Young Invincibles is working to recognize colleges and universities that are leading in the effort to expand civic learning and engagement among students. We have created the Students Learn Students Vote Checklist to provide a series of key steps for Institutions to take in any student voting program. Schools that complete the SLSV Checklist will be recognized through the Foundation for Civic Leadership’s Civic Learning Certification. The SLSV Checklist is below. Please contact us at info@YoungInvincibles.org to get more information about how to participate. Schools can sign up for the Certification here.
Civic Learning Certification
The Civic Learning Certification is a program to support and recognize campuses that take steps to make their student civic learning efforts more effective and evidence based. Currently, the most comprehensive quantitative metric available to measure student civic learning efforts is the campus-wide student voting rate. This program focuses on encouraging campuses to strategically use data about student voting behavior to improve civic learning.
Eligible schools that express an intention to complete the certification process will receive a $500 grant to accelerate their student civic engagement planning efforts. Schools that become certified for this academic year will receive official recognition from the Foundation for Civic Leadership and an additional $500 grant to support implementation and evaluation of their civic engagement programs.
Eligibility Requirement
In order to be eligible to participate in this round of certifications, campuses must commit to complete the Students Learn Students Vote planning checklist.
Certification Process
- Invitations issued to campuses.
- Schools declare intention to become certified.
- Grantees announced and checks disbursed to appropriate university entities to support campus-wide civic learning planning activities.
- Schedule check-in call with the Foundation for Civic Leadership to discuss plan for checklist completion.
Students Learn Students Vote Planning Checklist
- Lead: Ensure a person is appointed by a respected campus leader to lead your student civic learning programs.
- Assess: Measure your campus voting rate.
- Engage: Hold a meeting with representatives from academic affairs, student affairs, government relations, and student leadership to discuss your student civic learning and build support for a campus-wide plan to increase civic learning and participation.
- Plan: Submit a proposal for increasing your campus-wide engagement to the Civic Learning Network of the Foundation for Civic Leadership.
FAQs
What do I do if my campus is already doing many of the things on the checklist?
Fantastic! Definitely apply! The purpose of the program is to recognize great work that is already going on in the field in addition to helping to catalyze new efforts.
What if my campus isn’t signed up for NSLVE yet?
Schools that seek the certification but have not received their NSLVE reports yet will receive an extension that allows them to receive the Foundation for Civic Leadership certification if they complete the checklist within one month of receiving their data.
What should we spend the $500 grants on?
Wherever you think the dollars will go furthest to help support change in your community.
Here are some suggestions:
- Small stipends for a student or graduate assistant to coordinate outreach to groups that should be involved in the campus wide civic engagement plan
- Professional development costs associated with visiting another campus or attending a training to learn more about student civic engagement.
- Materials associated with implementing your civic engagement efforts.
- Re-granting the dollars to good ideas that are submitted from individuals in your campus community through a grants process or open competition.