Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 1/29 - The Civic Journey: introducing the idea

The Civic Journey: introducing the idea

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 2/29 - Introducing the Civic Journey project

Introducing the Civic Journey project

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 3/29 - Contents

Contents

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 4/29 - The Civic Journey programme focuses atte…

The Civic Journey programme focuses attention on supporting, inspiring and empowering young people and local communities. It nurtures a fresh and ambitious approach to gaining skills, accessing opportunities, and promoting community engagement. It seeks to ensure that national policy frameworks and public spending are not only better integrated and better spent but also aligned with the stated needs of young people and local communities. The core aim of the Civic Journey is very simple: to create a sense of shared understanding, collective belief, and equality of opportunity within society. It is therefore concerned with nurturing the ties that bind individuals and communities together as a counterweight to evidence of increasing social fragmentation, distrust, and isolation.

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 5/29 - Executive summary: the Civic Journey

Executive summary: the Civic Journey

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 6/29 - The Civic Journey is a very simple idea.…

The Civic Journey is a very simple idea. It reflects the ways in which individuals develop, mature and change as they move through life, but it does so with a focus on the persons position, role and relationship(s) with their wider community. It also includes a focus on the role of the public sphere, in general, and the state, in particular, in terms of nurturing and supporting young people to negotiate the challenges of everyday life (see Table 1, below). But it is also about far more than hard structures, public policies, and social interventions. To think and reflect in terms of the Civic Journey is to focus on the fabric of society and the ties that bind individuals and their families into broader communities. As an increasing body of data and evidence points to the existence of increasing social fragmentation, political disengagement and economic inequality, thinking about (reimagining) the Civic Journey in order to nurture a healthy, flourishing and integrated society becomes more important. To focus on the Civic Journey is therefore to explore how people learn about the world around them, how they develop the skills

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 7/29 - The aim of this paper is to begin a conv…

The aim of this paper is to begin a conversation about what the Civic Journey is and why it matters. In order to achieve this objective, the paper is divided into four question-focused sections. The first section focuses on context and asks why the time is ripe for fresh thinking around the citizenship challenge. The second section explores more practical matters, asking `what is the Civic Journey?. This is answered through a brief review of the findings of the 2018 House of Lords Select Committee on Citizenship and Civic Participation � `The Ties that Bind.� This is the report that coined the term `the Civic Journey and that attempted to argue in favour of a far more ambitious, integrated and future-focused approach to nurturing civic engagement in all its forms. Having outlined the broad concept, the third section focuses on detail and asks, `what are the component parts of the Civic Journey?. This question is addressed through a focus on five main `pillars. The great value of this more detailed approach is that it begins to reveal how a community-led design perspective combined with longer-term strategic thinking could help address a range of pressing societal challenges. The fourth and final section steps back from the detail to engage with a more fundamental question: `so what?, asking, why does thinking about the Civic Journey matter?

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 8/29 - 1. Context: Why should we be thinking ab…

1. Context: Why should we be thinking about the Civic Journey now?

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 9/29 - The Civic Journey is a multi-levelled co…

The Civic Journey is a multi-levelled concept in the sense that it can be applied to individuals, communities, and countries. As a result, decisions taken at the national or community level can be expected to `trickle down to affect individual attitudes and opportunities. With this in mind, it is possible to suggest that, throughout the second half of the 20th century, the UK has been somewhat divided or uncertain about its own journey; especially how it wanted to relate to its `old relationships (ie to notions of empire), to its `internal relationships (ie with its constituent nations), to its `special relationship (ie with the United States) or to its `difficult relationship (ie with the European Union). It was this uncertainty as to global direction and international status that made the UK such `an awkward partner within the EU, and which subsequently manifested itself in

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 10/29 - If Brexit represented a very particular …

If Brexit represented a very particular historical `hinge point then the outbreak of a global pandemic has also served to focus attention on community engagement, social inequality and why public trust in political processes matters. In this context three issues deserve brief comment.

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 11/29 - The Civic Journey is concerned with iden…

The Civic Journey is concerned with identifying what brings people, communities and society together and exploring how we might encourage more kindness and connectedness, a stronger sense of belonging. The final report of the Talk Together project (March 2021), which involved over 160,000 people over a nine-month period, suggests that British society is at a crossroads.7 An upsurge in community spirit exists alongside more and more evidence of social divisions, political polarisation and increasing inequalities. But a strong appetite for change also exist. Whats lacking is any clear idea about how to deliver positive social change across such a complex and multi-dimensional topic.

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 12/29 - 2. Concept: What is the Civic Journey?

2. Concept: What is the Civic Journey?

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 13/29 - In many ways, the great value of the Sel…

In many ways, the great value of the Select Committee on Citizenship and Civic Engagement was not so much that it identified a lack of `joined up thinking but that it focused attention on the stages or `building blocks that could be used to think about what an integrated Civic Journey might look like. The stages were elements like citizenship education in secondary schools or the National Citizen Service for older teenagers, the building blocks focused attention on dimensions such as the importance of being able to speak English and the need to facilitate and encourage volunteering. The report also focused attention on three crucial elements which in themselves served to tighten and integrate the stages and building blocks. First and foremost, the committee focused not just on the existence of stages or building blocks but on the transition points between these opportunities and investments. What it found was very little focus on building or maintaining civic momentum (see Box 1, above) so that participants were encouraged to develop and deepen their skills beyond the completion of any specific initiative in ways that would have benefits for both those individuals and their wider community. A focus on

