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Why does it matter if we get young people ready to lead?
Charlotte’s students need to learn how their community and governments
work, about the key issues, how citizens and leaders collaborate to solve
problems – and how young people can make a difference.
Current events, education trends, and learning opportunity gaps make that
task more difficult…and more important than ever.
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Building civic literacy, leadership
Programs combine classroom and
community
– K-12 civic education lessons/resources
– Kids Voting mock election
– Charlotte-Mecklenburg Youth Council
– Youth Leadership Charlotte-Mecklenburg
– Other initiatives
GenerationNation helps K-12 students to build civic literacy and leadership.
We do this through a variety of programs that combine classroom education with
hands-on experiences – we put civics and leadership into action.
GenerationNation programs include K-12 civic education lessons and tools for
teachers and the Kids Voting mock election, and the high school programs we’ll
hear about tonight Charlotte-Mecklenburg Youth Council and Youth Leadership
Charlotte-Mecklenburg.
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50,000 local students in 2014-15
activities
• 180,000 in 2012-2015, including Election 2012
15,000 contact hours of programming
100+ standards-based lessons and tools
for classrooms in 170+ schools
GenerationNation is making a difference. Our organization was launched over 20
years ago as an annual mock voting event. In the past 5 years, we decided we
needed to do more to educate and engage young citizens and leaders 365 days a
year. Voting is just the beginning!
In the past 3 years, new youth programming enabled GenerationNation to increase
learning opportunities for more high school students. The youth programs engaged
250 high school students through educational sessions, dialogues with community
leaders, field trips, and other hands-on experiences.
GenerationNation narrows learning opportunity gaps through authentic and
transformative civics and leadership experiences.
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Narrowing the learning opportunity gap
Discuss issues with public officials
Find out how and why a city grows
Write news headlines
See how local government works
Deliberate policy in a mock council
meeting
Create and deliver a team presentation
Read and prioritize a budget
Build civic leadership and interests
Analyze a speech and speaker’s skills
Cast an informed mock vote on real topics
Plan a city
Collaborate with different kinds of people
Learning opportunities connect students with real-life experiences for
college, career, and civic life
Pitch an economic plan for the city
Learn legislative process in Raleigh
See where and how people do their jobs
Negotiate a deal
Share solutions with civic leaders
Interview a business leader
Explore different parts of the city
Follow and understand news
Learn law through a mock trial
Get leadership lessons from leaders
Report on civic issues and events
Be an active citizen
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Thanks for meeting with youth!
David Howard
John Howard
Charles Keller
Terry Lansdell
Vilma Leake
Justin Lehmann
Luis Lluberas
Nyema Mathis
LaWana Mayfield
Ed McKinney
Tim Morgan
Pat Mumford
Tom Murray
Amy Hawn Nelson
Brooke Adamson
Maggie Akers
John Arwood
April Bethea
Allison Billings
Andrew Bowen
Charles Bowman
Erin Brighton
Michael Bryant
Ron Carlee
Cheryl Carpenter
Ann Clark
Dan Clodfelter
Brian Collier
Carrie Cook
Warren Cooksey
Ed Driggs
Ericka Ellis-Stewart
Holly Eskridge
Dale Fite
Annetta Foard
Trevor Fuller
Jennifer Green
Tom Hanchett
Rebecca Hefner
Wilson Hooper
Jake House
Susan Patterson
Heidi Pruess
Moira Quinn
Leslie Rhodes
Young-Sun Roth
Ella Scarborough
Sheila Shirley
Nancy Smith
Nicole Storey
Tom Tate
Steve Wood
Hyong Yi
And other friends!
The learning opportunities connect students with real life experiences such as
discussing actual community issues, ideas, and solutions with leaders. Thank you to
the leaders who have worked with our youth this year.
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100% of youth participants
• Interact with, discuss issues with community leaders
• Learn about, apply knowledge to solve community
issues
• Learn about and interact with local government
• Meet and collaborate with youth from other schools and
backgrounds
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Youth build skills and knowledge for college, career, and civic life, increasing over
the year in
Knowledge and interests, government, civic issues, public policy, news, voting, and
volunteering
Skills and behaviors such as leadership, decision-making, collaboration, analysis,
communication, public speaking, and confidence.
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Impact after high school
Demonstrate higher levels of civic leadership,
civic engagement, and civic literacy
As a result of their involvement in
GenerationNation, more likely than peers to
• Serve in group leadership role (88% vs. 5%)
• Vote (90% vs. 22%)
• Volunteer (69% vs 28%)
• Understand how government works (90% vs. 45%)
• Regularly consume/understand news (100% vs. 70% )
Through our alumni network, we are starting to see a long-term impact. Compared
with peers ages 18-29, GenerationNation alumni are much more likely to
demonstrate civic leadership, civic engagement, and civic and news literacy.
