a lot
Speaker 1: of what our language at civics and plugs about. We're
Speaker 1: all space themed, all astronaut themed, talking about lift off.
Speaker 1: You know, everybody, and it's just an astronaut kind of
Speaker 1: exploring the realm of space and just that representing the
Speaker 1: social betterment, which I think is so crucial to I
Speaker 1: think that the whole visionary culture that we've created within
Speaker 1: our organization. Visionary is sometimes a word overused, but I
Speaker 1: think in the case of your organization, you actually have
Speaker 1: a vision. It's not vision, it's a twenty thirty vision.
Speaker 1: I think you call it CIVICS. There's a plan. There's
Speaker 1: people involved in moving us toward it. You call them builders.
Speaker 1: What is the CIVICS vision and what motivate someone to
Speaker 1: be a builder in that, you know, in achieving that vision.
Speaker 1: So someone asked me the other day, Josh, what's your
Speaker 1: role at CIVICS Unplugged? I said, to pick fights with
Speaker 1: the kids that I consistently lose, right, and that that's
Speaker 1: like one of the funnest things in the world. But
Speaker 1: that dialogue is super important. Right. It's not just hey,
Speaker 1: I disagree with something, so let's no no, why, how?
Speaker 1: What's the research behind it? Don't just say I don't
Speaker 1: like the system and throw to have you experienced it?
Speaker 1: Have you gone gone all the way? And all the
Speaker 1: adults that you see recognized as civic superheroes. They were
Speaker 1: all selected and elected by by our community, which was
Speaker 1: one of the funnest thing launching CI. When Corey was
Speaker 1: selected or you know the rock it was, it was
Speaker 1: the easiest outreach I've ever done. I literally would drop
Speaker 1: a line of like, you know, I can care less
Speaker 1: if you do this. The fellows in the community have
Speaker 1: selected you and and to see the speed of the
Speaker 1: civic superheroes. That so the intuition of the kids were remarkable,
Speaker 1: but you know, the launch of it. When I picked
Speaker 1: the first fight, it made me roll my right that
Speaker 1: the community had come up with this ten year pledge.
Speaker 1: I've been in politics and government and public service. How
Speaker 1: many superintendent five year plans that I heard about? I
Speaker 1: got a three year strategy of five year turnaround plans.
Speaker 1: Is like, here we go, we're recreating this other generation
Speaker 1: of a plan that's going to be written like a
Speaker 1: white paper, put on a shelf and get dusty. And
Speaker 1: that's when one of the community member said, nope, here's
Speaker 1: the deal with the plan. And then so we talk
Speaker 1: about how do you become a building and how that's evolved,
Speaker 1: they said, adults, A lot of the way stress out
Speaker 1: about what to have for lunch tomorrow. The ten year
Speaker 1: plan is when I make my tenure pledge around climate change,
Speaker 1: that informs what I'm going to have for lunch for
Speaker 1: the next ten years, the impact that that has on
Speaker 1: the environment, and that is the sense of actionable pledges.
Speaker 1: And that's when I got it, and then that's when
Speaker 1: Zoe and the kids just ran with it. So so
Speaker 1: if you want to talk about the process and how
Speaker 1: you become a builder, yeah, how you become a builder
Speaker 1: is just that you're committing to build a better So
Speaker 1: at the end of our fellowship, all of the fellows
Speaker 1: who were to become builders created their own tenure pledges.
Speaker 1: They designed what is the ideal community? What is our
Speaker 1: ideal democracy? What am I personally going to do over
Speaker 1: the next year, five years, ten years to realize that mission.
Speaker 1: We all signed a declaration where we laid out this
Speaker 1: is what we want to look like, this is how
Speaker 1: all of our individual pledges play into that. This is
Speaker 1: how our community is going to be governed. We have
Speaker 1: probably as flat of a structure as possible. The only
Speaker 1: reason we need seriing Committee members is because he needs somebody,
Speaker 1: I guess to just sit in the room every Monday,
Speaker 1: because not everyone can get there Monday nights, but the
Speaker 1: whole Builder community votes on everything um and so yeah,
Speaker 1: just being a builder just means that you're committed to
Speaker 1: building the future of what are some examples of the
Speaker 1: picture of your painting. So my own personal Builder pledge
Speaker 1: revolves a lot around dice, a lot around how can
Speaker 1: we get people to be more vulnerable, be able to
Speaker 1: listen to other people, and just work more collaboratively organically.
