On Nov. 5, Americans will exercise their right to vote with turnout expected to reach record highs. Yet, one age group remains an outlier: younger voters.

Simply put, most young people don’t vote. Since 18-year-olds were given the right to vote in 1971, the youth vote has consistently demonstrated the lowest turnout. Harvard’s Institute of Politics found less than half of Americans under age 29 plan to vote in the November elections.

Some experts say creating easier methods to register and increasing access to polls will help boost the youth vote. But a proven strategy to build informed and active voters begins in schools through robust civic education programs. A 2020 Tufts University study showed young people who learned about voting procedures in school were more likely to vote and participate in civic activities.

New York City’s Civics for All initiative, begun in 2018, provides project-based and culturally responsive programs relevant to students’ lives. Jenna Ryall, a former city teacher and the director of Civics for All, said the primary objective of the program is to prepare students to participate in democracy and become positive forces for change.

“Schools are civic societies in and of themselves,” Ryall said. By empowering young people through Civics for All, she said, “we are ensuring their future political participation and power.”

Carmen Robles, an 8th-grade social studies teacher at PS/IS 276, the Battery Park City School, in Manhattan and an author of Civics for All’s middle school curriculum, was drawn to the program exactly for these reasons.

Upset by low turnout among young voters, Robles realized the disconnect between young people and civic participation extended to her own classroom. She discovered that many of her students didn’t understand the workings of government and how they could effect change in their own communities and beyond.

Fast-forward to today, and civics has become part of Robles’ classroom culture and is “contagious” among her students. She has witnessed peers telling one another to pick up trash around the school and students becoming leaders and discovering personal strengths. “My greatest joy is seeing the students’ confidence grow as they see themselves as agents of change,” she said.

“When we start early, young people see themselves as ‘part of the process,’” Robles said. “Now more than ever, it is vital for democracy to exist and for civics to be actively taught in our schools.”

Civics for All’s emphasis on empowering students resonated with teachers at the Brooklyn Occupational Training Center, a District 75 high school for students with severe to moderate disabilities. The Brooklyn center was the first District 75 school to integrate Civics for All, though others have since joined.

Civics for All has become a schoolwide initiative, with a team of educators led by Natalie Davis and Matt Gorin. Providing spaces for their students to practice their voice is a priority, Davis said, “especially because they’re a group of students who generally don’t have that opportunity.”

Through Civics for All, Gorin said, “our kids learn how to use their voices within their school, within their communities, and they take those skills and turnkey them to their parents.”

The Brooklyn Occupational Training Center team adapted the Civics for All curriculum not only to amplify student voices but also to teach students to navigate adult life. The school has established a student council and a debate team, hosted elected officials, participated in their school budget and created a civics fair where students explore neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs.

“These are skills we might take for granted, but for our students, it’s such a rich opportunity,” Davis said.

Ruth Duran-Chea, a 6th-grade teacher at PS/MS 315 in the Bronx and a Civics for All teacher-leader, has been recognized for her work with Civics for All Comics. The DOE collaborated with comic book publishers to create graphic texts for students on civics themes, ultimately becoming one of the top 10 comic book distributors in the country. By reading these engaging texts, Duran-Chea’s students learn about civic involvement and the democratic process.

The Take Action component of Civics for All, which engages students in participatory civic projects, has had lasting value for Duran-Chea’s students. PS/MS 315 doesn’t have a yard, but there is a park just outside the school building over which Duran-Chea’s 6th-graders have become caretakers.

Through nonprofit partnerships she has fostered, her students have planted flowers and shrubs and have become invested in maintaining the area by cleaning up trash and creating signs imploring others not to litter and trample over plants.

“They really enjoy being in the dirt and doing something they normally don’t get to do,” Duran-Chea said. But the lessons learned go deeper, she explained, as they “grow into adults who continue to take care of their neighborhoods and believe in their ability to empower their communities.”

Shawn Fisch, a Teacher Center site coach at Long Island City HS in Queens, said every teacher has the opportunity to incorporate civics education into their own classrooms.

“Move away from the idea that civics is social studies only,” he said. “Creating class rules is civics. Learning how to navigate a school trip is civics. We have a chance to put real world civics opportunities in front of all our students regardless of grade, content or language.”

Civics for All has activities planned to mark important dates related to the November elections, said Ryall. Sept. 17 is National Voter Registration Day, and Oct. 26 is Golden Day, when the voter registration deadline overlaps with the first day of early voting, which allows New Yorkers to both register and cast their ballot on the same day.

Other signature events every school year include SoapboxNYC, a public speaking showcase, and the Participatory Budgeting in Your School program. Civics Week will be held in March 2025, and teachers can participate by using materials mailed to each school before the February break.

The teacher-created Civics for All K–12 curriculum is available online at the DOE’s Social Studies and Civics Hub.

“The core of civics,” Fisch said, “is giving students a voice to investigate things that matter to them.”

The lasting power of this work, he explained, is when students realize that “all voices matter and anyone can be an agent for change.”