From Graduation to Civic Activation: Your Guide to Staying Engaged, Class of 2024!
Congratulations Class of 2024!
As you enter this exciting next chapter of your life, you may wonder how to stay civically engaged or understand what it means to be civically involved in your local community. We’ve been thinking about the same thing, so we’ve compiled a list of suggestions to help you find civic connection in your post-grad life!
Alex Edgar, Class of 2024 — Civic Season Design Fellow Alum
- Update your voter registration: Whether you’re moving back home or across the country, register to vote at your new address. It’s an easy way to connect with your community! Need to register for the first time? Check out 18byVote and their quick voter registration process.
- Join your local Juneteenth or Fourth of July celebration: There’s no better way to commemorate or celebrate these national holidays than by joining community events!
- Attend a City Council Meeting: It’s the best way to learn about the pressing issues in your community and better understand the dynamics of your new home.
- Volunteer with a local nonprofit: Whether it’s a park cleanup or serving food at a food bank, community service is a perfect way to make new friends and positively impact your community.
- Join a local Pizza Party this Civic Season at a history museum: Pizza and history? What could be better? Check out the over a dozen pizza parties across the United States here.
Jasmine Lewis, Class of 2024 — Civic Season Design Fellow Alum
- Explore with Are.na: For recent graduates, and anyone who loves deep dives into different subjects and histories, I highly recommend Are.na. It’s a beautiful online space for exploration, kind of like Pinterest for all things media. It was a staple for my college research projects and continues to sustain my quest to learn more about civic histories, identity, and possibilities for the future. Check here for some cool inspo.
- Figure out what you stand for: Around this time of year, I like to revisit “10 Activities To Help You Explore What You Stand For” for inspiration and resources to take action in my local community.
- Utilize resource directories: I’ve found resources like the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Learning for Justice initiative valuable. They offer tools including curriculum lessons, guides, and webinars that address topics like differing abilities/disabilities, immigration, social activist movements, and more. Find more by building your To-Learn List at TheCivicSeason.com/getstarted.
- Explore new feeds: If you love the 60-Second History series from @HistoryMadeByUs on Instagram, you’ll also love this Youtube find: Intelexual Media covers media histories with topics ranging from decade eras to the histories of food.
- Engage with Black Music and Pride Month during Civic Season: With Black Music Month and Pride Month happening during Civic Season I’ve been listening to podcasts like Conscious Lee and Franchesca Ramsey’s Black History, for Real, Brooklyn Public Library’s Borrowed and Banned (sharing literary history), Hanif Abdurraqib’s Object of Sound (sharing music history), and Ericka Hart and Ebony Donnley’s Hoodrat to Headwrap: A Decolonized Podcast (sharing sectors and intersections of Black and Queer histories, and histories of American society)
Learning ways to engage with the community and our histories is a constant aspiration of ours, especially as we transition into the next era of my life as a graduate. For all the new graduates out there: while reflecting on history and imagining our nation’s future during Civic Season this summer, we highly encourage you to take moments to celebrate yourself. Whether it’s a solo dance party to your favorite songs or a much-needed nap for nourishment, be intentional about how you take care of yourself and the people you love. Take time to bask in your achievements because the goal you’ve been working towards these past few years — you did it! For real! Be present while you work to bring new dreams for the future into fruition.
