Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Students Participate in NextGen City Council Program

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Students Participate in NextGen City Council Program

The NextGen City Council Program gives District students opportunity to collaborate with elected officials on crafting policy solutions

CHICAGO — Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students Thursday, May 29, participated in an innovative and collaborative experience at City Hall that aims to elevate young people's voices and help them become active and engaged Chicagoans. Through the NextGen City Council Program, about 60 District students each year are introduced to real-world civic learning experiences at City Hall, allowing students to work in committees alongside elected officials and community members and learn more about how ideas to support youth can be turned into policy.

At NextGen City Council Day, student committee members from each of the six participating District schools – Roald Amundsen High School, Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy, Michele Clark Academic Preparatory Magnet High School, Richard T. Crane Medical Prep High School, Lake View High School, and Social Justice High School – returned to City Hall to further develop the winning policy proposals from the three NextGen City Council simulations. A student mayor and student clerk presided over the event with support from City Clerk Anna Valencia.

CPS CEO Pedro Martinez met with District students who attended the NextGen City Council Day thanking them for their involvement and civic engagement.

“District students were given an opportunity to become key collaborators in curating policies that will have an effect on them and their peers for generations to come,” said CPS CEO Pedro Martinez. “Our students seized this unique opportunity, and are making the most of it.”

The NextGen City Council Program, which launched in 2018, has been offered each year in collaboration with the Chicago Office of the City Clerk and the CPS Social Science Department and Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. The program is based on clear research: when educational experiences help young people feel their voices matter, they are more likely to be civically engaged and informed.

“This partnership is a testament to what can be accomplished when two institutions come together to uplift our young people,” Clerk Valencia said. “By bringing together government experience and educator expertise, we’re able to provide a learning experience that expands on work being done in the classroom and creates a lasting impact on our students. They’re also learning tools to hold their government accountable, which helps create trust between the community and their elected officials.”

The overarching goals of the NextGen Program is to:

Empower young people by uplifting the student voice in conversations with elected officials and community leaders.

Develop an understanding of the legislative process at the municipal level.

Foster collaboration with diverse stakeholders across the District.

NextGen City Council Program participant Marco Trujillo, a senior at Lake View High School, says his main takeaway from programming earlier this school year was learning about collaboration and being proactive during discussions with fellow District students and elected officials.

“I learned that we can get together as a mini group or a whole group to talk about resources in the city and what is good and bad for the community,” said Trujillo. “They were preparing us to be respectful and represent our groups; go up and not be shy.”

Arianna Brandt, a junior at Michele Clark Academic Preparatory Magnet High School in Austin, echoes Trujillo’s sentiments regarding the experience.

“Participating in the NextGen City Council deepened my understanding of the root causes of issues facing my community,” said Brandt. “The NextGen City Council Program provides hands-on experience in addressing real-world problems.”

Over time, the District continues to provide support uplifting the student voice.

Those programs include the Board of Education’s (BOE) honorary student board member who helps support the Board’s mission of providing quality education for Chicago’s youth, the annual Student Voice Leadership Summit, Local School Council (LSC) student elections, and student participation during 2024’s historic Chicago school board elections including hosting the only citywide, student-centered school board candidate forum. And, perhaps most importantly, more than 2,000 CPS students served as high school election judges at polling places across the city.

These efforts align with CPS’s Five-Year Strategic Plan, Success 2029: Together We Rise, which calls for/prioritizes that the District prepare students to become ethical, collaborative, inquisitive, empowered, and engaged members of their school communities and beyond.

The District’s vision for social science teaching and learning includes dedicated, anti-racist K-12 Social Science classroom curriculum that leverage students’ lived experiences, promote agency, and engage students in culturally-responsive, inquiry-driven curriculum and instruction. This vision prepares District graduates to apply the necessary social science skills, knowledge, habits, and dispositions to continue to engage meaningfully in their communities, understand enduring societal issues, and envision and build a just and equitable democracy.

The ongoing collaborative spirit honed between the District’s classroom educators, the CPS Social Science Department, and the Office of the City Clerk reflects a common goal of ensuring students are seen and valued as active participants in city government.

For more information regarding how CPS supports the NextGen City Council Program, visit the Department of Social Science website page at https://www.cps.edu/about/departments/social-science/.


Latest Stories

Latest Podcast

STARR Community Services International, Inc.