Our Mission

The Civic Shift is about helping young people across Arizona connect with real civic learning and leadership opportunities. It brings together the incredible work already happening and helps students understand how these experiences build toward their growth as leaders, citizens, and changemakers.

Our Story

The Civic Shift is a statewide initiative helping students discover how civic experiences—like service, leadership programs, and community involvement—fit into a bigger journey of personal growth and civic identity.

While many strong programs already exist, fewer than 1 in 3 young people participate in leadership development by age 25, and only 23% of youth 16–24 engage in formal volunteering each year. The Civic Shift bridges those gaps by creating a connected ecosystem where students can explore, track, and personalize their civic learning.

Using a digital platform and a shared civic competency framework, we help young people collect experiences that shape who they are—building toward a “goal citizen” ready to lead in their community. Think of it like an estuary, where diverse streams of learning come together before students flow into the ocean of adulthood prepared to make a lasting impact.

At its core, this work is about designing, aligning, and improving collective actions to ensure youth gain the knowledge, ability, agency, and lifelong commitment to contribute to their communities and state. The long-term vision: Arizonans of all ages actively engaged in civic life, starting early and continuing throughout their lives.