Speaker 1: But there are a lot of other people's bludges, like
Speaker 1: what Josh mentioned that involve around climate change. We have
Speaker 1: people who are focused on election reforms, and it's just
Speaker 1: a really diverse array of what people are committing to.
Speaker 1: But I would say, you know, getting a chance to
Speaker 1: see some of our other Builders pledges, which you can
Speaker 1: also actually find on our website. For the most part,
Speaker 1: a lot of our own pledges are just out there
Speaker 1: for people to see and to ask us about building
Speaker 1: a society and the community that listens to everybody, and
Speaker 1: I think just works work concretely together than we are
Speaker 1: right now, because that's the basis of any kind of
Speaker 1: systems change. You need to be listening to the people
Speaker 1: who are on the front lines, the people who are
Speaker 1: experiencing it, but just making the through line of connecting
Speaker 1: it and you know, bringing the value proposition to every
Speaker 1: single citizen. What are some of the motivations of the
Speaker 1: builders in this community. I'll say that something our co
Speaker 1: founder mentioned to me recently, and I don't even think
Speaker 1: I totally realized it, is that every single builder has
Speaker 1: some kind of chip on their shoulder. But like, you know,
Speaker 1: you don't just wake up in life wanting to, you know,
Speaker 1: totally flip all the systems that you've been experiencing and
Speaker 1: living through like on their head. You don't just wake
Speaker 1: up wanting to do that. There has to be something
Speaker 1: that happens, which is sad. We we want everybody to
Speaker 1: see that value add But I think the motivation is
Speaker 1: that people see a problem, they're experiencing a problem, they
Speaker 1: know someone who's experiencing a problem with the system. They've
Speaker 1: you know, taken I guess, all of the traditional routes,
Speaker 1: and at some point they realized they were like, no
Speaker 1: one else is going to do something about this. I
Speaker 1: have to be the one who steps up and does it.
Speaker 1: And you know, there are a lot of natural barriers,
Speaker 1: especially for young people. And you know, if you're under
Speaker 1: the age of eighteen, you can't sign certain checks, you
Speaker 1: can't you create certain contracts about your parents being there.
Speaker 1: And that I think is the real beauty of Josh
Speaker 1: and the rest of the co founders. They have a
Speaker 1: lot of value, I assure you, but huge values that
Speaker 1: they're over the h b T, thank CAI contracts for
Speaker 1: us and just really operationalize that the kids can lead.
Speaker 1: And there are a lot of superficial barriers that we
Speaker 1: place on young people, on people of color, and we
Speaker 1: place on women, that we place on various other people
Speaker 1: of different social locations, but they're virtual barriers and their
Speaker 1: barriers that we had civic exemplud are committed to helping
Speaker 1: people break the move past. Can you explain even more
Speaker 1: house Civics Unplugged differs from existing civic engagement work. It's
Speaker 1: been natural, Barritt Unday, in terms of how we're different,
Speaker 1: one being we consistently get this feedback from our partners, Hey,
Speaker 1: we are kid like, like their advisory y'all are kid
Speaker 1: heavy and and we're working with our community to really
Speaker 1: understand that that for them, they can't just flip that switch.
Speaker 1: They just can't make that culture chain organizationally overnight. Right.
Speaker 1: We need to walk together, we need to learn together,
Speaker 1: and we share our mistakes consistently. But what we really
Speaker 1: found is when the Fellows started to be recognized for
Speaker 1: their work two things. One was other nonprofit or more
Speaker 1: specifically political campaigns wanted access to our kids. Cool, we
Speaker 1: we are never we are decentralized, we're not the barrier.
Speaker 1: But when I started asking what they wanted to do,
Speaker 1: they said, well, be interns. I said, cool, what do
Speaker 1: you want them to do? I want them to run
Speaker 1: our product, our social media campaign. Uh, think about how
Speaker 1: we do engage youth. I was like, that's a leadership position,
Speaker 1: that's not an internship. So show me the budget that
Speaker 1: you have to recognize that. And we were met with
Speaker 1: a lot of them saying, okay, I'm with you. It
Speaker 1: is leadership, but we don't have the budget. And I said, cool,
Speaker 1: we'll chip in. We're not going to let budget get
Speaker 1: in the way of these youth attaching themselves as leaders.
