What's New in Civic Education and Youth Civic Engagement Work .... (October 2005 Archive Section)

October 31, 2005

• Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH) is a nonprofit membership organization that promotes health through partnerships between communities and higher educational institutions. Founded in 1996, CCPH is a growing network of over 1,000 communities and campuses that are collaborating to promote health through service-learning, community-based participatory research, broad-based coalitions and other partnership strategies. These partnerships are powerful tools for improving health professional education, civic engagement and the overall health of communities. CCPH advances its mission through information dissemination, training and technical assistance, research and evaluation, policy development and advocacy, and coalition-building. For more information go to: www.ccph.info .

  October 28, 2005

• Voter Information Services is looking for an intern to update their nonpartisan web site CongressionalReportCards.org. This part-time position (through mid-November) should be of interest to students majoring in political science, journalism, or a similar field with an interest in politics. The goal of the web site is to promote understanding by the public of legislation considered by the U.S. Congress and of the role of individual Congress members in the legislative process. The job involves research and editing of the information published on the web site. The hours (8 hours per week) are flexible and so is the location (the work is done over the Internet). Pay is negotiable.
  
  Required skills:
  - interest in the U.S. politics,
  - excellent writing skills,
  - ability to work independently,
  - reliable, high-speed access to the Internet,
  - a computer with a good (19" or above) display and a printer,
  - high degree of computer literacy (must be comfortable with  everything from MS Word and e-mail to using Internet search
    engines).
  
  If interested or to request more information, please contact Eileen Snyder at Eileen@vis.org or 781-640-2152.

  October 27, 2005

• Service-Learning Advances, the online newsletter of the National Service-Learning Partnership (at http://www.service-learningpartnership.org ) announces the following:

  - The John Glenn Institute has named Joel Westheimer and Joseph Kahne as John Glenn Scholars in Service-Learning in the area of social justice and education. Their paper, "What Kind of Citizen? Service Learning and Democratic Goals," provides a comprehensive analysis of the various goals for service-learning accompanied by timely recommendations for the many educators who are advocating for service-learning experiences in schools and communities with diverse populations. Westheimer and Kahne also discuss the various views of citizenship inherent in various service-learning programs.

  - The Gleitsman Foundation Citizen Activist Award is designed to encourage individual commitment and leadership by recognizing the exceptional achievement of people who have initiated social change. The award recognizes activist efforts in the U.S. to confront, challenge and correct social injustice. The award $100,000 and a specially commissioned commemorative sculpture designed by Maya Lin, the creator of the Vietnam War Memorial. Deadline: November 4, 2005

  October 26, 2005

• The National Office of Campus Compact at Brown University in Providence, RI is seeking a Network Coordinator. Responsibilities include: 1) Develop and maintain a directory of state office programs and services and write reports, 2) Assist network director with all duties related to providing technical assistance to existing and developing state Compacts, including managing listservs, regularly updating state information, participating on NEXCOM calls and taking minutes, and traveling when necessary, 3) Assist network director with grant management and writing reports for funders and 4) Plan and execute network meetings (national/regional) with network director and NEXCOM.
  
  Job Qualifications:
  - Strong interpersonal, oral and written communication skills.
  - Strong organizational skills with a creative bent towards information
  management.
  - Intermediate to advanced computer skills in Word, Excel, FileMaker Pro;
  ability to make tables, charts, graphs and compile statistics and other
  information into appealing graphics; desktop publishing helpful but not
  required.
  
  To apply for this position please go to https://careers.brown.edu/

  October 25, 2005

• Now available: "Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional
  Convention, 1774-1789" from the Library's Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

  The Continental Congress Broadside Collection (253 titles) and the Constitutional Convention Broadside Collection (21 titles) contain 274 documents relating to the work of Congress and the drafting and ratification of the Constitution. Items include extracts of the journals of Congress, resolutions, proclamations, committee reports, treaties, and early printed versions of the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Most broadsides are one page in length; others range from 1 to 28 pages. A number of these items contain manuscript annotations not recorded elsewhere that offer insight into the delicate process of creating consensus. In many cases, multiple copies bearing manuscript annotations are available to compare and contrast.
  
  If you have questions about either of these collections to the American
  Memory contact "Ask A Librarian."

  October 24, 2005

• Reminder: Proposal applications for the Tenth Annual Michigan Institute on Service-Learning are due October 31, 2005.

  Sponsored by the Michigan Community Service Commission (MCSC) and the Michigan Campus Compact (MCC) the 2005 Institute on Service-Learning “The Places We Live: Student Engagement in Diverse Communities” will be held February 16-17, 2006 on the campus of the University of Michigan-Flint.

  For more information go to: http://www.micampuscompact.org/institute06.asp.

  October 21, 2005

• The following election reform articles have been added to Pew Charitable Trust's “Advancing Policy Solutions” website:

  - With Use of Paper Trails Growing, Recount Rules Are in Flux: A new report about paper audit trails and electronic voting machines by electionline.org.
  
