Youth Expertise Series: Insight from Young People on Civic Engagement, Democracy, and Youth Leadership

This is a call for short proposals from young people (ages 16 to 26) interested in writing a blog post or essay for the CIRCLE website. Content should focus on how communities can increase, diversify, and sustain youth civic and political engagement. Precious examples can be found by clicking here.

Proposals are due by August 10, 2026. 

Not familiar with CIRCLE?

CIRCLE, the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, is a research center based at Tufts University. CIRCLE studies and tries to expand opportunities for young people to meaningfully participate in civic life in the United States. 

We define “civic engagement” as the wide range of actions and behaviors that improve communities and help solve problems that affect more than one person or household. We think of political engagement as a form of civic engagement. Read more about our thinking here.

Too often, adultism, project timelines, and other factors prevent authentic youth input into groups’ and communities’ efforts. But young people have invaluable knowledge—and often more expertise than older adults—on certain issues in their community. 

As an organization, we hold a value that young people should be treated as assets to communities, and a belief that youth and communities will benefit in many ways from doing so. While this is not the first time that CIRCLE has featured young voices, we seek to practice what we preach to a greater extent.

Your Expertise, Your Take, Your Voice 

We see this initiative as a way to amplify the voices of our younger peers in the civic engagement world, to increase knowledge across the field, and to promote new connections and conversations among people involved with research, policy, and practice. 

Proposals may be submitted by individuals or may be collaborations between multiple young people or youth (ages 16-26) and older adults. The content must be led by young people. 

Proposals should be a short description of what ideas a full written blog post would cover. The proposal can take different forms: text, slides, video, etc. The proposal should be no longer than a half page of text (around 200-250 words), a single graphic, 5-6 slides, or a video that is less than 2 minutes long. 

Proposals may address one or more of the questions below, or others of your choosing: 

• What affects youth civic and political engagement in your community? How can these conditions be addressed to increase youth participation? What helps young people overcome obstacles to being involved? What is effective in mobilizing young leaders?

• What kind of expertise do young people in your community have? How can organizations and advocates tap into that knowledge to better serve and improve the community? 

• How can we establish or improve partnerships between young leaders and non-youth-specific organizations (like election offices or news outlets)?

• Do you see your peers struggling with their / their families' economic situation? How does it affect their civic engagement? What can communities do to support them?

• CIRCLE shows many youth don't like the way U.S. politics is working and want to change it. How do you see youth attitudes about democracy manifesting among your peers? What kind of messages motivate them to participate despite their concerns about democracy?

• What are some issues that don't get a lot of national attention that youth in your community care about a lot? How can organizations tap into that civic interest and energy for youth engagement?

CIRCLE staff/our Communications Assistant will assess proposals based on how well a proposal addresses some or all of the following criteria: 

• Reflection on what has/has not worked and why
• Strength of argument, including personal observations and examples (we are NOT looking for program/model profiles)
• Potential for influence on future policy and practice 
• Representation from different parts of the country and from young people representing diverse communities and identities
• Impact on increasing equity in the civic and political opportunities available to youth across diverse backgrounds 

Selected submitters will be asked for a full post (500-800 words if written). As a rule, CIRCLE prohibits the use of AI in our work.

Our staff will review the post proposals and provide feedback, if applicable. Edits will be made via Zoom sessions and asynchronous editing online (i.e. Google Docs). 

To Submit a Proposal

Please submit proposals by midnight (PT) on the night of August 10, 2026, using this link: https://forms.gle/jZD8KSdKphqWHTn27. Guest posts will be published during the fall of 2026.  

All selected authors will receive a stipend for their work!

Reach out to samantha.searles@tufts.edu if you have questions.