By Catharina Thuemling

To get a more engaged citizenry, Councilman Ritchie Torres wants people to start early. It’s a reason he’s targeting students to take an interest in their community. 

At the front steps of Theodore Roosevelt Educational Campus in Fordham on Nov. 14, Torres announced new funding for a program that pushes young people to take a more active role in their community.

Standing alongside students, members of Community Board 6, school administrators, and Generation Citizen, a grassroots nonprofit that encourages student civic engagement, Torres explained that “we have a crisis of civic engagement in the Bronx.”

“We no longer teach civics. A lack of teaching around civics is a real void in public education,” said Torres, whose 15th Council District covers Central and East Bronx neighborhoods. “We have the lowest rates of voter participation and it’s no accident that the Bronx has more challenges than the rest of the city.”

Torres, currently the city’s youngest council member, has led a campaign for an increase of civic and political participation from young people.

“I see politics as the vehicle for affecting the change that we want to see in the world,” Torres said.

Torres, 25, speaks from experience even well before his Council days. He became involved in the political process during his high school years before working for Councilman James Vacca of the neighboring 13th Council District. His experience working in housing matters led to a run for City Hall last year.

The power of civics received support from many students, including Kiara, who spoke before classmates.

“We are all standing here today because  we are united in our understanding that young people engage in their communities through the political process can only result in a positive outcome,” said Kiara.

After successfully lobbying for a change in state law that allows residents as young as 16-year olds to be a member of their local Community Board, Torres teamed up with Generation Citizen to increase youth civic engagement and announced the $10,000 earmark for the program.

Generation Citizen, which began in Rhode Island before setting an office in New York City, already has a partnership with nearby Fordham University. The initiative collaborates with several schools throughout the city and serves 2,500 students with civic classes this year.

In the core model, college students, dubbed democracy coaches, partner with teachers to hold lessons in the “action civics program,” learning firsthand the varied political processes by using issues they are concerned about.

“Generation Citizen believes that young people need to be taught the skills and the habits and the tools and knowledge of effective civic participation in order for them to be active and engaged citizens, in order for their communities to benefit from their participation and from participation of constituents broadly,” said Sarah Andes, New York Site Director of Generation Citizen.

For Torres, young people can offer a different perspective to nagging issues.

“There’s so many challenges affecting our city that none of us – especially our youth – can afford to be absent from those conversations,” said Torres.