School may soon be out for summer, but the right to read won’t be going on vacation. As the war for intellectual freedom wages on, the next generation of free speech defenders are invited to arm themselves with the latest resources, at no cost. It’s all part of a joint venture between the National Coalition Against Censorship and the Brooklyn Public Library known as the Teen Advocacy Institute: Power to the Readers.
This online educational program encourages high school and college students across the country to better understand their First Amendment rights, while developing advocacy skills. “The 2025 Teen Advocacy Institute: Power to the Readers teaches teens to defend their right to read by immersing them in a free, expert-led online summer institute that blends civic education with real-world activism,” Christine Emeran, director of NCAC’s Youth Free Expression program, told PW.
Running from July 24 to August 7 (Monday through Thursday, 1 p.m. –4 p.m. ET), each session will feature interactive workshops, presentations, and peer-led discussions. The speakers include Emma Karin Eriksson, manager of Youth Civic Engagement and Expression, Brooklyn Public Library; Betsy Gomez, program officer, American Library Association; Emily Knox, interim dean and professor, School of Information Sciences at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and Emerson Sykes, senior staff attorney, ACLU, Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. Additional speakers will be announced.
“The right to access information from all points of view is a fundamental, democratic principle on which both our nation and public libraries were founded,” Eriksson said in a statement. “The Teen Advocacy Institute is part of NCAC’s broader mission to protect freedom of thought, inquiry, and expression, and it reinforces the library’s role as a bastion of knowledge and open discourse.”
In addition to tackling complex free speech challenges while gaining public speaking and debating skills, participants will earn a certificate of achievement in free speech advocacy. Registration is open until June 16.
