CIVICS
Application Information:
To learn more about CIVICS, email civics@pbha.org
Staff Contact Information:
Bryan Zuluaga
bryan@pbha.org
Student Director Contact Information:
civics@pbha.org
Harvard CIVICS is a joint PBHA-Institute of Politics program spread across more than 25 classrooms in the Cambridge and Boston Public School systems, in which members use a student-generated curriculum to engage students in topics of democratic governance, politics, current events, and civic engagement. As college students and fifth graders alike deal with the challenges of learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, CIVICS will be supporting classroom teachers by sharing resources, creating new content tailored to evolving learning needs, and offering online teaching options by request.
Harvard CIVICS is a joint program of PBHA and the Institute of Politics. The program places motivated undergraduates in classrooms throughout the Boston area, teaching civics and government classes to inspire students to take an active role in their communities and grow into participants in our democracy.The CIVICS curriculum focuses on the function of government, the meaning of active citizenship, and avenues of community engagement. In the fall, the program teaches the structure of government, the three branches of government, elections, media, and current events. In the spring, the program discusses rights, responsibilities, community engagement, civil rights, and leadership. CIVICS is driven to provide civics classes to a range of communities and socioeconomic backgrounds. The program has worked to provide a culturally relevant and empowering curriculum, in order to provide challenging and thoughtful lessons for all students while addressing the civic education gap.