  - Briefing: Paper Trails And Electronic Voting: Electionline.org reports on voter-verifiable paper trails and electronic voting machines.

  October 20, 2005

• The program is now available on-line for the 5th Annual International K-H Conference on Service-Learning: Research Exploring the Premise - Advancing Knowledge and Transforming Lives program is now available on-line. The conference will be held on November 13-15, 2005, at Michigan State University - Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center.
  
  - For details, go to: http://outreach.msu.edu/slconference/program.asp
  - Conference registration is available on-line through October 17. Go to: http://outreach.msu.edu/slconference/regis.asp
  - Hotel and travel information can be found at: http://outreach.msu.edu/slconference/hotel.asp
  - The conference co-hosted by RMC Research Corporation and Michigan State
  University , with sponsorship from Campus Compact, the Michigan Campus Compact and others.
  

  October 19, 2005

• The Public Education Network online NewsBlast announces “National Schools of Character." The National Schools of Character (NSOC) Awards program has a twofold purpose: 1) To identify exemplary schools and districts to serve as models for others; and 2) To help schools and districts improve their efforts in effective character education. Maximum Award: $2000. Eligibility: To be eligible, a school must have been engaged in character education for a minimum of three full years, starting no later than December 2002 for the 2006 awards. Districts need to have been engaged in character education for a minimum of four full years, starting no later than December 2001. Smaller administrative units that maintain a separate identity within a large district may apply in the district category, e.g., a school pyramid or cluster. Deadline: December 05, 2005. For more information go to: http://www.character.org/eventsawards/nsoc/files/2006_nsoc_awards.pdf

  October 18, 2005

• The Network for Academic Renewal Conference – the Civic Engagement Imperative: Student Learning and the Public Good will be held on November 10-12 in Providence , Rhode Island . The Civic Engagement Imperative is designed to focus on the pressing question of the role of higher education in promoting civic engagement. Faculty, student affairs educators, academic administrators, students, and community leaders are invited to come together to advance student learning and the public good by:
   
  - Clarifying definitions and outcomes for civic engagement;
  - Exploring new kinds of research and scholarship for the creation of coherent and developmental civic engagement programs; and
  - Considering and enacting innovative collaborations among educational and community leaders.
   
  Graduate Student Research Session: Three Doctoral Students will present their research on service-learning and/or civic engagement and receive feedback from a senior researcher.  Through a generous grant from the Spencer Foundation, Campus Compact, in collaboration with the New England Resource Center for Higher Education (NERCHE), is offering up three $1,000 scholarships on a competitive basis to doctoral students to present research on topics related to advancing our understanding of service-learning and/or civic engagement in K-12 education, teacher education, and/or higher education.
  

  To learn more go to: http://www.compact.org/civic/CLECE/network.html and
  http://www.aacu.org/meetings/civic_engagement/

  October 17, 2005

• Service-Learning Advances, the online newsletter of the National Service-Learning Partnership (http://www.service-learningpartnership.org ) announces the following:

    - Service-Learning Marketplace. This new service is the only professional services directory for the service-learning community. As a leader in the collective work to advance service-learning, the Partnership makes information about providers easily accessible for individuals or organizations seeking professional services related to service-learning. To date, the Marketplace features 35 service-learning providers of fee and non-fee services in areas such as policy and advocacy, training, partnerships, research and evaluation, teaching and practice, assessment, and graduate certification.

  - The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards seeks middle and high school students who have given outstanding service to their communities. Maximum award is $5000 for each nominee and $5000 for nonprofit charitable organizations of his/her choice. Deadline: October 31, 2005.

  October 14, 2005

• The following election reform articles have been added to Pew Charitable Trust's “Advancing Policy Solutions” website:

  - With Use of Paper Trails Growing, Recount Rules Are in Flux: A new report about paper audit trails and electronic voting machines by electionline.org.
  
  - Briefing: Paper Trails And Electronic Voting: Electionline.org reports on voter-verifiable paper trails and electronic voting machines.

• Reminder: The call for presenters for the Tenth Annual Michigan Institute on Service-Learning “The Places We Live: Student Engagement in Diverse Communities” is due today. The conference will be held February 16-17, 2006 on the campus of the University of Michigan-Flint. Presenters receive a reduced conference registration rate of only $70.



October 13, 2005

• Registration for “Engaging Our World” a Southeastern Global Leadership Conference is open and ongoing. The conference will be held at Berea College in Berea, KY on October 21-23. The objective of the Conference is to raise regional ( Southeastern US ) awareness among students about problems confronting our global society. The conference will also be an opportunity for students already engaged in this region to network and support each other. Conference participants will be given tools to creatively engage global problems and participate in the creation of a better and safer world.

