Today, record numbers of everyday adults—whose engagement is widely understood as definitional to democracy—want to address society’s inequities. Yet, to many, the problems feel too big, too dire: 50% say they don’t know enough about the issues, while 40% believe they can’t have an impact. Those numbers line up with our culture’s limited conception of civics (e.g., voting, volunteering, protesting), in which the power to make systemic change is believed to rest with our elected leaders.

Few of us have been taught how to critically evaluate our systems–the who, the why, the how–and to connect those answers to our own civic agency. Who is being affected? Why are our systems designed the way they are? How does change happen? What can I do? Instead, people vote, change doesn’t happen, and trust and engagement in democracy declines.

Structurally, there are virtually no spaces or supports for people to come together in community to ask and answer these essential “who, why, how” questions. Decades of poor K-12 civic education, especially in black and brown communities, have undermined the civic agency of generations of adults. In addition, civic engagement is often uncompensated, making it especially difficult for low-income communities to participate. Those in our most marginalized communities, such as the unhoused, often have to prioritize day-to-day survival over long-term advocacy. Decisionmakers rarely engage and elevate those most proximate to the issues–experts with lived experience, who hold the collective potential civic energy to galvanize systems change–allowing oppressive practices to remain entrenched at every level of our society.

Without shifting the mindsets, relationships, and structures that underpin how everyday adults engage civically, our democracy will continue to crumble under the weight of increasing fatalism.