The City of Douglasville is taking a creative leap to keep educating its youngest citizens about the ins and outs of local government, despite the pandemic's curveballs. "Douglasville Jr." has returned, launching its third season to turn the cogs of government into child-friendly content, using a dynamic duo composed of "Ms. Emily" and her puppet sidekick "Freddy."

The short video series, designed to quickly hook elementary school kids and to really inform them about their local government, is a partnership between the city and The Douglas County School System. This collaboration ensures the content is not just entertaining but also slots neatly into the curriculum. As a result, these videos are finding their way into classrooms and becoming a staple in the education of city governance for kids.

Forced to adapt rapidly in the face of COVID-19, which put a hard stop to second graders' annual City Hall field trips, Douglasville has looked to these videos to fill the gap. "Every year the city typically hosts second graders from all over the community who come to City Hall on a field trip as part of their local government studies," said Jason Post, Douglasville's Community Relations Director, in a statement obtained by the City of Douglasville "With COVID-19 those field trips have been canceled for the past couple of years. We wanted to find a way to still be able to connect with those second graders and help them to relate what they are studying in class about city government to what we actually do here in Douglasville," he continued.

But the initiative goes beyond the second graders. By incorporating the upper elementary grades, 3rd to 5th graders are given a chance to to actively engage by playing junior journalists. They're out in the field, nabbing interviews with city department representatives, contributing to the series' authenticity—and teaching them a bit about reporting to boot. All released videos are available on the city's YouTube channel at MyCITITV.com, welcoming students and the curious public alike into the city's transparent arms.