  Conference Topics Include: Trade and Economic Justice, Global AIDS, Environmental Justice, World Peace, Human Rights (Population, Women's rights), World Hunger, GMO's and Biodiversity, Climate Change and Peak Oil. Featured Organizations include: Bread for the World, DATA, Oxfam America, Feminist Majority Foundation, Idealist.org, Student Trade Justice Campaign and more.

  For more information or to register online go to: http://www.engagingourworld.org/ .

  October 11, 2005

• Justice Stephen Breyer – Active Liberty : Interpreting our Democratic Constitution
  - Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, an influential voice on the Supreme Court since 1994, will speak at Brookings on Monday, October 17. Justice Breyer will discuss the Constitution and how the Supreme Court interprets it; the relationship among the Supreme Court, Congress, and the executive branch; and recent Supreme Court decisions on religion, free speech, affirmative action, and privacy. The event will be held on Monday, October 17, 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. For more information go to: http://www.brookings.edu/comm/events/20051017.htm .

  October 10, 2005

• Community-Campus Partnerships for Health released today the Community-Engaged Scholarship Toolkit, an online resource aiming to provide health professional faculty with a set of tools to carefully plan and document their community-engaged scholarship and produce strong portfolios for promotion and tenure. The toolkit offers guidance, resources, and successful examples of portfolio materials from faculty that have been promoted based on their community-engaged scholarship. The toolkit is available at www.communityengagedscholarship.info .

  Learn more about the toolkit at these upcoming presentations:
  - A webconference providing an introduction to the toolkit will be held on October 13, 2005 at 1:30-3:00 PM EST/10:30 AM-12:00 PM PST. To register for the call go to: https://catalysttools.washington.edu/tools/webq3/?sid=8427&owner=jenbr
  
  - Session 4096 on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 at 1:30 pm at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting in Philadelphia , PA. For more go to: http://apha.confex.com/apha/133am/techprogram/paper_113283.htm

  - Pre-conference institute on Wednesday, May 31, 2006 at the CCPH Conference in Minneapolis , MN . For more information: http://depts.washington.edu/ccph/conf-overview.html

  October 7, 2005

• The Public Education Network announces "Youth Service America Harris Wofford Awards"
  - These awards annually honor exceptional individuals, institutions, and media figures who actively contribute to this nation's spirit of service. Eligibility: Youth (ages 5-25), Organization (nonprofit, corporate, foundation), and Media (organization or individual). Maximum Award: $500 award for him/herself and a $500 award for the non-profit organization of his/her choice.  Deadline: October 12, 2005. For more go to: http://www.YSA.org/awards .

  October 6, 2005

• The U.S. Department of Education announces the free Constitution Toolkit. The toolkit includes images of newspaper articles (1787), notes Washington and Jefferson wrote on drafts of the Constitution (1787-88), Jefferson's chart of state votes (1788), Washington's diaries (1786-89), Hamilton's speech notes for proposing a plan of government, a Philadelphia map (1752), the "broadside" Bill of Rights (1791), and other artifacts. (LOC) For more go to: http://memory.loc.gov/learn/community/cc_wethepeople_kit.php

  October 5, 2005

• The International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering (IJSLE) is a new faculty-reviewed electronic journal offered free, semi-annually, over the World Wide Web. The Journal welcomes manuscripts based on original work of students and researchers with a specific focus or implication for service learning in engineering, engineering entrepreneurship in service, or related service learning pedagogy.
  
  With articles relating to the latest design and research pertinent to local communities, the faculty-reviewed articles in each issue provide the reader with timely information related to:
  - research into appropriate technologies and solutions for developing community problems
  - design solutions for problem specific to developing communities
  - engineering entrepreneurship in developing communities
  - service learning pedagogy
  
  The Journal has issued its first call for papers, due December 30, 2005. It is also seeking faculty members who may wish to serve as a reviewer (or editor) for the Journal.
  
  Visit the journal at www.engr.psu.edu/IJSLE . For more information, please contact Tom Colledge at Pennsylvania State University , thc100@psu.edu .

  October 4, 2005

• The Student Conservation Association (SCA), the nation's oldest and largest provider of conservation service opportunities, is offering expense-paid internships nationwide for students displaced by Hurricane Katrina. SCA provides housing, a living-stipend, possible academic credit, AmeriCorps education awards, insurance, and travel to the project site. SCA interns serve for 3 to 12 months and gain on-the-job experience with partners like the National Park Service, the US Forest Service, and many other federal, state, and non-profit partners in conservation fields from archaeology, to education, history, wildlife studies, visitor services and everything in between!

  For a list of positions that are currently looking for applicants, go to http://www.thesca.org/pdfs/kat.pdf. The usual application process for displaced students and only require a resume and cover letter for these positions. For more information email: makecontact@thesca.org or call 603-543-1700. For more about SCA go to: http://www.thesca.org .

  October 3, 2005

• The CivicMind announces a new workshop this fall, entitled Being Civic-Minded in your Community. For more go to: http://www.civicmind.com/qsylbio.htm