Youth Democracy Summit

Co-hosted by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the American Exchange Project, the Youth Democracy Summit brought together high school students from across the country to talk about the biggest issues facing the United States.

Last month, the Academy released Our Common Purpose, a report examining why so many Americans have lost faith in our democratic system and offering 31 recommendations to help reinvent American democracy for the twenty-first century.

A key part of reinventing our democracy involves engaging young people. We hosted two days of virtual conversations in which high schoolers had the chance to chat with students from different parts of the country, talk about ways to make democracy work better, and hear from policy experts about how to get involved.