Millennial Participation and Civic Engagement in Local Government: How Municipal Governments Can Increase Civic Engagement of Young People

Local government is an area of politics that is often put on the back burner by citizens. As compared to national government, participation at the local level is dismal. Participation in governments includes (but is not limited to) voting, attending public meetings, working with neighbors, and having baseline knowledge of current events in local government. This disinterest is particularly concerning with young voters. This thesis seeks to provide possible remedies for local governments to increase "millennial" participation and knowledge of the local government process. This project serves as a pilot study and draws upon interviews from sixty young people (ages 18-30) regarding their involvement in Arizona local government. These interviews determined their level of interest, knowledge, and participation in their local government. I used my findings to create a prescriptive approach for local government officials to increase the participation of young people in local government.