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Diverse youth leadership
30+ schools
– CMS/Non-CMS
Different
neighborhoods,
backgrounds,
perspectives
Our members are diverse and representative. We attend over thirty CMS and non-
CMS schools and live in neighborhoods across the community.
We are leaders who care about our schools, our city, our towns, and our county. We
advise community leaders, and take an active role to learn about and discuss key
issues and understand different perspectives.
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Participating high schools
Ardrey Kell
Phillip O’Berry
Butler
Cato Middle College
Charlotte Catholic
Charlotte Country Day
Charlotte Engineering Early College
Charlotte Secondary
Cochrane
East Mecklenburg
Garinger
Harding
Home Schools
Hopewell
Hough
Independence
Lake Norman Charter
Levine Middle College
Mallard Creek
Marie G Davis
Myers Park
North Mecklenburg
Northwest School of the Arts
Olympic
Performance Learning Center
Providence
Providence Day
Queens Grant
Rocky River
South Mecklenburg
Vance
West Charlotte
West Mecklenburg
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– Advise community leaders
– Learn about issues and perspectives
– Collaborate to solve problems
– Build lifelong interests, skills, and friendships
In March, members of the youth council participated in the NC Youth Legislative
Assembly in Raleigh. It was a great way to experience the legislative process, learn
about different viewpoints and issues, and get to know student leaders from
communities across the state.
Importantly, we are a valuable resource. Charlotte-Mecklenburg leaders know they
can ask for, and use, our feedback to strengthen policies and decisions impacting
children and youth.
Earlier this year, we hosted a youth summit in which members of the Board of
Education, Charlotte City Council, Mecklenburg County Commission, and high
school students discussed how we can all work together to make our schools and
community strong now and for the future.
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High school student advisory board
for city, county, and CMS
Leaders through college, career, civic life
Building a leadership pipeline
Grades 9-10 learn about community,
issues, leadership
I’m getting ready to graduate. I will look forward to joining the other program alumni
in coming back to support student leaders, and seeking future leadership roles. We
have a few alumni in the audience tonight, will you please stand? Thank you for
being here!
Will the other youth council seniors in the audience please join me on the stage?
We want to recognize you, too.
(As they are coming up talk about your plans…) Next year, I am going to (college)
to study/become (field).
Seniors, please say your name, where you are going to school, and what you want
to study/do. (Give them the mike and encourage them to speak)
Congratulations, seniors! (Applause)
I can’t wait to see all that our future youth council members will accomplish. Now,
we welcome our newest members – let’s learn what they’ve been doing this
semester.
Presentation by Deirdre Austin, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Youth Council https://youtu.be/LZdGNKYE_Ww
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Team 1
Taylor Blakeney
Trinity Russell
Grayson Sandlin
Alex Smith
Vernicia Ulysse
View presentation
http://goo.gl/50ABGR
Watch presentation
https://youtu.be/wq_Vu3WXE9A
Watch Q&A
https://youtu.be/GNU5MnrXvck
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Team 4
Rose Delle Fave
Maayan Eaves
Josie Fulton
Zachary Green
Des'rae Mitchell
View presentation
https://prezi.com/imdaqlwzdgo
a/their-big-city-our-small-town/
Watch presentation
https://youtu.be/XPX7LqXjs00
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Team 5
Arionna Barrett
Sierra Dixon
Da'Jhun Mack
Max Moreno
Aadithya Nair
Jane Vaughan
Watch presentation
https://youtu.be/pRvMth92UNc
Q&A
https://youtu.be/Q2NgC5H5qcc
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Team 6
Hayley Boger
Kalen Clark
Kaila Hart
Grant Shelton
Piper Strzelecki
Luke Workley
View presentation
http://goo.gl/qA1ixi
Watch presentation
https://youtu.be/PnL2FS0adgw
Q&A
https://youtu.be/uNexsbyuU3A
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“You’ll Never Walk Alone”
https://youtu.be/48M5qM2xeBo
Rickey Burch
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Youth Council
Butler High School
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Thank you!
What you have just heard tells the story of GenerationNation. Together, we’re
educating and engaging students to lead and transform our schools,
neighborhoods, and community for the better. Our future looks bright, thanks to
these young people. Let’s give all of our student leaders a big round of applause.
I want to thank everyone for attending…
Parents and family members
Teachers, advisors, and principals
Volunteers who worked with our students this year, especially the Leadership
Charlotte who are here tonight
Community leaders
Sponsors
GenerationNation Board members
Photography: Scout RosenVideo: Ian Beveridge
