Children living in a democratic society deserve rich and powerful citizenship lessons. These lessons are of particular importance for children of low socio-economic and culturally diverse backgrounds whose families may feel disenfranchised from citizenship participation because of their education levels, language capabilities or cultural backgrounds. To develop civic efficacy--the readiness and willingness to assume citizenship responsibilities--young students must learn about and practice the role of citizen in a context that is meaningful and memorable. The authors of this article contend that it is possible to provide powerful citizenship lessons while enhancing the literacy and numeracy skills of young students. One strategy that has demonstrated this is the Storypath strategy, which is grounded in a belief that students learn best when they are active participants in their own learning, and places students' own efforts to understand at the center of the educational enterprise. Essentially, Storypath uses narrative and student role play to engage the human mind and create meaning from experiences. It uses the story structure: a "real life" setting, cast of characters, and plot inclusive of critical incidents which must be dealt with, to organize salient Social Studies content into powerful learning experiences. Guided by the teacher, each student creates a character for the Storypath thereby establishing a personal connection to the plot of the story. Planned "critical incidences" are strategically introduced into the story to challenge students' previous experiences and knowledge, and to engage them in inquiry and problem solving. Incident resolutions enable students to construct new, deeper understandings and to make decisions about their social, cultural and environmental world. (Contains 4 endnotes.)