Teens Gain Key Victories for their Civics and Vote 17 Campaigns

TEENS GAIN KEY VICTORIES

IN CIVIC ENGAGEMENT CAMPAIGNS!

Bill S183 Passed Favorably by Joint Committee on Education
Lowell City Council Votes 8-0 to Re-Endorse H1111

Bill S183, 'An Act to Involve Youth in Civic Engagement' Passed Favorably by Joint Committee on Education

When I was appointed to Teens Leading The Way, a statewide youth-led coalition which empowers teens from across the state to create lasting social change through policymaking, I did not think that it would be easy to get a new type of civics back into high school classrooms.

After much hard work, TLTW is happy to announce that the Joint Committee on Education recently ruled favorably on Senate Bill #183! It now has a chance to come to the Senate floor for a vote. This bill will empowers high school students to develop healthy citizenry through civics education.

Sponsored by Sen. Harriet Chandler (Worcester), TLTW worked to get 39 co-sponsors for this bill that will create new pilot curriculum units for civics to be used in school districts across the state. The topics of these new units include the function and composition of the branches of local, state, and federal government, the history of social movements, current events, and community-based action and service-learning projects.

After countless hours of work and planning, I know that this is a great opportunity for us teens to pilot a change in our own classrooms. Having the Joint Committee on Education rule favorably on this bill is a great win! We are confident that our bill will move forward because of the vast amount of support for improvements in how civics education is taught in schools.

Thank you again to Sen. Chandler, Co-Chairs Rep. Peisch and Sen. Chang-Diaz of the Joint Committee on Education, and Sen. Richard Moore (Uxbridge), Chair of the new Commission on Civic Engagement and Learning. Also, thank you to the leaders in the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, as well as Secretary of Education Paul Reville and Marissa Cole in the Executive Office of Education for being so open to working with us.

TLTW is committed to getting this legislation passed and we will continue to keep you posted as the campaign moves forward!

Feel free to read and share our official press release!

Lowell City Council Re-Endorses House Bill 1111

Our Campaign to Lower the Voting Age to 17 in Lowell

In addition to TLTW's major success, UTEC's local organizers also gained another major victory for the Vote 17 Lowell campaign. The Lowell City Council recently voted 8-0 supporting a resolution to re-endorse the Vote 17 campaign! The resolution will be sent to the Massachusetts Statehouse to further advocate for the passage of a home-rule petition, Bill H1111. If passed, this bill would put the question of lowering the voting age to 17 for Lowell municipal elections on the 2013 ballot to be voted on by the residents of Lowell.

As we have talked about before, this bill is very INTENTIONAL. It allows for young people to become active voters when they still have concrete ties to the community before they head off to college (when they are often in a new community) or are engaged in full-time work in other communities. By starting to vote at age 17, citizens start healthy civic habits early in life and vote on municipal issues that directly affect them. We know that this will increase voter turnout overall and increase individual civic engagement for years to come!

Thank you for your support! We look forward to updating you as both campaigns progress!

Sincerely,

Carline Kirksey and UTEC Organizers