This article describes a model of civic engagement based on four key community organizing practices, created at Occidental College and implemented since 2001. The foundations of this model do not include confrontation, mass mobilization, or demonstrations--tactics commonly associated with the term community organizing. This model, instead,…

In this paper, the author provides a buffet of ideas to make a coherent case for a democracy in which citizens can be truly sovereign by becoming the agents of their own destiny. He traces the history of various trends which threaten the development of civic agency: technocracy, specialism, and a consumer-view of the citizen, among others. He also…

Explores why service-learning students have only rarely been engaged directly as neighborhood organizers, then employs John Dewey's understanding of democracy to analyze one program which has succeeded in making widespread use of college students as front-line organizers. Describes how the complementarity between what students do at their…

The Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development is a Washington, D.C.-based organization engaged in programming, research, and policy development related to youth civic engagement. Its mission is to unleash the potential of youth, adults, organizations, and communities to engage together in creating a just and equitable society. Strong…

The author argues that direct citizen participation cannot influence educational policy or restore the power of lay boards in public education. Asserting that more can be accomplished by a technically trained organization working within the bureaucracy, he cites the accomplishments of the Education Clearinghouse, a nonprofit group of…

This paper reports on the progress of eight Chicago-based community initiatives designed to redefine social services and broaden social responsibility for the development of children and families. The paper has three sections describing: (1) general background on the children, youth, and families initiative; (2) early lessons from an initiative in…

One of a series of sixteen knowledge transformation papers, this paper presents an educational planning model which incorporates citizen involvement at the local level and provides a more responsive and efficient vocational education system. In the first section techniques are discussed for encouraging community participation, such as general…

The paper analyzes structure and organizational communication within the League of Women Voters. The document is presented in three major sections. The first section traces the history of the League of Women Voters from its origins in the women's suffrage movement to its current involvement with international relations, human rights, and…

More than 500 organizations and individuals concerned with citizen education are described. Information was collected from national foundations, state education agencies, membership lists of citizen education committees, and authorities in fields related to citizen education in order to develop a reference file of citizen education efforts. The…