Speaker 1: We're investing capital directly into these projects like Zoey's, like
Speaker 1: the project down in St. Louis. Talk about a chip
Speaker 1: on your shoulder, Our builder down in St. Louis is
Speaker 1: working and has been recognized statewide that you need a
Speaker 1: notary to recognize your mail in ballot. And he has
Speaker 1: built this organization and and got funding to provide access
Speaker 1: to notaries and even beyond. And he called me one
Speaker 1: night with a list of literally like five thousand names.
Speaker 1: He's like, I need connections to all these people. I said, cool,
Speaker 1: I know most of them. Why and he goes, I
Speaker 1: did a complete internet search and anyone that has ever
Speaker 1: said young people need to vote, I'm going after him
Speaker 1: on this because if they actually mean it, they will
Speaker 1: help with this. And I was like, that is that
Speaker 1: mentality that we are just lifting up at civic Umplogers
Speaker 1: are remarkable? That is remarkable. I mean talk about calling
Speaker 1: someone in that is what that means. The boldness of
Speaker 1: someone stepping up to that degree is beautiful. I had
Speaker 1: my own experience with a gen Z leader within the
Speaker 1: climate space who hit me up and she's like, you're
Speaker 1: on TV a lot. I need introductions to all these
Speaker 1: bookers so they can hear directly from the most impacted
Speaker 1: generation about the biggest crisis and species has ever faced.
Speaker 1: You can join our zoom Welcome to my every morning.
Speaker 1: Many yes, so so just you know, despite or in
Speaker 1: addition to this focus on gen Z, your movement and
Speaker 1: campaigns have an intergenerational flavor to them. Can you share
Speaker 1: more about that perspective how you're achieving that other than
Speaker 1: using people over eighteen to sign checks. Appreciate you, Zoe? Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: we are not anti generational, right, we are not that.
Speaker 1: Okay boomer movement which is not gen Z is caused
Speaker 1: at that and really from the founding ethos back to man,
Speaker 1: I wish this existed when I was always aged right
Speaker 1: the amount of things that I did in my public
Speaker 1: service that I'm proud of, but it could have been
Speaker 1: a lot more impactful if I understood the system as
Speaker 1: opposed to the issue. I understood my issue, I didn't
Speaker 1: know its system in which it existed in And with
Speaker 1: age comes wisdom, no matter what that wisdom its, whether
Speaker 1: sharpening your own conviction or learning from what they have
Speaker 1: carried out. So our community is fourteen years old, all
Speaker 1: the way up to ninety four of individuals that have
Speaker 1: signed pledges and if if committed and rolled up their sleeves,
Speaker 1: and it comes in in a lot of different forms
Speaker 1: and fashions, but that superhero it's not even superhero theme.
Speaker 1: We are superheroes, right, People say, oh, you lean into it. No, no,
Speaker 1: we we are explorers, we are astronauts, We are superheroes.
Speaker 1: We are building the largest democracy movement Forget America that
Speaker 1: this world has ever seen. And we say that with
Speaker 1: humility and with conviction. And so we asked the intergenerational
Speaker 1: of Okay, I see your LinkedIn. I see that you're
Speaker 1: a good CEO. That's great. What is your actual superpower?
Speaker 1: And we have this mantra in the community you have
Speaker 1: to lean in and what you're good at to to
Speaker 1: show that you can lift this community up. But what's
Speaker 1: the other side of you that you don't get the
Speaker 1: flex all that often? And one lean into what you're
Speaker 1: good at and then lean into that side so that
Speaker 1: there's everything from providing jobs, providing mentorship, to joining boards
Speaker 1: of of the organizations and movements that are fellows and
Speaker 1: builders aren't launching. I don't know if I did that
Speaker 1: just to Zoe, you tell me, I think so, And
Speaker 1: I think he framed it perfectly. There's a lot of wisdom,
Speaker 1: all of the co founders, all of the board members.
Speaker 1: I mean, you can look at their linked in, but
Speaker 1: you can also just talk to them, and I've been amazed.
