From Participation to Expertise: CIRCLE's Call for Youth Voices (Submit by Aug. 8th!)

CIRCLE (the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement), a research center at Tufts University's Tisch College, is inviting young people ages 16 to 26 to submit proposals for its Youth Expertise Series, a call for blog posts and essays written by youth about strengthening civic and political engagement in their own communities. The initiative reflects CIRCLE's stated commitment to treating young people as experts rather than subjects of study, centering their firsthand observations on what helps or hinders youth participation over external program evaluations. Selected proposals will be developed into full posts with staff support and a stipend, offering young contributors a real platform and compensation for their insight. Proposals are due by August 10, 2026, with guest posts publishing in fall 2026. The initiative models exactly the kind of youth-led civic participation NCDD's network works to expand, treating young people's expertise as central to strengthening democracy rather than peripheral to it.

---

---

CIRCLE, the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University's Tisch College, is seeking proposals from young people ages 16 to 26 for its Youth Expertise Series, a set of blog posts and essays exploring how communities can increase, diversify, and sustain youth civic and political engagement. The call is explicit about what it is not looking for: polished program profiles or model showcases. Instead, CIRCLE wants personal reflection and observation, accounts of what has and hasn't worked, grounded in young people's direct experience in their own communities. Proposals can take the form of text, slides, or short videos, and may address topics ranging from barriers to youth participation to partnerships between young leaders and institutions like election offices or newsrooms.

The initiative is rooted in a specific stance CIRCLE takes toward youth civic engagement work: that adultism and rigid project timelines often crowd out authentic youth input, and that young people frequently hold more relevant expertise on issues affecting their communities than older adults do. Selected contributors will receive editing support through staff feedback, Zoom sessions, and collaborative document editing, along with a stipend for their finished work. CIRCLE is also weighing proposals for representation across different regions and communities, and for their potential to influence future policy and practice, positioning this less as a one-off content call and more as an effort to build a durable pipeline of youth perspectives into the civic engagement field.
​
For NCDD's network, this initiative offers both a model worth watching and a direct opportunity to share with young people in members' own communities. It demonstrates one concrete way organizations can move from talking about youth engagement to structurally making room for it, treating young contributors as compensated experts rather than token additions. Proposals are due by midnight Pacific time on August 10, 2026. Those interested in submitting, or in sharing the opportunity with young people in their networks, can find full details and the submission form at https://circle.tufts.edu/youth-expertise-series-2026.