It’s become a huge family and we’ve been super collaborative in terms of being able to fundraise and just create this whole project from the ground up. We started with a mind mapping experience and that came all the way from a community garden to a green space and seeing it develop from last year has been an amazing experience.
The Democracy Project
- Seeley Lake Public Library
- Drummond School and Community Library
- Gallatin High School Library
- Lewis and Clark Library
- Lewis and Clark Library, East Helena Branch
- Aaniiih Nakoda College Library
- Columbia Falls High School Library
- George McCone Memorial County Library
- Whitehall Community Library
- Missoula Public Library
- Billings Public Library
- Lewistown Public Library
- James E. Shanley Tribal Library – Fort Peck Community College
- Billings Public Library
- Missoula Public Library
- Whitehall Community Library
Funded by the Charles Engelhard Foundation
Teen-led Civic Participation
What is the Democracy Project?
The Democracy Project is a teen-led, non-partisan initiative supported by local libraries, community partners, and Humanities Montana. This program gives teens the resources to meet community needs while learning their role in an evolving democracy. Through direct civic engagement, teens work for six months on projects they feel are vital to their community, ending with a public showcase.
Teens build skills like:
2024 Projects
What Teens are saying:
I think our project will help the community by having a sanctuary that’s safe for people to go when they don’t feel like they have one. It’ll be a fun space to hang out with your friends and it’ll make our community look nicer.
We were able to introduce a bill to the legislature and create a website about mental health and spread this information, and skill sets, and vocabulary surrounding mental health for the teens in our state and that is a very pressing, pertinent, and important issue for us all.
I got involved in Democracy Project is because I wanted to make a difference in my community and that led me to actually being interested in what’s happening at the state level in the state legislature. That’s the reason why I launched a campaign to become a representative.
The Democracy Project kind of just opened our eyes that we could make a change if we wanted to, instead of just waiting around for the next person to do it. We just take the initiative to do it ourselves.
Year Three Program Locations:
Open to people 13-19 years old
Free to participate
Librarians interested in the next round of the Democracy Project are welcome to fill out a Survey of Interest.