Philly civic project emphasizes the importance of the dinner table

Students visiting the U.S. from Latvia joined Philadelphia students from Constitution High School and People for People Charter for a lunchtime civic engagement project. 

The visiting students prepared a healthy lunch in the Charter’s cafeteria with help from the Vetri Foundation for Children program, Eatiquette, which has been making lunch for People for People charter since November of last year. 

Students shared a table and were encouraged to interact as part of The National Constitution Center’s “At the Table: Connecting Culture Conversation and Service in Latvia and the U.S.,” a project inspired by a recent Pennsylvania Civic Health Index survey.

The survey found those who spend meal times with their families are more likely to participate in civic actions, such as volunteering and voting.

Both Eatiquette and At the Table encourage family and group dining as a means to spur civic discussion and action. 

“When we sit around the table, we talk about the things that are important to us,” said Sayeh Hormozi, the Senior Manager of Civic and International Engagement at the National Constitution Center. 

“We ask our parents, ‘who’s Trayvon Martin? I’ve really been hearing a lot about him and who is that, what’s going on with that?’ Our hope is that students find out the answers to their questions and then are inspired to go out and do something about it.”