Speaker 1: I'm like wow, I'm like, these people are doing stuff
Speaker 1: that like I want to do, and like, I know,
Speaker 1: I got that feeling when I talked to Nick, for example,
Speaker 1: because he used to be an educator and went to
Speaker 1: law school and now I was doing you know, civic
Speaker 1: some plug work and leading program development. I was like wow,
Speaker 1: I'm like, this is like the education person that like
Speaker 1: I've always needed to talk to. And so I know,
Speaker 1: I joked that you know so much of their purposes
Speaker 1: of administrative assistance, but there's an even added I mean,
Speaker 1: they're not assistance, their administrative assistance. Yeah, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of feedback, there's a lot of advice, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of help that comes from having these adults. I can't
Speaker 1: tell you how many times I have slapped Gary late night,
Speaker 1: like Gary, I'm trying to figure out how to do
Speaker 1: this tech thing, or Gary, how do you figure out
Speaker 1: you know this, because I'm trying to figure out, like
Speaker 1: how do I frame this for a college essay. He's great,
Speaker 1: responds so quickly and it's always there, but then you know,
Speaker 1: it's it goes back and forth. So I would say
Speaker 1: that not only are all of the co founders mentors,
Speaker 1: but I think we're also just friends. And I don't
Speaker 1: think that young people get to have that relationship with
Speaker 1: adults all the time where it's like you rely on them,
Speaker 1: but they just as much rely on you as well,
Speaker 1: And that's not a dynamic that you see a lot.
Speaker 1: I think when young people have mentors and it's been
Speaker 1: a really powerful and transformational experience. You've talked a bit
Speaker 1: about the flat organizational structure, about being executive assistance to
Speaker 1: the generation. From Josh's perspective, what are some of the
Speaker 1: top technologies or even process you that you have in
Speaker 1: place that are critical to powering this campaign and it's
Speaker 1: actually governing in this different way, I'll say, in terms
Speaker 1: of technology, Slack number one. I don't think anything that's
Speaker 1: going on and see you would exist without Slack. The
Speaker 1: ability to just message anybody in Slack whenever you want to.
Speaker 1: It's just so powerful too. I think, just like flattening
Speaker 1: that organizational structure. You know, when you have an idea
Speaker 1: and you want the steering committee to hear it, you
Speaker 1: just at all of them in a message. You're like, hey,
Speaker 1: at steering committee, I want you to think about this,
Speaker 1: or hey, or you can add anybody on the CU team. Hey,
Speaker 1: I want you to look at this, and you get
Speaker 1: the notification. And we have I think, a really strong
Speaker 1: culture of like when someone has an idea, when someone
Speaker 1: wants to experiment, you go all in. You're you're supposed
Speaker 1: to help them figure it out. And I think that's
Speaker 1: a really powerful attitude we all have. It's just that
Speaker 1: we want to experience because that's the only way you
Speaker 1: figure out how to do things better. And so while
Speaker 1: we have, you know, a strong culture that we have traditions,
Speaker 1: we're always looking for ways to change that and to
Speaker 1: make it better. And we're conducive for everybody. Like, for example,
Speaker 1: we have an opportunities channel where people can share things,
Speaker 1: and so sometimes in Slack you can notify everybody in
Speaker 1: the Slack workspace. So like all one hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: six builders would get notified every time somebody hosts an
Speaker 1: opportunity and someone was like, hey, that's a lot of
Speaker 1: notifications in the day. Becauld we maybe condense this. Can
Speaker 1: we do like a weekly thing? And now we do.
Speaker 1: We we round ups and that's something that I think
Speaker 1: in a more hierarchical organization would have taken weeks to
Speaker 1: figure out, and we we made that change in two
Speaker 1: days because I think it's really powerful and really key.
Speaker 1: I think to how fast civic some plot is able
Speaker 1: to move on a lot of things. I like the
Speaker 1: idea of my city council being available to me on
Speaker 1: Slack and I were like, hey, dude, fix this, this
Speaker 1: isn't right. Change the funding of the police. Do it
Speaker 1: your account of UM. I have one question that we
Speaker 1: ask all our guests now, which is this show sees
Speaker 1: citizen as a verb more so than a legal status.
Speaker 1: And so if you interpret citizens as a verb for
Speaker 1: both of you, how would you define the word citizen?
