Civic Engagement Definition

The focal point of current educational trend in the United States is on preparing the leaders of tomorrow (National Task Force, 2012). Student success has been expanded to include civic responsibility which is a dimension of the college experience largely ignored until recently (Upcraft, Gardner, & Barefoot, 2005). The Department of Education has taken this charge and developed the National Task Force for Democratic and Civic Engagement. This initiative places developing civic responsibility as a national priority based on the tendency of young people who are often too caught up in ‘narrow collegiate worlds’ of their own existence to understand the larger role of being a contributing member of society (Upcraft, Barefoot & Gardner, 2005). Thus, engagement as a participating citizen living in community is frequently beyond the scope of young student leaders in college. Due to this, the government has renewed its interest in creating civic-minded young people prepared to advocate for change. This has led the charge for a civic engagement initiative nationwide.

In the article, The New Laboratories of Democracy How Local Government Is Reinventing Civic Engagement. Part One: Structure and Form, National Critique Review invites us appraise the benefits of communities that engage their citizens in collaborative problem solving. Through specific examples, National Critique Review demonstrates the positive impact of civic involvement when government or local officials sanction it. National Critique Review references books, studies, and statistics to validate the positive impact of citizen’s involvement in their community. Ultimately the goal is a positive persuasion toward civic engagement however they do provide an ethical approach by including examples of mediocre and unsuccessful scenarios of civil

It is also a “boundary spanning” activity in that it requires active involvement from people both within and outside of the classroom context, often resulting in participant contributors who represent a variety of generations, ethnicities, social groups, and experience levels (Billig and Furco, 2002, p.vii). Service-learning is designed to reduce the boundaries between an institutional campus environment and the community around it. It is designed to connect learning to real experience through service and reflection (Ball and Schilling, 2006; Becker, 2000). As a baseline to facilitate this development, service-learning is distinct from other types of community service and civic engagement experiences in that the service-learning experience must not only have a service and reflective component but also be clearly tied to the curriculum through learning objectives and theoretical underpinnings (Bloomquist, 2015; Pritchard, 2001). As Barbara Holland, former Director of the U.S. National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, shared, “Service-learning is all in the hyphen. It is the enrichment of specific learning goals through structured community service opportunities that respond to community-identified needs and opportunities.” (Kenworthy-U’Ren, Taylor, and Petri, 2006: 121).

For the assignment civic engagement, I volunteer in four projects Temple, Bernie Sanders, Elementary School, and VTA transport to complete my 16 hours community service. However being a part of these amazing projects, I learn and experience a lot of things that how to interact, encourage, and help other peoples.

Civic Engagement is a necessary focus that many young adults overlook. It is about learning and knowing how to fight for one’s belief or a noble cause, and trying to bring about change to a social or political condition (Parisella, 2013). The Washington Center’s Civic Engagement Framework required some components such as attending two modules that addressed issues of public concern and strategies for citizen participation, a public policy dialogue, and direct service. The first two served as an educational purpose to teach students how to get involved and finally the direct service allowed the opportunity for students to take action and volunteer. Therefore, I wanted my civic engagement to relate to the hazardous things that humans are exposed

The benefit of service learning for the student and community is again a better inform civic minded individual who may use his experience from service learning as a launching pad for career opportunities to better serve within that community. In an article published in the College Student Journal its author noted that with service learning “students gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility" (Strange,

I would like to nominate Dr. Johnson for the Civic Engagement Award based on her inspiring vision of service in Women’s and Gender Studies. Most recently, she organized the 7th biennial Bodies of Knowledge Symposium on the topic of queer kinship and queer community building. Her work in LGBT programming on campus is important for students and community members who identify as LGBT and for others who want to know more about it, especially in South Carolina where this identity can be controversial. She is also teaching a Girls Studies course this semester that includes service learning so that students can learn about the subject in class and apply what they’ve learned by working with young teenage girls in Spartanburg. This past fall, she organized

My project relates to the course objectives twelve and seven this is because it talks about inclusion, in which all types of diversity are respected, appreciated, and valued in America. As well as the vital role of the people in creating and maintaining a society through voluntarism and civic engagement, a role that can complement and replace the role of the government ensuring the well-being of society. Civic engagement involves “working to form a distinction at intervals the civic life of one’s community and developing the combination of information, skills, values and motivation to form that distinction. It suggests that promoting the quality of life throughout a community, through every political and non-political process” (Erlich, 2000). Civic engagement includes every paid and unpaid style of political policy, environmentalism, and community and repair. Volunteering is one kind of civic engagement. Many of the nation’s volunteer’s group are youngsters. 59 percent of teenagers in the U.S. are recorded for their participation in youth volunteer. Most youth volunteers do so out of selflessness and by wanting to make a difference throughout other individual’s lives.

For a few days after I moved to DC, I wondered what actions I can do to illustrate the concept of “civic engagement.” I thought it was a broad term, maybe because I was not familiar with the American term. However, when I took the time to look over the exceptional amount of things I learned and done in Washington DC, it was easy to write this paper.

During the last century, American involvement toward civic are falling into a slump. This could mark a new era of history for democracy but the question is what happens when only about 5% of American will take part in civic. Since World II American civic engagement are greater and they are more likely to trust their government and community but over time the people trust is beginning fall. What could have caused this trust issue? Well, the problem here is over time the people begin to see a lot lies the government feed them, for an example, the Vietnam war was one of the reason that caused American reduce their trust the government as bomb the country with a lot of civilian casualties but the government only showed American the shooting part.

The organization that I have volunteered for is YMCA. Volunteering at the YMCA taught me how and why civic engagement is so important. Civic engagement is when citizens participate in helping their community to be better and make improvements for the entire community. It gives the chance to show the how we operate when we incorporate our differences and work together toward the community’s common goal. Making our communities more powerfully built through civic engagement increases how many active participations in the community we have. We have to teach future generations about how important civic engagement is. As a community we need to inform them of the benefits of participating in more civic engagement. There are so many ways that citizens

Encouraging students to engage in meaningful, sustained community service and get involved in causes that speak to

According to Kathleen Flecky and Lynn Gitlow, service-learning is defined as, “learning that occurs in experiences, reflection, and civic engagement” (Flecky & Gitlow, 2011). In recent years more universities are implementing service learning into their curriculum. A key concept of service learning is civic responsibility. Civic responsibility can simply be defined as your responsibilities as a citizen. As will be shown later in this paper, service learning can have many benefits not only to a student, but also to the community members

The community engagement that I chose to be a part of was intramural basketball. It started with me mentioning the idea to someone and it turned into an experience that really benefitted me on campus. I wanted to join because I really enjoyed playing basketball with the people on my floor and also I missed playing basketball in high school. Basketball is my favorite sport and something that I can never get enough of, so when we were assigned this engagement project I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

The Society for Experiential Education defines service learning as, “any carefully monitored service experience in which a student has intentional learning goals and reflects actively on what he or she is learning throughout the experience” (Staton 1). Service learning is a great opportunity to get extra learning experiences while also experiencing the community around the universities campus. “Service learning allows students to apply what they are learning from their instructors, peers, and readings to genuine tasks that occur outside the four walls of the classroom while simultaneously helping others” (Staton 1). Universities are using service learning to expand beyond the classroom and provide students with experiences that will