Turning Youth Voice into Public Policy: Civic Mentoring & Democratic Renewal

• In Event: Democratic Renewal through Innovations in Civic Learning

Abstract

Young people are disillusioned with mainstream electoral politics. Declining youth voter turnout over several decades has been offset by increasing participation in issue-based forms of civic and political engagement (Norris 2002; Dalton 2015). But the distancing of younger generations from formal politics and their lack of influence over policy-making is dangerous for democracy and detrimental to future-oriented public policy (Sloam 2013 and 2019). And there are sharp intragenerational inequalities in participation between young people with high levels of educational attainment and non-college-bound youth (Marien et al. 2010; Dalton 2017). Despite widespread agreement in academic and policy circles regarding the importance of localized forms of civic engagement for building trust in institutions and generating a more sustainable public policy (Ostrom 1990; Fung 2015), there is very little literature on how young people’s interactions with policy-makers can work effectively in practice. This article presents the results of an in-depth investigation of the Mayor of London’s Peer Outreach Team. Drawing on qualitive research with young Peer Outreach Workers from traditionally marginalized groups and Greater London Authority policy-makers, it highlights the success of the Team in scaffolding the transition of young Londoners into civic and economic life (with positive spillover effects for their communities) and in reaching out to promote civic engagement amongst other young people. Although there are good examples of how Peer Outreach Workers have helped to shape public policy at a pan-London level, the research emphasizes the need for cultural change amongst policy-makers to adapt to the messy but rewarding process of working with children and young people as partners.

Author

• James Sloam, University of London, Royal Holloway