Speaker 1: And I think, like two words I guess come to mind.
Speaker 1: I guess it's just vulnerability, knowing that you don't know everything,
Speaker 1: and it's important to seek out the voices and the
Speaker 1: information that you're not hearing. But it can really shape
Speaker 1: the kind of change that we can create. And then
Speaker 1: I think mobilizing. You know, I think when you have
Speaker 1: a real, a great idea, when you're really passionate about something,
Speaker 1: it's important to bring people along. The co founders to
Speaker 1: see you could have just run on this idea of
Speaker 1: what do we want to look like, let's just do
Speaker 1: this as a group. But you know, they knew that
Speaker 1: they needed young people behind that, and that's why they
Speaker 1: put together the fellowship, That's why they started see you,
Speaker 1: because young people had to come and be on that
Speaker 1: mission with them. And that's you know, an impetus. It's
Speaker 1: also been put on all of us. Is we, in
Speaker 1: many cases have the privilege of being able to be
Speaker 1: a part of this community, to be able to check
Speaker 1: slack and every hour or so? How can we bring
Speaker 1: young people who aren't able to do that, or how
Speaker 1: can we bring young people who aren't engaged yet into
Speaker 1: this movement as well? And Josh, for you, how would
Speaker 1: you define citizen if you interpret it as a verb?
Speaker 1: I'm bad with verbs and adjectives and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: so I'll just riff on as real. But what I
Speaker 1: think about it is just that whole idea of how
Speaker 1: boring is life? If you're actually the smartest one in
Speaker 1: the room. That is a position I never want any
Speaker 1: myself to be in, but a lot of us to
Speaker 1: be in. Uh So I think about that in terms
Speaker 1: of how you do citizen to consistently seek out communities
Speaker 1: that are more active, smarter, intelligent, thoughtful than you. And
Speaker 1: the second one is how you and I vibed on
Speaker 1: it as I was rooted in the love of Jackie
Speaker 1: Robinson's legacy and had the privilege to grow up there
Speaker 1: and Mr Robinson wrote a book First Class Citizenship and
Speaker 1: talk about him turning it into a verb way post
Speaker 1: his professional baseball career. It picks up of what he
Speaker 1: did thereafter to make citizen a verb and more active
Speaker 1: in people's life. So that that's what comes to mind.
Speaker 1: And now we're going to go to questions. I'm starting
Speaker 1: with this first one in terms of leadership. Have you
Speaker 1: found it more effective to empower people to become leaders
Speaker 1: or has it been more effective to bring together and
Speaker 1: catalyze people who already are taking action as leaders? So
Speaker 1: that has been one of the coolest things to play out.
Speaker 1: So when we announced to the community that hey, you
Speaker 1: went through this fellowship, you poured it in with us,
Speaker 1: and now we're going to invest in your project, so
Speaker 1: right that project plan will invest in it. Once again,
Speaker 1: I was wrong. I figured, you know, all, a couple
Speaker 1: hundred plus fellows moving into builders would have made their
Speaker 1: own proposal. What we did see was about of them
Speaker 1: bringing work from other folks and their peers that they
Speaker 1: already saw happening in the community, saying I lean in
Speaker 1: behind the scenes, which is often more important, and they
Speaker 1: need the support they need this community. And then about
Speaker 1: the other fifty cent to say, hey, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: the leader, this is what I want to want to
Speaker 1: head up. And that that was really something very hopeful
Speaker 1: that I experienced. There's a follow on in our next
Speaker 1: question from Jennen's horn. Not all kids are leaders. How
Speaker 1: can kids who aren't into leadership still be involved? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I can take that. You You don't have to lead
Speaker 1: in an organization. You don't have to be on the
Speaker 1: steering committee. Uh. So much of everything that See You
Speaker 1: has done would not have happened without people just doing
Speaker 1: the work. And I mean, like we have leaders who
Speaker 1: are doing the working. Of course, those are the front
Speaker 1: people who are maybe you know, on podcasts like this,
Speaker 1: or people who are going out and kind of evangelizing
Speaker 1: the message. Um, but you know, we wrote a ton
Speaker 1: of song parodies to invite of our civic superheroes to
Speaker 1: come to commence. And that's work that every builder participate in.
