Civic Engagement News!
How do you inspire a new generation into public service? The Evans School and CELE Center are connecting students with seasoned leaders and local opportunities to do just that.
By Caitlin Klask | Photos by Rick Dahms | December 2024
Generation Z, one-fifth of the American electorate, made up 40 million eligible voters and about 20 million confirmed voters this election year. But Gen Z represents far more than a ballot: They’re tomorrow’s leaders and changemakers. And, to put it simply, this generation is frazzled.
Adults under the age of 27 grew up during a global recession and attended school remotely through a historic pandemic and national reckoning with racism and police violence. Today, they face socioeconomic challenges, climate change, controversial foreign policy and declining trust in public institutions. Still, young people are motivated.
“So much of the discourse about Gen Z is, these are the pandemic kids,” says Kathryn Pursch Cornforth, ’11, director of community engagement at the UW’s Community Engagement and Leadership Education (CELE) Center. “They’re so used to being focused on their screens. They don’t want to connect with other people.
“My experience of working with college students is just completely opposite of that. There are all of these examples that we can point to of students seeking out connections, seeking out involvement, seeking out ways to make a difference.”
CELE Center and the UW’s Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, both of which boast programs to court young people into civic engagement, offer a program called the NextGen Civic Leader Corps to provide those connections and guide students into public service. It’s a partnership with the Volcker Alliance Next Generation Service Corps, a national network of universities aiming to prepare and inspire the next generation of public servants.
And it’s not just about becoming a lawmaker. “Through NextGen, I can explore how STEM can interact with public policy, and that’s inspired me to pursue more programs with [and take classes at] the Evans School,” says Ava Michler, ’27, an ambassador for the program’s national network, who recently took a trip to Arizona to meet with like-minded NextGen students from universities across the country.