The Center for Civil Discourse is organized around the central principle that open, fair and truthful debate, characterized by respect for opposing viewpoints is essential to a healthy democracy. The Center’s mission is to advance the values of respectful discourse and to call on Americans to embrace civility and reject demagoguery in government, media and our personal lives. Founded in 2011 with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Center is is affiliated with the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and ... (continue)

Check out the new DemocracyU website, the internet home to the American Commonwealth Partnership. The website highlights the inspiring work that engaged students are achieving at universities, colleges and communities across the country. The site will include students’ personal stories of off-campus activities as well as discussion and debate on the evolving role of university and college students in engaging in public work that benefits society. (continue)

This new report from the Institute for Local Government focuses on youth engagement with local governments, particularly on the issues of climate change and energy. The white paper looks at the impact of youth boards and commissions in some California cities, youth involvement in public meetings, and creating programming geared toward a younger audience. The report compiles a fairly comprehensive set of resources to use when thinking about and developing youth involvement strategies. This white paper originally appeared as an article in the September 2011 ... (continue)

This 2011 “issue brief” published by the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) explores the relationship between civic engagement and economic resilience. The report finds that five measures of civic engagement – attending meetings, helping neighbors, registering to vote, volunteering and voting – appear to help protect against unemployment and contribute to overall economic resilience. “Civic Health and Unemployment: Can Engagement Strengthen the Economy?” was released by NCoC in partnership with CIRCLE (the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement), Civic Enterprises, Saguaro Seminar, ... (continue)

In the past two decades, '"civil society" has become a central organizing concept in the social sciences. Drawing together 38 contributions from leading scholars and activists, The Oxford Handbook on Civil Society aims to be a definitive work on this topic. (continue)

The Pathways through Participation looks at participation in a very broad way, and covers a wide range of participatory activities that are often viewed in isolation. This broad approach to participation has informed our literature review. (continue)

Cynthia Gibson and Nick Longo's have a new book out titled From Command to Community: A New Approach to Leadership Education in Colleges and Universities. The book argues for a leadership approach in higher education institutions based on collaboration, community problem solving, transparency, authenticity and results-orientation. (continue)

The Orton Family Foundation’s new Planning Tool Exchange (PlanIt X) is a free, community-driven website designed to help people find and share tools and resources to support community planning and civic engagement. PlanIt X is written by you and for you – contributions, edits, comments and improvements all come directly from our users – and it’s only as good as you make it. Visit PlanItX at www.orton.org/tools/planning_tool_exchange. PlanIt X is a community planning database owned and administered by the Orton Family Foundation. PlanIt X embraces ... (continue)

EngagingPlans is a powerful and comprehensive tool for creating and maintaining a public involvement Web site. From Urban Interactive Studio, EngagingPlans is a powerful, feature-rich website package that allows planning firms and government agencies to facilitate broad-scale public outreach and participation. (continue)

An annual report that elevates the discussion of our nation’s civic health by measuring a wide variety of civic indicators, America’s Civic Health Index is in an effort to educate Americans about our civic life and to motivate citizens, leaders and policymakers to strengthen it. Among other things, the Civic Health Index measures such factors as engagement in public policy, charitable giving, volunteering, and online participation. Learn more at www.ncoc.net/CHI. In 2006, the National Conference on Citizenship, in partnership with the Civic Health Index Indicators ... (continue)