Civic Engagement Office

Center for Civic Engagement/First Year Experience (FYE)

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How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. - Anne Frank 

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Making a Difference....Together

What is Civic Engagement?

• Civic engagement means learning how to "make a difference" by developing a combination of knowledge, skills, and values that will enable you to improve the quality of your local and global communities.

Civically engaged people...

• Recognize that they are members of a broader social fabric and, therefore, they consider social problems to be shared problems
• Are willing and able to see the moral and civic dimensions to issues
• Are able to take action to improve the quality of life of their communities
• Recognize that important lessons about living in a democracy can be learned by doing the challenging, often "rough draft" work of collectively addressing common problems
• Actively participate in the public life of a community in an informed, committed, and constructive manner, with a focus on the common good.

What constitutes civic engagement?

• Civic Indicators

1. Community problem solving
2. Regular volunteering
3. Active membership in a group
4. Participation in fundraising

• Electoral Indicators

1. Regular voting
2. Persuading others
3. Displaying buttons, signs, stickers
4. Making campaign contributions
5. Volunteering for candidates or political organizations

• Indicators of Political Voice

1. Contacting officials
2. Contacting the print or broadcast media
3. Protesting
4. E-mail or written petitions
5. Boycotting
6. Buycotting
7. Canvassing

• Indicators of Attentiveness

1. Following government and public affairs
2. Talking about current events with family or friends
3. Regularly reading the newspaper, on the internet, and/or a news magazine
4. Watching the news on TV
5. Listening to the news on the radio

 (adapted from CIRCLE - for more detail on these indicators, click here)

Center for Civic Engagement
BA 239 - phone #6423
civicengagement@southwestmsu.edu

To Learn more about how other public liberal arts institutions develop civic engagement and what they are doing toe encourage civicly minded graduates, check out the ADP.

SMSU is participating in the American Democracy Project, a national initiative by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), to support public higher education institutions in their effort to promote civic engagement.