Generation Citizen is a left-of-center advocacy group that operates campaigns targeted at high school students. The organization is most notable for its support of a national campaign to lower the voting age to 16.

The campaign, which is called Vote16USA, has pushed for both lowering the national voting age and supported efforts in many left-leaning and far-left cities and counties to adopt ordinances allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to vote in certain local elections. The organization also operates a variety of other education campaigns and employs field staffers and volunteer leaders in targeted areas throughout the United States. The group is funded by many of the most notable left-of-center funding organizations in the U.S. including the Ford Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Bezos Family Foundation, and Black Voices for Black Justice. ^{1 2}

Background

Generation Citizen was founded in 2010 and is headquartered at a WeWork coworking space in Manhattan. The group has been consistently supported by left-of-center funders and has provided various left-of-center civics education campaigns targeted towards high schoolers since it was launched. The group also provides training for teachers and deploys “democracy coaches” to conduct its educational programs. ^{3 4}

Policy Stances

Generation Citizen has promoted various specific policies around youth participation in government, public school curriculum, and education funding. ⁵

While the most high-profile and controversial position supported by the organization is lowering the voting age to 16, the organization supports a variety of other pieces of legislation in Congress and in state legislatures. At the federal level, the organization supports increased funding for the Presidential and Congressional Academies for American History and Civics Academies Program, the Corporation for National and Community Service, and other programs authorized by Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). ⁵

Additionally, the organization supports the creation of statewide civics curriculum standards that emphasize “community diversity and historical trends in voter registration and civic participation relative to disenfranchised voter populations.” ⁵

Vote16USA

The most notable program operated by Generation Citizen is the Vote16USA campaign. The group launched the campaign in 2015 with the main goal of advocating for the lowering of the national voting age to 16. The campaign focuses on both promoting a constitutional amendment lowering the voting age for all elections and supporting efforts in left-leaning and far-left localities to lower the voting age for local elections within the municipality. The organization has supported such local efforts in cities such as Oakland and Berkley, California. The policy was first enacted at the local level in the small city of Takoma Park, Maryland, in 2013. ^{6 2 7}

Critics of Generation Citizen’s Vote16USA campaign allege that such efforts are merely an attempt to aid Democratic campaigns, as most young voters have tended to vote for Democratic candidates since the 2000s. ⁸

Funding

Generation Citizen is funded by many of the most notable left-of-center funding organizations in the United States, including the Ford Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Bezos Family Foundation, Black Voices for Black Justice, the Jennifer and Jonathan Allan Soros Foundation, the New York City Council, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the New Pluralist Collective, Five Together Foundation, and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. ¹

1. “2022 Annual Report.” Generation Citizen. Accessed December 11, 2022. https://generationcitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Generation-Citizen-Annual-Report-2022.pdf
2. “Vote16USA.” Generation Citizen. Accessed December 11, 2022. https://generationcitizen.org/policy-and-advocacy/vote16usa/
3. “By the Numbers.” Generation Citizen. Accessed December 11, 2022. https://generationcitizen.org/our-impact/by-the-numbers/
4. “Mission and Vision.” Generation Citizen. Accessed December 11, 2022. https://generationcitizen.org/about-us/mission-vision/
5.  “2018-2019 Generation Citizen Policy and Advocacy Agenda.” Generation Citizen. Accessed December 11, 2022. https://generationcitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/GC_Policy-AdvocacyAgenda_2018-2019.pdf
6. “Young Voices at the Ballot Box: Amplifying Youth Activism to Lower the Voting Age in 2020 and Beyond.” Generation Citizen. February 2020. Accessed December 11, 2022. https://vote16usa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/white-paper-5.14.20.pdf
7. Balingit, Moriah. “These teens won the right to vote. Their county disenfranchised them.” Washington Post. November 30, 2022. Accessed December 11, 2022.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/11/30/oakland-teens-voter-suppression/
8. Marshall, Victoria. “Leftists Aim To Expedite The Public-School-To-Democrat-Voter Pipeline With Votes For 16-Year-Olds.” The Federalist. December 6, 2022. Accessed December 11, 2022. https://thefederalist.com/2022/12/06/leftists-aim-to-expedite-the-public-school-to-democrat-voter-pipeline-with-votes-for-16-year-olds/