Committee of Seventy Logo
English Arabic Chinese (Simplified) French Spanish Vietnamese

Youth Civics

C70 is investing in the future of Pennsylvania's democracy

First, we are hiring a college fellow for our social media partnership with Vote That Jawn. Check it out!

We have a host of different programs for youth, from kindergarten to college, to engage in government and civics.

PA Youth Vote Mock Election

The mock election gives students hands-on experience with researching candidates, casting their vote, and a preview of results of the actual vote on Election Day.

Student-candidate interviews

Your class can interview candidates running for office. C70 works with you to connect with candidates or public officials from all parties. Your students supply the questions.

Democracy for Kids

C70 has unique learning tools for K-8 students that build basic civic knowledge, illustrate how young people can become engaged community members, and practice positive communication.

Elections 101 - Core basics

These sessions teach first-time and future voters the simple fundamentals of elections. Using C70's popular WeVote program, we present short sessions for your class to discuss what an election is and why they matter.

Elections & Voting curriculum

This curriculum, created by a PA social studies teacher, allows educators to pick-and-choose from multiple in-depth units that help students dig into elections. It also gives them experience preparing to vote themselves.

17-year-old poll workers

Did you know that if you are 17 years old, you can get paid to serve as a poll worker at your local polling place on Election Day?

Additional Educator Resources

The Committee of Seventy also has numerous resources for educators to support civic education in classrooms and with our community partners.

Teacher Advisory Council

two people talking
Teachers: interested in joining C70's Teacher Advisory Council? Shape policy, access curricular materials, and help expand quality civics education across Pennsylvania.

Sign up for the #c70ed Civics Newsletter

Get new ideas for civics lessons and access to creative programs delivered to your inbox every Saturday.

PA Civics Coalition member

Star Badge
We are a proud member of the PA Civics Coalition, a group of organizations that support schools throughout the Commonwealth with resources they need to teach civic education.

Act 48 professional development for teachers

C70 is also an approved provider of Act 48 professional development for educators from the PA Department of Education. Contact us to find out how to participate in a training.

PA Youth Vote Mock Election for high schoolers

The PA Youth Vote Mock Election gives students across the Commonwealth hands-on experience with an essential habit of active citizenship: how to cast their ballot each election. This new program, in partnership with PA Youth Vote, will give students the info they need to understand how elections work, tools for researching candidates, and the results of the PA student vote on Election Day.

Teachers: Learn more and register your class.

See the 2022 Mock General Election Results.

Studio C70 interviews candidates for office

Each election, the Committee of Seventy partners with PA Youth Vote to interview candidates from both parties running for state and local races up and down the ballot. We'll work with you to help reach out to candidates and coordinate the virtual meeting space. Your students can supply the questions. Fill out this form if your class would like to participate.

See previous interviews on the C70 Facebook page.

Democracy for Kids

Children are ready to begin their journey towards engaged citizenship from the moment they start school. The Committee of Seventy is partnering with experienced educators to share unique learning tools for elementary and middle school students that build basic civic knowledge, illustrate countless ways that young people can become citizens engaged in their community, and provide practice in democratic deliberation.

Contact us if you're interested in bringing these to your students.

Sign up to be a poll worker

Attention, PA high school juniors and seniors! Did you know that if you are 17 years old, you can get paid to serve as a poll worker at your local polling place on Election Day?

In Philadelphia, the City Commissioners' Office has an online application for their "Involved at 17" student poll worker and bilingual interpreter program. The program is an authentic civic learning experience that fulfills an important need on Election Day, AND students will get paid $250 or more. 

If you live outside of Philadelphia and want to serve, our partners at PA Youth Vote have a valuable resource that shows you the process for serving as a poll worker in each county.

The Committee of Seventy has partnered with the Stanford/MIT Healthy Elections Project, PA Youth Vote and the League of Women Voters of PA to offer informational content in the lead up to each election. Sign up and download the slide decks from each of the presentations and our Resources for Poll Workers toolkit. View them here

Election Ambassadors

This program engages high schoolers on Election Day to serve voters at their neighborhood polling place, answering questions for voters. Learn more.

Seventy welcomes high school students to spend a few hours in the classroom learning about Pennsylvania elections and a few hours at their local polling site speaking to voters and seeing democracy in action. Hundreds of students have participated in the Election Ambassador Program since its 2015 launch, learning about the upcoming election and why voting matters, assisting voters with questions about voting procedures and conducting an exit survey about various voting-related topics.

Draw the Lines Redistricting Resources

Every ten years, Pennsylvania is required to redraw its election maps for Congress and the state legislature. The Committee of Seventy ran a project from 2018-2022 called Draw the Lines to help make sure those maps were drawn fairly, with public input. We developed learning materials for high school students to draw their own political maps, using free, web-based software. Those materials are still available classrooms across Pennsylvania to use to learn about redistricting.

Teachers: Access learning resources for your class.

See Draw the Lines in action in the classroom.

Programs for College Students and Faculty

Colleges: Join the Unify Challenge

C70 is partnering with Unify America to helps Americans practice conversations across diverse backgrounds and learn, first-hand, about the power of new perspectives. Learn more about Unify America and watch their video.

Want to bring the Unify Challenge to students at your school? They can participate in the Unify Challenge College Bowl. Two college students—total strangers from different schools with different political leanings or backgrounds—are matched into a one-on-one guided video conversation to talk about big goals for our country. After discovering that far more unites us than divides us, students report feeling more hopeful about our country.

Participate by reaching out to Justin Villere, C70's Civic Engagement Program Manager.

WeVote for Colleges

Your campus can play a crucial role in getting voters involved. Partner with us.

C70 is here to help colleges and universities make use of their resources to help students use our BYOBallot tool, learn about the recent big changes to PA’s election law, find their polling place, learn about the offices and candidates on the ballot, and answer any questions they have.

Evaluating C70's youth civics programs
An independent study shows C70's program is well-received and valuable to teachers