We the People: Project Citizen

Project Citizen engages students or members of youth or community organizations in a cooperative learning process through which they identify and seek to solve a problem in their community. Participants:

• Identify and research the problem
• Evaluate alternative solutions
• Develop their own solution in the form of a public policy
• Create a political action plan to enlist local or state authorities to adopt their proposed policy

Participants also create a portfolio of their work and present their project in a public hearing showcase before a panel of civic-minded community members and policy-makers. Participants develop:

• Presentation and literacy skills
• An understanding of what public policy is and how to create it
• The motivation to and the insight of how to solve community problems

For Maine schools, Project Citizen provides a pathway to meet the 2007 Social Studies Maine Learning Results (application of social studies processes, knowledge and skills.) Project Citizen also provides a structure for service-learning projects that focus on public policy solutions.

Below, are visual documents that show the connections between the 2007 Maine Learning Results (MLR) and Project Citizen. By participating in Project Citizen, students can demonstrate all of the standards in the Application Performance Indicators (A1, A2, A3) including, several of the standards in Civics and Government Performance Indicators (B1, B2).
	Level One: Project Citizen and Maine Learning Results
	Level Two: Project Citizen and Maine Learning Results

As the coordinator for Project Citizen in Maine, KIDS Consortium offers professional development trainings throughout the state for educators and organizes an annual Project Citizen Showcase for students at the Maine State House. KIDS Consortium staff are also available to provide on-going support and coaching for participating educators on an individual basis - please contact us!

Project Citizen is a program developed by the Center for Civic Education and funded by the U.S. Department of Education under the Education for Democracy Act approved by the U.S. Congress. The program is co-sponosred by the National Conference of State Legislatures and administered in Maine by KIDS Consortium.