Civic Education
ment called “Guiding Principles of Communication” that outlined standards for all the discussions. This included the concept of using a “safe word” to calm things down if a conversation became tense or someone felt attacked or insulted. There is only one rule—when someone uses the safe word, you stop. No more yelling, no more tal- king, nothing. You back down, you back away. No further discussion, disagreement or argument around that topic will occur until everyone has had a chance to cool off. I was impressed that the youth wanted to have guidelines like this to ensure the safe space. In the end, however, all of our conversations were free of conflict, very open and transparent, and incredibly respectful. Looking at young civic engagement, what would you say appeared to be major differences with regards to the work of young civic leaders in Germany and the US? To be honest, rather than see major differences regar - ding youth civic engagement, I think the exchange in fact highlighted how similar youth commitment to ad- dressing issues in their communities is on both sides of the Atlantic. In all ten cities, youth are passionate about change, informing themselves about issues and pressing decision-makers in their schools and in their local go- vernments to implement new policies. Perhaps one diffe - rence between Germany and the U.S. is that many of the American youth organizations are independent, nonpro- fit organizations, whereas the German organizations are formally affiliated with, and funded by, local government agencies. In some cases, the formal affiliation means that the youth have a stronger voice in policymaking. During the exchange, youth expressed a clear desire for their views to be heard, so participants liked the concept of official “youth councils” or “Jugendräte" that allow youth greater input into the decision-making for their commu- nities. The Sister Cities Youth Forum took place online. What opportunities lie in going virtual for exchanges like these? Prior to this project, none of the youth organizations in the sister cities had had any contact with each other. The virtual exchange was a great way to begin conversations between the youth in both countries, to form relation- ships, and to start building mutual understanding on is- sues they face in their communities. Ideally, we hope that
Young people face different challenges in their life depending on where they live and grow up. Yet, racial inequality, climate change and diversity seemed to be key issues keeping young people on both sides of the Atlantic on their toes. Why is it so valuable for young people to take a peek at civic life and engagement outside their own country? Each individual community may have its own unique set of challenges, but issues like climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion are much bigger in scope. Learning how different communities and countries are attempting to tackle these issues (or not), understanding what the main challenges are, and recognizing the similarities in our societies allows youth to learn from, and support, one another. It also increases a mutual understanding that working on these issues is not just an American or German challenge, but something that is a responsibility for all of us regardless of where we live. Terms such as racism, diversity and inclusion are often looked at and used differently in German and American contexts and discussing them can be chal- lenging. Did this show in the youth forum and how did participants manage to create a safe space for open discussions around these topics? Since words are used differently, we shared a glossary of terms related to diversity, equity, and inclusion that inclu- ded words used in both the American and German con- texts which helped participants communicate with one another with a greater understanding of their meaning. During our conversations, we wanted everyone to feel that they had a safe space to talk about these topics and to share information openly because we recognized that some of the topics are very sensitive and may be difficult for some to talk about. And given the community in this project represented youth from different backgrounds and walks of life, it was critical that everyone respect each other’s opinions and perspectives. Therefore, the youth advisory council for the project early on created a docu-
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