Speaker 1: We had builders who didn't submit their own projects, but man,
Speaker 1: they can write some really good Drake parodies. I I
Speaker 1: didn't even know that was a skill that people had.
Speaker 1: But there's just so many ways for people to plug in.
Speaker 1: And I think the parody is a great example of Like,
Speaker 1: you don't think that's something that's going to help. But
Speaker 1: if we hadn't written those parodies and hadn't gotten those
Speaker 1: people to come to commence, would we have the energy
Speaker 1: right now that we're having when we have the connections
Speaker 1: that we're having in the name recognition. No, So in
Speaker 1: many ways, you know, those just writing those songs at
Speaker 1: like eleven o'clock at night, um in the middle of
Speaker 1: the summer really did catalyze a lot of the civic movement.
Speaker 1: So I think there are a lot of ways to
Speaker 1: be a leader in your own right without necessarily leading
Speaker 1: like a team of people. I have long believed that
Speaker 1: Drake parodies were key to restoring and renewing our democracy,
Speaker 1: and now I have the evidence to use that. Thank
Speaker 1: you that. Our next question comes from Ned and Amber.
Speaker 1: It's it's about the organizational structure. How big is the organization,
Speaker 1: the number of staff, where those involved day to day.
Speaker 1: But it's related to this idea that most people have
Speaker 1: a sense that an organization needs a hierarchy to ensure order. So,
Speaker 1: in addition to sort of your ORC chart and head
Speaker 1: count numbers, how does your culture defy the narrative of
Speaker 1: hierarchy to ensure that things get done? It frustrates me
Speaker 1: at times. But the steering committee that Zoe talks about,
Speaker 1: we leaned into that structure where they are the ones
Speaker 1: because we built it with them and and co piloted
Speaker 1: it and then agreed that these five community members were
Speaker 1: the ones that make the decisions on what projects we
Speaker 1: invest in. And I couldn't love that more because I
Speaker 1: know myself and I knew I would start to mingle
Speaker 1: in it. And the second I think it was the
Speaker 1: first project that you all invested in, I jumped in.
Speaker 1: I was like, well, I've got all these questions about
Speaker 1: it and I'm not sure. It was like, well, that's
Speaker 1: why we set up the structure. And so it is
Speaker 1: actually leaning into structures to ensure that there is leadership
Speaker 1: and accountability within these different mechanisms. So we started with
Speaker 1: two twenty fellows. We got hundreds of applications from all
Speaker 1: fifty states, Squam Puerto Rico our community. So you gotta
Speaker 1: recognize we had zero marketing budget. We did zero ads.
Speaker 1: We built a website with these kids and said take
Speaker 1: it out and started with two because we were going
Speaker 1: to culminate in Washington, d C. And Georgetown only gave us.
Speaker 1: I mean, I love you, Georgetown, but you only gave
Speaker 1: us two bets. So that that was that forcing function. Now,
Speaker 1: when COVID down and we as a community decided, we
Speaker 1: decided in I think early April, Zoe, we weren't going
Speaker 1: to d C. We called the shot. When we weren't
Speaker 1: going to d C, we started launching things like Unpluged Conversations,
Speaker 1: fireside chat. So that's when we started to bring in
Speaker 1: hundreds of more other participants. And we just launched year
Speaker 1: two application and in less than forty eight hours we
Speaker 1: got more than two hundred applications in two days. We're
Speaker 1: probably going to cap around five hundred. But the size
Speaker 1: of everyone working on it all the time, I say,
Speaker 1: is it about eleven deep. But we interact as a
Speaker 1: community every single day. So we start our mornings off
Speaker 1: with a morning reflection. Where I come from, it's called convocation.
Speaker 1: But it's a morning reflection where we all lean in,
Speaker 1: set for the day, expectations, reflect on something, challenge each other.
Speaker 1: But that's a bit of how we're structured in the size.
Speaker 1: Thank you for that. We're going to go to a
Speaker 1: live question. We're going to Gunner Carlson. I'm gonna Carlson.
Speaker 1: I'm in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Thank you for this talk first
Speaker 1: of all, and thank you for your leadership and service. Zoe.
Speaker 1: My question is for you, and specifically I work with
Speaker 1: a lot of youth, and so something I like to
Speaker 1: ask and get an honest answer on is one way
Speaker 1: that you think that adults like us can be supportive
Speaker 1: and get behind you and lean in and help your momentum?
