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NEWS SERVICES |
| For immediate use |
Sept. 23, 2003 -- No. 493 |
Community Forum to reveal how Cape Fear compares to rest of the state in civic education and engagement
FAYETTEVILLE -- On Oct. 2, residents of Bladen, Cumberland, Harnett, Hoke, Robeson and Sampson counties have the opportunity to shape the future of citizenship in North Carolina by participating in the Cape Fear Community Forum in Fayetteville. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, a longtime resident of Harnett County, will be a special guest, and the public is invited. The forum will be held from 6:15–8:30 p.m. at the PWC Operations Center. Light refreshments will be served.
Forum participants will learn how Cape Fear compares to the rest of the state in civic education and engagement. Such regional comparisons include the finding that youth in Cape Fear report higher levels of confidence in the military than youth in any other part of the state. However, they have the least confidence in the court system compared to other N.C. youth, and they are the least likely to report being involved in student government.
Small group discussions will focus on these and other statewide and regional results from the North Carolina Civic Education Consortium’s Civic Index 2003, the first-ever statewide assessment of youth and adult civic education and engagement. Participants will brainstorm community-specific strategies to improve civic engagement. Additional information on the forums, including directions to the site, can be found at the Consortium’s website, www.civics.org.
Participants in the forum will receive a resource guide detailing existing programs that may be helpful in improving civic engagement in their community — programs such as Kids Voting NC/Cumberland
County. Founded in 1998, Kids Voting NC/Cumberland County collaborates with public, private and home schools to create an informed electorate, increase voter turnout among adults and develop lifelong voting habits in youth. The program seeks to establish a voting generation by developing future citizens who regard voting as a vital part of life in America.Seven other forums are taking place throughout the state this fall. Because the Civic Education Consortium will not be able to reach all of North Carolina’s municipalities through the forums, the Consortium will publish a Community Forum Tool Kit, which is a how-to guide for communities to host their own community forums. These tool kits will be available in Winter 2004.
The forums were planned by a dedicated group of local organizers and the North Carolina Civic Education Consortium, a statewide nonpartisan partnership housed at the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The forums have been endorsed by the following groups: City of Elizabethtown, City of Fayetteville, Cumberland County, Kids Voting Cumberland County, Kids Voting North Carolina, and the Fayetteville Business and Professional Association.
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Contact:
Leslie Anderson, Special Consultant to the Consortium, 828-252-4913, lesliea@ioa.com; Kelley O’Brien, Civic Index Project Director, Civic Education Consortium, 919-960-4226, obrien@iogmail.iog.unc.edu; Lynne Greene, Board President, Kids Voting NC/Cumberland County, 919-483-1391, lynneg@fayetteville.net