Civic engagement

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Civic engagement has been defined as "Individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern."^[1]

1 Usage
2 Forms
- 2.1 Activities
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Usage

"Civic engagement" can mean not only a set of actions and efforts, but a feeling of belonging, an experience of investment and ownership in the local, regional, national, and/or international political communities to which citizens belong. According to the New York Times, "Civic engagement means working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference."^[2]

Beginning in 2001, a major international research initiative on civic engagement was initiated by the Global Service Institute (GSI) at the Center for Social Development, at Washington University in St. Louis to more carefully define this term.

[edit] Forms

Civic engagement can take many forms— from individual volunteerism to organizational involvement to electoral participation. It can include efforts to directly address an issue, work with others in a community to solve a problem or interact with the institutions of representative democracy.

"Youth civic engagement" has identical aims, only with consideration for youth voice.

[edit] Activities

In a study published by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at the University of Maryland researchers developed a quantifiable definition of civic engagement. The following measure is based on 19 measures of civic engagement, which is divided into 3 categories: civic, electoral, and political voice.^[3]

Measures of Civic Engagement^[3]
Civic	Electoral	Political Voice
Community problem solving	Regular voting	Contacting officials
Regular volunteering for a non-electoral organization	Persuading others to vote	Contacting the print media
Active membership in a group or association	Displaying buttons, signs, stickers	Contacting the broadcast media
Participation in fund-raising run/walk/ride	Campaign contributions	Protesting
Other fund-raising for charity	Volunteering for candidate or political organizations	Email petitions
		Written petitions
		Boycotting
		Buycotting
		Canvassing

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ "Civic engagement", American Psychological Association. Retrieved 11/26/07.
^ "The definition of civic engagement", New York Times. Retrieved 11/26/07.
^ ^a ^b Ketter, S., Zukin, C., Andolina, M., and Jenkins, K. (2002) "The Civic and Political Health of a Nation: A Generational Portrait" CIRCLE and The Pew Charitable Trusts.