Sophia Lin, a 15-year-old BASIS Scottsdale High School sophomore, is among 33 Gen Z students from five states awarded the competitive Civic Spring Fellowship to support their creative projects addressing important community needs.

Recipients each received a grant of $1,800, personalized coaching and learning opportunities to strengthen their projects and build civic skills, according to a press release.

Lin is interested in bettering her community through volunteering, activism and the arts. Her project, Arizona S.M.A.R.T. (Success Magnified by Assessing, Reaching, Teaching), aims to address the need to bridge education gaps in Arizona among economically, socially, racially and physically diverse groups.

Lin plans to design free and high-quality programs, like FAFSA training and information campaigns, so that students can be informed on their post-high school options. This work builds on the nonprofit organization iReach, which she co-founded.

While many young people believe they have the power to change the country, many lack the resources and experience to help them affect real change.

The Civic Spring Fellowship addresses this gap by supporting young people and youth-centered organizations to make issue-specific change in their local communities. In addition to catalyzing local action in communities, the Civic Spring Fellowship aims to demonstrate the lasting value and potential of civic learning and action by young people.

Civic Spring Fellows will work with coaches during their 10-week fellowship. Coaches are adult mentors who help fellows sharpen their projects through weekly sessions. Many of the coaches come from the larger Institute for Citizens & Scholars network, including some former Civic Spring Fellows.

Other new fellows and their projects include:

• Girl Talk, Female Wellness: Phoenix high school senior Liliana Vidales will provide hygiene and sanitary products to girls and women in low-income neighborhoods.
• Mental Health Awareness: In Tucson, Farah Mohamed, Myleigh Truitt and Samuel Turner will provide a safe space for out-of-school youth to discuss their mental health challenges and connect with adults for guidance and support.
• Government of Youth – High school students Naimisha Chakravadhanula and Sruti Peddi will address a lack of civics education by hosting speakers and interviews with local leaders at high schools in Scottsdale, as well a trip to city hall or the state capitol for Opportunity Youth.
• History Books on Broadway: Chicago, Ill. high school senior Sophia Awuzie will make history engaging and relevant to a younger audience by writing, producing and performing a Broadway-style show about historical topics.
• Legal Studies Institute: Boston University freshman Jerry Chen from Brooklyn, New York will increase youth understanding of their legal rights, empowering them to become more actively engaged citizens.
• Connecting the Dots – Yale University junior Viktor Kagan will advocate for increased investment in public transportation and more effective city planning to benefit low-income residents of his hometown, Philadelphia, Penn.

The 33 young people in this class of Civic Spring Fellows are diverse in numerous ways. More than 65% of the class identify as people of color, and nearly two-thirds are women. They range in age from 15 to 24 years old and come from urban, rural and suburban areas across Arizona, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas.

“Today’s young people are not only eager to engage civically, they’re also particularly well suited to drive significant change,” said The Institute for Citizens & Scholars President Rajiv Vinnakota. “They’re diverse and digitally savvy, and they embody a spirit of self-empowerment and optimism that big change is possible. Civic Spring Fellows are already engaging with the urgent issues affecting us all. This opportunity will provide the additional support they need to accelerate change in their own backyard while also preparing them to be lifelong civic leaders.”

The new fellows join a growing network of youth leaders driving significant change in their communities. 2022 fellow Farhan Babur spent last summer hosting voter education events in his Scottsdale community ahead of the midterm elections. Also in the 2022 class were a group of Philadelphia high school students who organized a rally on gun violence at the state capitol through Community Rising. In 2020, fellows in Minnesota successfully fought to extend unemployment benefits to high schoolers put out of work during the pandemic.

The fellowship, launched in collaboration with PayPal, is run by The Institute for Citizens & Scholars.

PayPal first sponsored the Civic Spring Fellowship in 2022 and mentored fellows based in Maricopa County. PayPal’s sponsorship in 2023 will support fellows from the state of Arizona as well as New York City, Chicago, Austin and Philadelphia.

“PayPal is committed to supporting the communities where our employees live and work,” said Art Taylor, vice president, Global Head of Compliance Investigations and PayPal Arizona site leader. “The Civic Spring Fellowship provides young leaders with the resources and skills to make positive change in their communities. We are proud to continue our work with the Institute for Citizens & Scholars and welcome more young people into the program.”

The Civic Spring Fellowship was originally developed in 2020 by 40 subject-matter experts with insight and recommendations from young people. An independent evaluation of the 2020 Civic Spring Fellowship conducted by Tufts University’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement confirmed the individual and community impact of the program.

Key findings included that the fellowship helped youth:

• Find or strengthen their own voice, including their social-emotional learning capacities, abilities to navigate both civic institutions and their mental health and strategies for working with stakeholders across lines of difference.
• Make their city or town a better place, including advocating for policy change to city leaders, securing seats for youth on local government committees, holding voter registration events and engaging local news media.
• Gain knowledge and skills typically part of a civics class.