NYC Council exposure
Briefings inside actual chambers. Sit in on hearings. Meet the staffers who write the bills your block lives under.
All programs
Civic voice pathway
Gen Z is the most opinionated generation.
Well — let's get y'all off Instagram and in the right rooms.
Gen Z talks to lawmakers, signs petitions, posts about policy, and shows up to vote at higher rates than any generation on record. The problem isn't apathy — it's access. TWIN's Voices program puts East Harlem Gen Z in actual rooms with elected officials, courtrooms, and policy briefings. Real seats. Real voices. Real change.
In session
Boys & girls.
In suits.
In real rooms.
NYC Council chambers
Bronx & Manhattan courthouses
Capitol building, Albany
Major NYC law firms
eyes
on
the seat
on
the seat
Pew Research · Tufts CIRCLE · Harvard IOP youth poll
The numbers don't lie.
Across every metric of civic engagement — direct contact with lawmakers, protest attendance, social-media advocacy, voter turnout — Gen Z either matches or beats every generation that came before. They aren't the disengaged generation. They're the loudest.
% who have contacted a lawmaker, signed a petition, or attended a protest in the past year
Civic engagement by generation
Gen Z (1997–2012)0×
Millennials (1981–1996)0×
Gen X (1965–1980)0×
Boomers (1946–1964)0×
Sources: Pew (2023), Harvard IOP Youth Poll (2024), CIRCLE Tufts (2024).
Running in parallel
The Policy & Civic Engagement Initiative.
In parallel with the mentorship and campus tracks, TWIN runs a Policy and Civic Engagement Initiative that introduces youth to systems of government, law, and advocacy. Through engagement with institutions like the New York City Council, and through direct interaction with legal professionals, participants gain exposure to spaces and careers often viewed as distant or inaccessible.
Direct interaction with legal professionals
Attorneys, public defenders, and judges in conversation with cohort members. Case-shadowing. Career honest-talks.
Civic systems literacy
How a bill becomes law. How a court works. How a budget is made. The mechanics they don't teach in school.
The core principle
"Possibility is not determined by background — but by exposure, access, and support."
By bringing youth into these environments, the initiative reinforces the founding TWIN principle: participants are no longer confined to a perceived reality shaped by limited exposure, but instead develop a broader, evidence-based understanding of what is achievable — and see themselves reflected in those possibilities.
What the cohort actually does.
- 01
Meet your reps
Quarterly meetings with NY State Assembly members, City Council reps, and federal staff who actually represent East Harlem.
- 02
Brief, don't beg
You learn to write policy briefs, op-eds, and one-pagers — the formats lawmakers actually read. Published in real outlets.
- 03
Run a campaign
Each cohort picks one local issue and runs a 3-month advocacy campaign with mentor support — youth-led, fully resourced.
- 04
Speak on record
Testimony at City Council hearings, panels, podcasts, news segments. Media training included.
Ready to be in the room?