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 14/29 - If a focus on building `civic momentum a…

If a focus on building `civic momentum and an emphasis on the importance of specific `transition points were two key insights from the 2018 Select Committee on Citizenship and Civic Engagement then a third insight revolved around the notion of `democratic listening. This simply underlined the need to listen to and work with local communities and young people to understand how they view the world around them and what they might like to see put in place in terms of new interventions, opportunities and investments. `Communication between citizens and government at all levels is often poor the committee noted `and was a subject frequently raised not just in formal evidence but by those we spoke to on our visits. When seeking peoples views, communication tends to be with the `gatekeepers--those who

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 15/29 - This focus on `people-powered policymaki…

This focus on `people-powered policymaking brings us to a fourth key insight emanating from the 2018 committee report: money. Thinking about the Civic Journey in terms of an integrated and seamless tapestry of policy interventions or community opportunities provides a way of unlocking different forms of capital for the good of society. Whether these are described in terms of `civic capital, `cultural capital or `social capital is secondary to the fact that fostering inclusive societies in which different communities exist within a common framework, and where mutual understanding and respect is nurtured through education and active engagement, provides a way of `upstreaming policy interventions in a highly cost-effective manner. Whether it is preventing vulnerable young people from succumbing to the

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 16/29 - The Civic Journey is a simple way of thi…

The Civic Journey is a simple way of thinking about how to build a `framework for benefiting from and contributing to society in a way that is designed to respond to the citizenship challenge (ie rising levels of social fragmentation, political polarisation and democratic disengagement). To think about the Civic Journey is not to think about somehow squeezing everyone into the same `one-size-fits-all box, but how existing or new projects, investments and initiatives might be better connected so the total value to society is more than just a sum of their parts.

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 17/29 - Box 4. Incentive-based volunteering: Roc…

Box 4. Incentive-based volunteering: RockCorps

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 18/29 - Initiatives like the Big Local, RockCorp…

Initiatives like the Big Local, RockCorps and the new UK Year of Service � to select just a few examples � provide wonderful opportunities for young people to engage within and play a role in their wider community. They also help foster basic character-related skills (confidence, awareness, empathy, understanding, etc.) alongside employment skills (workplace experience, professional networks, etc.). But thinking about these opportunities through the lens of the Civic Journey also highlights three important weaknesses. Firstly, the broader civic landscape is highly fragmented with little in the way of connective tissue serving to connect across between the various opportunities or initiatives. Secondly, the initiatives and opportunities that have traditionally existed have tended to run in parallel with the educational journey from school to college to university. This immediately risks excluding those young people who, for one reason or another, have not followed this standardised educational journey. In November 2021, for example, the House of Lords Youth Unemployment Committee found that around 800,000 young people (12.6% of 16- to 24-year-olds) are neither working nor in full-time study. Youth unemployment levels can vary between different places and groups. Young black people faced unemployment rates of 41.6% during the winter of 2020 (up from 24.5% pre-pandemic) compared to 12.4% among young white people (up from 10.1%). Inequalities such as these raise questions, however, not just about youth unemployment and the skills agenda but about new engagement opportunities and instilling young people with a sense of belonging and belief.

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 19/29 - 3. Detail: What are the component parts …

3. Detail: What are the component parts of the Civic Journey?

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 20/29 - Box 6. The Civic Journey is...

Box 6. The Civic Journey is...

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 21/29 - Focus

Focus

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 22/29 - The great benefit of thinking about the …

The great benefit of thinking about the Civic Journey is that it recognises the existence of forms of formal, informal and non-formal forms of civic participation, just as it acknowledges different `sites of socialisation, such as the home, the classroom, the youth club or online gaming group. It therefore embraces but goes far beyond traditional conceptions of the civic infrastructure. It may well be that Table 2 provides a poor starting point for discussion; highlighting, as it does, a range of approaches, processes and mechanisms that many young people might reject as little more than outdated or even archaic forms of redundant civic or political architecture. A variety of youth engagement activities will explore whether those five pillars in Table 1 reflect how young people see the world around them, and what might need to change.

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 23/29 - 4. Purpose: Why the Civic Journey matter…

4. Purpose: Why the Civic Journey matters

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 24/29 - But notwithstanding the reasons in Box 7…

But notwithstanding the reasons in Box 7 (above), arguably the most significant element of the idea of the Civic Journey is that it facilitates comparison. Comparison, that is, between the scale, extent and ambition of the existing civic infrastructure, on the one hand, compared with what young people or local communities feel is needed to allow them to feel part of a healthy and flourishing community, on the other hand. Put slightly differently, the idea of the Civic Journey promotes an explicit design perspective and a way of thinking about `what is and `what might be (this approach is often called `As-Is, To-Be Gap Analysis).

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 25/29 - Appendix 1: case studies

Appendix 1: case studies

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 26/29 - #2 The Civic Journey of Anna from Cornwa…

#2 The Civic Journey of Anna from Cornwall

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 27/29 - #3 The Civic Journey of Priya from the W…

#3 The Civic Journey of Priya from the West Midlands

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 28/29 - Bibliography

Bibliography

Introducing_the_Civic_Journey.pdf - page 29/29 - Cover image: � william87 / Adobe Stock

Cover image: � william87 / Adobe Stock