America's Promise Alliance is the nation’s largest cross-sector alliance of nonprofit, community organizations, businesses, and government organization dedicated to improving the lives of young people.
The National Civic League is an American nonpartisan, non-profit organization founded in 1894 with a mission to advance civic engagement to create equitable, thriving communities. The League envisions a country where the full diversity of community members are actively and meaningfully engaged in local governance, including both decision making and implementation of activities to advance the common good. It also promotes professional management of local government through publication of "model charters" for both city and county governments.
E-democracy, also known as digital democracy or Internet democracy, is the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in political and governance processes. The term is believed to have been coined by digital activist Steven Clift. E-democracy incorporates 21st-century information and communications technology to promote democracy; such technologies include civic technology and government technology. It is a form of government in which all adult citizens are presumed to be eligible to participate equally in the proposal, development and creation of laws.
Youth activism is the participation in community organizing for social change by persons between the ages of 15–24. Youth activism has led to a shift in political participation and activism. A notable shift within youth activism is the rise of “Alter-Activism” resulting in an emphasis on lived experiences and connectivity amongst young activists. The young activists have taken lead roles in public protest and advocacy around many issues like climate change, abortion rights and gun violence. Different from past protest or advocacy, technology has become the backbone to many of these modern youth movements. It has been shown in multiple studies that internet use along with seeking information online is shown to have positive impacts on political engagement. Popular applications like Twitter, Instagram and YouTube have become the newest tools for young activists in the 21st century. Technology and the use of digital media has changed the way youth participate in activism globally, and youth are more active in media than older generations.
The youth vote in the United States is the cohort of 18–24 year-olds as a voting demographic. Many policy areas specifically affect the youth of the United States, such as education issues and the juvenile justice system. The general trend in voter turnout for American elections has been decreasing for all age groups, but "young people's participation has taken the biggest nosedive". This low youth turnout is part of the generational trend of voting activity. Young people have the lowest turnout, though as the individual ages, turnout increases to a peak at the age of 50 and then falls again. Ever since 18-year-olds were given the right to vote in 1972, youth have been under represented at the polls as of 2003. In 1976, one of the first elections in which 18-year-olds were able to vote, 18–24 year-olds made up 18 percent of all eligible voters in America, but only 13 percent of the actual voters – an under-representation of one-third. In the next election in 1978, youth were under-represented by 50 percent. "Seven out of ten young people…did not vote in the 1996 presidential election… 20 percent below the general turnout." In 1998, out of the 13 percent of eligible youth voters in America, only five percent voted. During the competitive presidential race of 2000, 36 percent of youth turned out to vote and in 2004, the "banner year in the history of youth voting," 47 percent of the American youth voted. In the Democratic primaries for the 2008 U.S. presidential election, the number of youth voters tripled and even quadrupled in some states compared to the 2004 elections. In 2008, Barack Obama spoke about the contributions of young people to his election campaign outside of just voter turnout.
Civic engagement or civic participation is any individual or group activity addressing issues of public concern. Civic engagement includes communities working together or individuals working alone in both political and non-political actions to protect public values or make a change in a community. The goal of civic engagement is to address public concerns and promote the quality of the community.
Campus Compact is a coalition of college and university presidents, committed to fulfilling the public purposes of higher education. Nearly 1,100 educational institutions, more than a third of all higher education providers in the United States, are members.
Margaret Dulany "Peggy" Rockefeller is an American heiress and philanthropist.
An alternative break is a trip where a group of college students engage in volunteer service, typically for a week. Alternative break trips originated with college students in the early 1980s as a counter to "traditional" spring break trips. These trips are usually led by 2 "site leaders" who are students that have already participated in an alternative break and have gone through extensive leadership training.
The National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) is a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening civic life in America. They pursue their mission through a nationwide network of partners involved in a cutting-edge Civic Health Initiative, annual cross-sector conferences, and engagement with a broad spectrum of individuals and organizations interested in utilizing civic engagement principles and practices to enhance their work. Connecting people for the purpose of strengthening civic life is NCoC's goal. At the core of NCoC's joint efforts is the belief that every person has the ability to help his or her community and country thrive.
The Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation was an office new to the Obama Administration, created within the White House, to catalyze new and innovative ways of encouraging government to do business differently. Its first director was the economist Sonal Shah. The final director was David Wilkinson.
Mobilize.org is a non-partisan American non-profit organization that works with and for members of the Millennial Generation. The stated mission of Mobilize.org is to empower and invest in Millennials to create and implement solutions to social problems.
Action civics is a modern and alternative form of civics education in the United States. Action civics is an applied civic education process in which participants learn about government by examining issues in their own community and then select a focus issue for action through a process of debate, research the issue and learn advocacy strategies, develop civic skills such as public speaking, formulate a plan, mobilize, educate, then evaluate, and reflect on their experience. Participants' voices are encouraged, valued and incorporated. Participants learn by doing, with a focus on collective action. Action civics can encompass a number of different actions from community service to electoral engagement and from talking about concerns with public officials to creating peer education campaigns.
Civic technology, or civic tech, enhances the relationship between the people and government with software for communications, decision-making, service delivery, and political process. It includes information and communications technology supporting government with software built by community-led teams of volunteers, nonprofits, consultants, and private companies as well as embedded tech teams working within government.
Harold Milton Jacobs was a Jewish and civic leader who headed a number of American Jewish organizations and institutions, and also played a significant role in New York City educational affairs.
American Muslim Health Professionals (AMHP) is a national nonprofit organization focused on professional development, health education centered on the unique needs of Muslim Americans, and advocacy for minorities and underserved communities. AMHP is a U.S-based non-profit organization founded in 2004 by Arshia Wajid to empower Muslim health professionals to improve the health of Americans. The organization's headquarters are in Rolling Meadows, IL.
The Ohio Organizing Collaborative (OOC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit statewide organization focused on uniting community organizers and organizing groups across Ohio with similar interests. The OOC was formed in 2007 by Kirk Noden with a mission of organizing citizens to build power and combat social, racial and economic injustices in communities across Ohio. The goal for the OOC is to organize Ohioans and the Midwest citizens into a progressive movement. The OOC is composed of 18 community-based organizations with members in every major city across Ohio. These organizations include labor unions, faith organizations, community organizing groups among others. Currently the OOC participates in eight campaigns across the state through direct advocacy, voter engagement, fundraising, and community growth. Funding for the OOC is provided in many different ways including third party investors, grants, and fundraising.
Europe-Georgia Institute (EGI) – is a non-governmental organization in Georgia. The Europe-Georgia Institute was founded by George Melashvili, Shalva Chkheidze and Revaz Topuria in 2015.
The Franklin Project was a policy program of the Aspen Institute from October 2012 to December 2015, that focused on advancing national service in the United States. Walter Isaacson called the project the "biggest idea" to come out of the Aspen Ideas Festival during his tenure as CEO of the Aspen Institute. In January 2016, the project merged with ServiceNation and the Service Year Exchange project of the National Conference on Citizenship to form Service Year Alliance.
Internet activism in South Korea originated in 2002, when an Internet user named Angma proposed a candlelight vigil for two girls who were killed by a U.S. military vehicle in the Yangju highway incident. Angma's post circulated widely online, mobilizing ordinary people to demand SOFA reform and an apology from President George W. Bush with peaceful candlelight protests in Kwanghwamun. Since then, the Internet has been a space for open discussion of sociopolitical issues and grassroots activism in South Korea. Other examples of Internet activism in Korea are the 2008 U.S. beef protest, anti-Chosunilbo protests, and online feminist and LGBTQ movements with hashtags.
