It’s never too early for NYC students to become active and informed members of our community!
From Monday, March 8 through Friday, March 12, City schools across the five boroughs are celebrating Civics Week, the DOE’s annual celebration of civics education. Throughout the week, City students in grades K–12 will be able to participate in activities that celebrate youth voice, civic empowerment, and the importance of registering to vote.
This year’s Civics Week activities will take place virtually—school communities can refer to the DOE InfoHub’s Civics Week Resource and Activity Guides for students in grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12, as they each contain helpful information and resources to help students get involved in Civics Week, including downloadable digital assets, suggested lessons for educators, and more.
This year’s Civics Week Activities will include:
- Public speaking competitions through Mikva Challenge’s Project Soapbox;
- our third annual Civics Week Poster Contest;
- in-class letter writing campaigns;
- the sharing and viewing of videos from a number of elected officials at City, State and federal levels; and
- ‘Meet the Author’ and other virtual speaking sessions with guest speakers at Civics for All Partner Schools.
This year’s Student Voter Registration Drive will mark the second year that the DOE will work to pre-register the City’s 16 and 17-year olds for automatic voter registration that triggers on the day they turn 18. As part of the 2021 registration drive, unique, DOE-specific voter registration links will be used to register students, allowing for both online registration for students with a New York State-issued IDs and mail-based registration for students who do not possess State-issued IDs.
Civics Week is part of Civics for All, the DOE’s ongoing commitment to civic education as an essential part of every student’s core academic program. To learn more about Civics for All and the DOE’s efforts to help encourage students to become active and informed members of their communities, visit our Civics for All curriculum and activity pages.
On behalf of the NYC Department of Education, we wish all students and educators a great Civics Week!
Mikva Challenge’s Project Soapbox calls on youth to speak out on issues that affect their school communities.
