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The essays in this volume address the chief challenges and principal tensions in the operation of our civil society in order to consider possible paths forward. Discussion opens with a diagnostic analysis of what presently ails American public life and then turns to address various tensions. These include meritocracy, multiculturalism, issues of race, technology, and populist nationalism in American democracy today. A number of authors address the condition of civil conversation within the university and across American society. The collection then engages debates over the continued relevance and durability of liberal ideas and institutions; whether we have accessible means and resources to channel digital technology more fruitfully for the sake of human achievement and well-being; and how some have endeavored to revitalize the American civic vocation through both scholarly and practical education. Finally, the volume closes with a call to restore civic friendship, properly understood, as the foundation for renewing America’s civic compact.
Over the last thirty years, calls for the civic engagement of the American citizenry, especially young people, have gotten increasingly louder. A clear message has emerged that today's pressing social problems are best addressed through the innovative and entrepreneurial work of citizens. But what are we learning about democracy through our community service and civic engagement? The Ideology of Civic Engagement is a unique study of the American volunteerism program AmeriCorps. Drawing from deep ethnographic data, Sara Carpenter provides careful analysis of the ways in which public policy and federal regulations influence the inner workings of AmeriCorps programs, from grant writing to volunteer training, with special focus on how teaching and learning for "civic engagement" takes place within the program. Rather than following predetermined metrics for what constitutes democratic participation for young people, she examines how young people's political participation is shaped in a nexus of volunteer labor, neoliberal transformation of human services, deepening forms of inequality, and political discourse about democracy.
Imagine an America where politicians, governmental institutions, schools, new technologies, and interest groups work together to promote informed, engaged citizens. Civic Education in the Twenty-First Century brings together scholars from various disciplines to show how such a United States is possible today. Inspired by Alexis de Tocqueville’s analysis of American democracy in the early 1800s, this edited volume represents a multidimensional evaluation of civic education in its new and varied forms. While some lament a civics crisis in America today, Civic Education in the Twenty-First Century raises hope that we can have an informed and active citizenry. We find the activities of a number of politicians, government institutions, schools and interest groups as promising developments in the struggle to educate and engage Americans in their democracy. New technologies and new innovations in civic education have laid the foundation for a revitalized American civic ecology. With Civic Education in the Twenty-First Century, we call for the United States to make these practices less isolated and more common throughout the county. The volume is broken into three major sections. First there are four chapters exploring the history and philosophical debates about civic education, particularly with respect to its role in America’s educational institutions. Then, the second section provides seven groundbreaking inquiries into how politicians and political institutions can promote civic education and engagement through their routine operations. As some examples, this section explores how politicians through campaigns and judiciaries through community programs enhance civic knowledge and encourage civic engagement. This section also explores how new technologies like the Internet and social media are increasingly used by government institutions and other entities to encourage a more politically informed and engaged citizenry. Finally, the third section contains six chapters that explore programs and practices in higher education that are enhancing civic education, engagement and our knowledge of them. From the virtual civics campus of Fort Hayes State to citizens’ academies throughout the country, this section shows the possibilities for schools today to once again be civics actors and promoters.
Before the interstates, Main Street America was the small town’s commercial spine and served as the linchpin for community social solidarity. Yet, during the past three decades, a series of economic downturns has left many of the great small cities barely viable. American Hometown Renewal is the first book to combine administrative, budgetary, and economic analysis to examine the economic and fiscal plight currently facing America’s small towns. Featuring a blend of theory, applications, and case studies, it provides a comprehensive, single-source textbook covering the key issues facing small town officials in today’s uncertain economy. Written by a former public manager, university professor, and consultant to numerous small towns in the Heartland, this book demonstrates the ways in which contemporary small towns throughout the nation are facing economic challenges brought about by the financial shocks that began in 2008. Each chapter explores a theme related to small town revival and provides a related tool or technique to enable small town officials to meet the challenges of the 21st Century. Encouraging local small town officials to look at the economic orbit of communities in a similar manner as a town’s budget or a family’s personal wealth, examining its specific competitive advantages in terms of relative assets to those of competing communities, this book provides the reader with step-by-step instructions on how to conduct an asset inventory and apply key asset tools to devise a strategy for overcoming the challenges and constraints imposed upon spatially-fixed communities. American Hometown Renewal is an essential primer for students studying city management, economic community development, and city planning, and will be a trusted handbook for city managers, geographers, city planners, urban or rural sociologists, political scientists, and regional microeconomists.
