Where Are the Safe Spaces for Civic Practice? A Brief Review of Contexts for Youth Civic Development and Exploration of the YMCA Youth and Government Program

Civic health is important to public health; everyone deserves access to civic participation as a critical aspect of healthy individual human development, civic health equity, and functional democracies. Civic development refers to the processes by which young people come to see themselves as part of their communities and as active participants in civic life. Unfortunately, there are very few spaces for young people (especially ages 14-18), to form, practice, challenge, and refine their civic beliefs and skills. We examine existing contexts where young people can practice civics, present a framework to examine the benefits and challenges of these contexts, highlight the YMCA Youth & Government program as a place designed to be a safe space for civic practice, and call for more safe spaces for civic practice to support healthy civic development and ultimately civic health equity.