France
City of Paris
02-07-2025
2 July 2025 – until the end of the school holidays
31-08-2025
Paris is committing to a dynamic of democratic youth participation by developing concrete programs that both give them a voice and the means to act on their daily lives. Through the Youth Pass for 14-25 year olds and the upcoming Teen Pass for 11-12 year olds, decided in July 2025, the French capital offers broader access to culture, sports, and leisure while asserting its ambition to shape an active and civic-minded youth. These initiatives, stemming from direct dialogue between young people and institutions through bodies like the Children’s Citizen Assembly, illustrate a strong ambition: to make youth participation a lever for democratic, social, and cultural transformation.
The main goal of these programs is to promote equitable access to culture, leisure, and citizenship for young Parisians and those from partner territories. By enabling young people to explore their city, visit cultural venues, and experience various sports activities, these programs aim to reduce barriers to access and stimulate curiosity, open-mindedness, and social connection.
Beyond access to activities, the initiative is also educational and democratic: it seeks to recognize young people as legitimate actors in public life, capable of proposing, debating, and co-constructing policies that directly affect them.
The beneficiaries of these initiatives are young people aged 11 to 25 who are connected to the City of Paris — whether they live there, study there, work there, or are engaged in civic life there. The Youth Pass targets teenagers and young adults (14-25 years old), while the Teen Pass, currently being developed, is specifically aimed at young middle schoolers entering 6th grade (around 11-12 years old).
Participant profiles are therefore diverse: middle schoolers, high schoolers, students, young workers, or young people involved in community or civic life. This diversity fosters social and cultural mixing and encourages a cross-cutting approach to engagement, tailored to each age group.
The Teen Pass clearly reflects Paris's intention to instill a culture of participation from an early age. In fact, this new initiative was proposed by the second class of the Children’s Citizen Assembly, a consultative and participatory body composed of middle school students representing various Parisian districts. Renewed annually, this assembly allows children to express their concerns, exchange ideas, and make concrete proposals to the Paris City Council. The Teen Pass, unanimously approved by elected officials on July 2, 2025, is a direct result of this process: an idea proposed by young people, for young people.
The Teen Pass will complement the existing Youth Pass, which already offers 41 cultural, sports, and leisure opportunities for 14-25 year olds, valid throughout the year or during summer. Through partnerships with cultural and sports institutions in the Paris region, these Passes allow free or discounted access to cinemas, exhibitions, concerts, swimming pools, and even historical monuments. The future Teen Pass will adopt this same logic but adapt it to the interests and schedules of younger users: activities on weekends and during holidays, with events deemed “cool” by the children themselves (bowling, cinema, concerts, etc.).
This type of initiative has multiple impacts:
Access to culture and leisure here becomes both a tool for empowerment and a vehicle for citizenship. By fully integrating young people into the definition of public policies that concern them, Paris is building a more vibrant, more inclusive democracy — and above all, one that looks to the future.
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