This two-pronged study focuses on the possibilities and constraints of youth organizing as both a vehicle for civic learning and a lever for policy change.

I examine how teen activists intervene in the contested policy landscape of the nation’s largest school system; the extent to which youth advocacy influences policymaking processes; and how young people’s engagement in this work shapes their civic skills and identities. I center the perspectives of youth organizers throughout, having engaged with them as partners in the work throughout the data collection and analysis processes.

Forthcoming papers examine the role whiteness plays in integration advocacy, White young people’s development as racialized civic actors, and the multiple ways in which young organizers assess their impact on public policy.