Co-published with For directors of campus centers that have received the Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement, this book offers research and models to further advance their work. For directors starting out, or preparing for application for the Carnegie Classification, it provides guidance on setting up and structuring centers as well as practical insights into the process of application and the criteria they will need to meet.Building on the findings of the research undertaken by the author and John Saltmarsh on the infrastructure of campus centers for engagement that have received the Carnegie Classification for Community, this book responds to the expressed needs of the participating center directors for models and practices they could share and use with faculty, and mid-level and upper-level administrators to more fully embed engagement into institutional culture and practice.This book is organized around the purpose (the “why”), platforms (the “how”), and programs (the “what”) that drive and frame community engagement in higher education, offering practitioners valuable information on trends of current practice based on Carnegie Classification criteria. It will also serve the needs of graduate students aspiring to become the future professoriate as engaged scholars, or considering preparation for new administrative positions being created at centers.
A landmark three-volume reference work documenting philanthropy and the nonprofit sector throughout American history, edited by the field's most widely recognized authority. Developed under the guidance of Dr. Dwight Burlingame of the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy, one of the nation's premier institutes for the study of philanthropy, the three-volume Philanthropy in America: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia is the definitive work on philanthropic, charitable, and nonprofit endeavors in the United States. The first section of the encyclopedia contains over 200 A–Z entries covering the lives of important philanthropists, the missions and practices of key institutions and organizations, and the impact of seminal events throughout the history of the nonprofit sector in America, from precolonial times to the present. Discussions of philanthropic traditions in ancient civilizations, in Europe during colonial times, and in countries around the world today provide fascinating contexts for understanding how the American philanthropic experience has developed. The encyclopedia also includes a collection of primary source documents (legislation, foundation reports, mission statements, etc.) for convenient review and further research.
We need young people to be civically engaged in order to define and address public problems. Their participation is important for democracy, for institutions such as schools, and for young people themselves, who are more likely to succeed in life if they are engaged in their communities. In The Future of Democracy, Peter Levine, scholar and practitioner, sounds the alarm: in recent years, young Americans have become dangerously less engaged. They are tolerant, patriotic, and idealistic, and some have invented such novel and impressive forms of civic engagement, as blogs, "buycott" movements, and transnational youth networks. But most lack the skills and opportunities they need to participate in politics or address public problems. Levine's timely manifesto clearly explains the causes, symptoms, and repercussions of this damaging trend, and, most importantly, the means whereby America can confront and reverse it. Levine demonstrates how to change young people's civic attitudes, skills, and knowledge and, equally importantly, to reform our institutions so that civic engagement is rewarding and effective. We must both prepare citizens for politics and improve politics for citizens.
This insightful Handbook is an essential guide to educational policy around the world. As shifting geopolitics, intensified climate change, and widening economic inequalities persist, the need for informed educational policy is critical.
It is clear that service-learning has the potential to yieldtremendous benefits to students, communities, and institutions ofhigher education. Increased student learning has been welldocumented. As communities gain new energy to meet their needs andgreater capacity to capitalize on their assets, service-learningenables higher education to fulfill its civic responsibility. Whenservice-learning lives up to its potential to lead colleges anduniversities to transform themselves into fully engaged citizens oftheir communities and the world, its ability to bring aboutpositive social change is limitless. To be successful, service-learning must be grounded in a widerange of solid, reciprocal, democratic partnerships. BuildingPartnerships for Service-Learning assembles leading voices inthe field to bring their expertise to bear on this crucial topic.Faculty, administrators, student leaders, and community andcorporate leaders will find this volume filled with vitalinformation, exemplary models, and practical tools needed to makeservice-learning succeed. Comprehensive in scope, Building Partnerships forService-Learning includes: Fundamentals and frameworks for developing sustainablepartnerships Assessment as a partnership-building process The complex dynamics of collaboration between academic affairsand student affairs Partnering with students to enhance service-learning How to create campuswide infrastructure forservice-learning Profiles and case studies of outstanding partnerships withneighborhoods, community agencies, and K-12 schools Partnerships for collaborative action research Exploring the challenges and benefits of corporate andinternational partnerships The dynamic relationship of service-learning and the civicrenewal of higher education Building Partnerships for Service-Learning is theessential guide to taking service-learning and partnerships to thenext level.
Service-learning in higher education symbiotically combines community service and academic study--that both fields strengthen in the union is one reason for the movement's increasing popularity. This comprehensive guide to service-learning in colleges and universities includes: • A-Z encyclopedia of terms and concepts • Directory of service-learning programs and services at 325 colleges and universities • Resource guide to essential information culled from books, journals, Web sites, and Internet discussion groups • Directory of service-learning organizations, conferences, institutes, and training opportunities • Inventory of awards, scholarships, fellowships, internships, and grants in the field This multi-faceted new resource is a gold mine for college administrators, faculty, students, and volunteer coordinators involved in higher education service-learning.