THE CO-CREATION GENERATION - The Story of the Kentucky Student Voice Team & Guide to Intergenerational Impact

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Damian

The report examines how the Institute for Citizens & Scholars (C&S) and the Kentucky Student Voice Team (KSVT) redesigned youth civic preparation by engaging young people at the intersection of community and civic life. It details the Civic Spring Project (June–October 2020), identifies a resource gap for youth-led intergenerational initiatives, and presents a co-designed toolkit, organizational narrative, and research framework. The guidance supports OST programs building projects youth create, for youth, by youth, and strengthens measurement and practice for civic learning.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages65

Reading Time2 h 44 min

AccessFree to download

Executive summary

How to use this document

Civic Spring Project

Toolkit & resource guide

The story of the Kentucky Student Voice Team

Introduction

Background & timeline

The role of co-design & co-leadership

KSVT pro-tips & impact-ready recommendations

Further reading

The Civic Spring Project

Youth-created or Co-designed Civic Initiatives

The collective value of Out-of-school time

Future research

Acknowledgements

Appendix

THE CO-CREATION GENERATION: The Story of the Kentucky Student Voice Team & Guide to Intergenerational Impact KSVT REPORT | 1 a partnership between The Institute for Citizens & Scholars (formerly the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation) is a 75-year-old organization that has played a significant role in shaping American higher education. Now, with an expanded mission, Citizens & Scholars prepares leaders and engages networks of people and organizations to meet urgent education challenges. The overarching goal is to shape an informed, productively engaged, and hopeful citizenry. CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY, TOOLKIT & RESOURCE GUIDE I. Executive summary II. How to use this document III. Civic Spring Project IV. Toolkit & resource guide • KSVT’s 10 Principles for Intergenerational Success • KSVT Intergenerational Assessment: Where are you now & Where do you want to go? • KSVT Key Terms for Intergenerational Learning and Field-Building THE STORY OF THE KENTUCKY STUDENT VOICE TEAM I. Introduction II. Background & timeline III. The role of co-design & co-leadership IV. KSVT pro-tips & impact-ready recommendations FURTHER READING: BACKGROUND ON C&S AND OST I. The Civic Spring Project II. Youth-created or Co-designed Civic Initiatives: Challenges and Opportunities III. The collective value of Out-of-school time FUTURE RESEARCH ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS APPENDIX For more information and resources, visit our website. KSVT REPORT | 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY, TOOLKIT, & RESOURCE GUIDE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Institute for Citizens & Scholars (C&S) is fundamentally rethinking how young people prepare to be productive lifelong citizens. A critical element of this work is engaging youth atthe intersection of community and civic life. C&S’work has proven that significant civic learning takes place in after-school programs, on the sports field, at summer camp, in community service groups, and—of course—at home. There is a unique opportunity to leverage the outof-school space to help young people cultivate civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions, and interact with people from diverse backgrounds and beliefs. Between June – October 2020, C&S partnered with, supported, and engaged young people across the country on issues that impacted their lives and their communities, including education policy, public health, social reforms, and the environment. C&S awarded grants to six youth-led and youth-centered organizations through an initiative named the Civic Spring Project. A key finding of the project was the lack of resources for those interested in building and sustaining meaningful youth-led and intergenerational initiatives. To address that knowledge gap, C&S asked the youth grantees from the Kentucky Student Voice Team (KSVT) to produce a lesson-and resource-rich study that can be used by youth and adults in the out-ofschool-time (OST) field. The goal of this co-designed report is to provide a toolkit, organizational history and narrative, and a research framework that: • Helps OST programs build capacity and support for creating projects of youth, for youth, by youth. • Begins to develop common standards of practice and measurement tools for civic learning, particularly for OST programs and youth organizing • Inspires practitioners, youth leaders and any others interested in using these tools and standards in their own work to establish an analytic program model 1 for youth-led, youth-created, and intergenerational initiatives C&S believes that if organizations learn from and engage with the narrative, lessons, and recommendations outlined in this case study, adult providers will benefit from more active youth engagement and retention in their programs. In fact, the proof is in this product—while working on the study C&S and the Kentucky Student Voice Team modeled their partnership on the approaches and principles outlined below and found that the process greatly benefite

FAQs

What problem does the report aim to address?

It addresses the lack of resources for building and sustaining meaningful youth-led and intergenerational initiatives, especially for out-of-school-time (OST) contexts.

What was the Civic Spring Project timeframe and purpose?

Between June and October 2020, C&S partnered with, supported, and engaged young people nationwide on issues affecting their lives and communities, using the project to generate lessons and resources for future OST practice.

Who is the document intended to be used by?

Adults can use it to build or strengthen intergenerational organizational models and youth-led programming, while youth can use it to develop initiatives and engage adults in civic spaces.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Damian