Speaker 1: And what is one area where we need to just
Speaker 1: get out of the way because we're a problem and
Speaker 1: it would be easier to just let you do your thing.
Speaker 1: I think the biggest thing is just to believe, just
Speaker 1: believe in young people. You know, if a young person
Speaker 1: has the drive to come and talk to you about
Speaker 1: a problem they're seeing, if they have a new policy
Speaker 1: they want to recommend, then you just got to lean in.
Speaker 1: I can tell you from personal experience with my education
Speaker 1: advocacy group. We were lobbying in Frankfurt to increase pay
Speaker 1: but also just increase the number of school counselors because
Speaker 1: our school to counsel ratio is like almost close to
Speaker 1: five one, which is just ridiculous. Students aren't getting school
Speaker 1: counseling resources. And that the response from a senator in
Speaker 1: the Kentucky legislature was, we all should start a bake
Speaker 1: sale and raise money to pay for your school counselors. Yeah,
Speaker 1: which is like, I know, people are laughing, they're shaking
Speaker 1: it has that's ridiculous. You know you can't pay for
Speaker 1: school counsels of the bake sale. Um. So I think
Speaker 1: that just overcoming that culture of writing kids off. If
Speaker 1: the kids are gonna come and lobby to you and
Speaker 1: Frankfort about how they think they need more school counselors
Speaker 1: than you know, they're lobbying just like anyone else, would
Speaker 1: they really care about an issue in terms of I guess,
Speaker 1: I guess tips as well as I think a lot
Speaker 1: of kids sometimes say they we want to be treated
Speaker 1: like adults, but there's a nuance to that. We don't
Speaker 1: want to be treated like we're thirty because we're not thirty,
Speaker 1: but just given the same kind of like value in
Speaker 1: our opinions and what we know. But also recognize though
Speaker 1: that if we're eighteen, like what Josh was saying, we
Speaker 1: obviously don't have the same kind of wisdom as somebody
Speaker 1: who's lived much longer. But that doesn't mean that our
Speaker 1: ideas are any less merited. It just means that we
Speaker 1: may need a little bit more support from intergenerational partners
Speaker 1: to operationalize those ideas. I hope I answered your question.
Speaker 1: I thank you, I appreciate it. Thank you, I appreciate
Speaker 1: that question. And I'm still mad about the way those
Speaker 1: Kentucky elected officials responded to you. So I want to
Speaker 1: know how we can help out. Telling kids to do
Speaker 1: a big sale instead of you doing your job is
Speaker 1: the height of offensive and on small d democratic, So
Speaker 1: we gotta work on that, especially in a pandemic. So,
Speaker 1: because there's been so much concern, especially by folks like
Speaker 1: your parents and the age group of your parents, about
Speaker 1: the consequences of living in a digital landscape, how do
Speaker 1: you manage the full time screen time life. What does
Speaker 1: that digital hygiene look like for you? It's been an adjustment,
Speaker 1: so I think for a long time. My resolve was like, well,
Speaker 1: I don't spend too much time on screens because I'm
Speaker 1: at school and I'm not on screens and I'm at school,
Speaker 1: so it's okay for me to do all these calls
Speaker 1: and I get home because I've had all this in
Speaker 1: person interaction. And then when that went away, I think
Speaker 1: a lot of the kids, I know, it was kind
Speaker 1: of a wake up call like, whoa, we need to
Speaker 1: do some things personally to make sure that you know,
Speaker 1: we're filling our own cup before we're filling everyone else's.
Speaker 1: So you know, we've started kind of like taking Saturday's
Speaker 1: off of Slack, and that's something we started recently. It
Speaker 1: was like, we need to have something where people know
Speaker 1: I don't have to be on Slack today because nothing's
Speaker 1: going to happen important today. And I think a lot
Speaker 1: of digital hijin think is just making sure that you're
Speaker 1: being social, because if you're just working all day and
Speaker 1: just on zoom calls, which just work, I think that's
Speaker 1: really draining. But a lot of what we do with
Speaker 1: civicsum plugs is a lot of fun. You know. If
Speaker 1: we're not getting right into the need of things, we're
Speaker 1: just chatting, just chatting about how life is going. I
Speaker 1: always like to reference Lillian another person a staring committee.
