The Human Rights Project: Civic and Political Engagement for Unaccompanied High School Youth

• In Event: Civic Actors in Democratic Spaces: Engaging Processes and People

Abstract

This research examines a Bilingual Human Rights Project developed for newly arrived unaccompanied youth from Central America. The project engaged the youth in a transformative citizenship education where they critically examine social structures both locally and globally. Importance was placed on inclusion and action, where the youth gained a critical awareness of the workings of our society, and cultivated a sense of agency and belonging. I address the role civic engagement plays in their lives, particularly the ways in which they are provided opportunities through art, literacies and new media to exercise their political voice and develop civic competencies. This project shows how schools can foreground the ideologies and opportunities provided to new immigrant youth for developing a political voice.

Author

• Theresa A. Mcginnis, Hofstra University