Becoming Citizens ― Deepening the Craft of Youth Civic Engagement

The decreasing rate of involvement in organized groups and with voting by young people is a disturbing trend that perhaps can be turned around. Becoming Citizens: Deepening the Craft of Youth Civic Engagement brings together civic education, experiential education, and political theory to provide a revealing multiple-perspective examination of the new alternative way of practice in the youth work field called civic youth work. This helpful resource bridges the theory of civic engagement with education, ground both in extensive data, and then discuss various youth civic engagement initiatives that battle apathy and effectively invite expanded involvement by young people.

This title examines three different youth civic engagement initiatives, Public Achievement (PA), Youth in Government (YIG), and Youth Science Center (YSC). The book then discusses the initiatives from various perspectives, including the academic perspectives of educational theory, political theory, theories of youth, and vocation. This unique source offers multiple points-of-view and is designed to enrich both the theoretical and practical for practitioners and scholars—and provides a revealing and useful look at the available sources.

This book is a valuable resource for secondary social studies teachers; school district curriculum coordinators; youth workers; university faculty in political theory, democratic theory, youth studies, child and youth care, recreational studies, public health, education, and social work; youth and community organizers; and program directors and managers in community-based youth services.

This book was published as a special issue of Child and Youth Services.

Ross VeLure Roholt is Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota, School of Social Work, Youth Studies. He has studied and consulted on youth civic engagement and participatory youth work in the United States, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Palestine and Israel.

Michael Baizerman has a long and distinguished scholarly record in the Youth Studies field. As a professor at the University of Minnesota, School of Social Work, Youth Studies, he has written widely on the topic of youth, young people and youth work and has spoken widely on work with youth and youth work professional development.

R. W. Hildreth is Assistant Professor at Southern Illinois University, Department of Political Science. He too has studied and consulted widely on youth civic engagement, providing technical assistance to youth programs throughout the United States and internationally.