Speaker 1: She started a meme channel in Civics and plug where
Speaker 1: we just send memes and just talk about meme culture.
Speaker 1: It's just something casual so that you, you you know, can
Speaker 1: be on the screen because that's when one of the
Speaker 1: ways we can really interact with others, especially and see
Speaker 1: you but still you know, have a good time while
Speaker 1: also you know, working to save democracy on the other
Speaker 1: side and thinks as well. Uh, this conversation with both
Speaker 1: of you has been what I needed. I think it's
Speaker 1: been what a listener needs. Right now. We are in
Speaker 1: this moment of extraordinary frontness and precariousness and balancing and
Speaker 1: feeling overwhelmed, and we don't get very many signals of
Speaker 1: anything worth fighting for looking forward to from our major
Speaker 1: news outlets. And you have filled my cup with your energy,
Speaker 1: with your reproach, with your Drake Paris, and your belief
Speaker 1: in memes to restore and renewed democracy. Thank you for
Speaker 1: showing up. Thank you for building relationships, thank you for
Speaker 1: understanding your power. Thank you for working on behalf of
Speaker 1: the many and not just the few. That's how the
Speaker 1: citizen and we are learning from you in the process.
Speaker 1: Zoe and Josh Civics Unplugged family, You're welcome here any
Speaker 1: and every time. Thank you for sharing the space with it.
Speaker 1: And so we're still gonna work at a bake salvers
Speaker 1: and need to climb back of a very specific nature.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but I am feeling motivated, inspired,
Speaker 1: and uplifted by that energetic conversation with representatives from the
Speaker 1: next generation. We are so grateful to Josh Thompson and
Speaker 1: Zoe Jenkins for joining us. You can find them online
Speaker 1: Joshua T. Thompson on Twitter or Civics Unplugged on Instagram
Speaker 1: or Twitter, and you could also, of course go to
Speaker 1: their website at civics unplugged dot org. This whole episode
Speaker 1: a transcript and the actions I'm about to tell you
Speaker 1: are always findable at how to citizen dot com. So
Speaker 1: listen to what I'm about to say, but also just
Speaker 1: go to the website. Here are some actions you can
Speaker 1: take in the spirit of youth and action and letting
Speaker 1: the kids lead. Internally, we have, as usual a writing exercise.
Speaker 1: This one is inspired by the civic program at CIVICS Unplugged,
Speaker 1: and it's to help you start your journey as a
Speaker 1: Civic twenty builder. Even though you're not formally in the program,
Speaker 1: you can run alongside. So you want to fill in
Speaker 1: the following statements. To me, a flourishing democracy is one
Speaker 1: that A flourishing community is one that blank right by
Speaker 1: I pledged to have contributed to the flourishing of the
Speaker 1: following communities and then list them. Finally, by I pledged
Speaker 1: to have played any, many, or all of the following
Speaker 1: roles in service of creating a brighter future for my
Speaker 1: communities and American Democrat. See and if you're not American,
Speaker 1: that's okay. I might be low key jealous of you.
Speaker 1: So pick your society, your community as it fits. After
Speaker 1: you've done developing your own vision, check out a bit
Speaker 1: of the vision of Civics Unplugged. We are linking to
Speaker 1: two pieces. Why we must save American Democracy is one
Speaker 1: of them, and what American democracy could look like. In
Speaker 1: for external actions, We've got four things lined up for
Speaker 1: you in this episode. Number one, identify young people in
Speaker 1: your life that you could support, Ask them what they
Speaker 1: are working on, and ask how you can help. Then
Speaker 1: help them. Number two the Civics Unplugged Fellowship is open
Speaker 1: and accepting submissions. The deadline is November. Nominate someone, Encourage someone,
Speaker 1: Spread the word to get high schoolers involved in this process.
Speaker 1: Number three, Get involved as a mentor yourself in supporting
Speaker 1: builders at a Civic's twenty campaign. We have a link
Speaker 1: to that Civics Unplugged dot org, slash plug dash in
Speaker 1: and a bonus. This is my favorite assignment by far.
Speaker 1: Don't tell the other producers my favorite assignment. I want
Speaker 1: you to find or create your own Drake memes and parodies. Yes,
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