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How to Make Your Idea a Law
- Know your legislators: Find out who represents you.
- Understand the process: Learn how legislation is introduced and passed.
- Speak up: Use email, phone calls, social media, and public testimony to advocate.
- Be clear and specific: Explain your idea, how it helps your community, and what action is needed.
Learn how a bill moves through the State House in the Massachusetts legislative process.
Students Showcase Civics Projects Statewide
Each spring, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) hosts regional Civics Project Showcases where 8th through 12th grade students present their civic action projects to community advisors. In 2025, four regional events in Springfield, Worcester, Dartmouth, and Boston drew students from 117 schools across the state, with projects covering topics from environmental justice to mental health to educational equity.
Students Overturn a Centuries-Old Wrong
Middle school students researched the Salem Witch Trials and successfully advocated for a pardon of Elizabeth Johnson Jr., correcting a centuries-old injustice.
Beacon Hill Advocacy Day
Students from across Massachusetts presented policy ideas on reproductive rights, education access, and mental health at the State House during the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women Advocacy Day. Among them: four Scituate High School sophomores who brought their civics class project on menstrual product access directly to legislators.
Project 351: Youth Leadership in Action
Project 351 is a statewide, youth-led movement that selects one 8th grader from each of Massachusetts’ 351 cities and towns to serve as an Ambassador for a year of service, civic engagement, and leadership development. Since 2011, more than 5,000 Ambassadors have positively impacted over 1.3 million neighbors across the Commonwealth.
Inspired to act? Find a cause, a campaign, or a project that fits you.