County Clerk's ""Youth & Government"" Civic Engagement Program

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2020

he Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, County Clerk’s Youth & Government award-winning youth civic engagement program was created with local partners in 2017 with the goals of: educating high school students about county government; promoting students’ awareness of public service careers; growing the size and diversity of the county’s pool of qualified job applicants, and; filling a void in students’ knowledge of government after local schools stopped teaching civics. Other partners include Junior Achievement, Oklahoma City Public Schools and Oklahoma City Museum of Art. A classroom of primarily inner city high school students is periodically transported by school bus to the county courthouse. Various county officials present personal stories of growing up and discovering public service, explain their offices’ missions, and field questions. Students are each photographed receiving a personalized certificate from the County Clerk, tour the courthouse and nearby Museum of Art’s back operations, eat sack lunches and return to school. More schools have joined each year, including most recently a suburban school. In total, nearly 500 students have participated from each of the nine different public high schools and one suburban high school during the ten different events held to date. The program has received wide acclaim and earned local awards in each of the past two years. Of perhaps greatest import, at the urging of a program partner impressed with the program, civics courses have now been restored in local public high schools. This demonstrates the power of an idea when an elected official exhibits creativity and leadership to collaboratively address a community problem. The program’s potential reach is unlimited as it can be readily replicated elsewhere.