Speed Networking:

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Speed Networking

• At the sound of the chime, find a partner
• Each person has 90 seconds to introduce
  him/herself
• Possible things to share include
• An organization you work with
• A specific project you are working on
• What excites you about civic engagement,
  dialogue, and collaboration
• Why you are here today
• Repeat from Step 1!

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2nd Annual Raise the Civic Canopy Eventa
gathering to improve the civic health of Colorado
in our schools and communitiesWednesday,
February 22, 2006Colorado History Museum
COLORADO CAMPAIGN FOR THE CIVIC MISSION OF SCHOOLS
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What is the Civic Canopy?

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(No Transcript)
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What is the Civic Canopy?

• A metaphor for civic life rooted in collaboration
  and dialogue amongst our diverse perspectives
• A network of individuals, organizations and
  institutions dedicated to increasing civic health
  in our communities
• An umbrella for collaborationa way to share and
  expand resources to increase our collective
  impact

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What is the purpose of the Civic Canopy?

• To transform our civic culture by promoting
  collaboration among Canopy participants
• Foster dialogue on civic matters among diverse
  members of society
• Measure and strengthen the civic health of our
  communities using common indicators

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Purpose of Todays Event

• To strengthen the network individuals and
  organizations doing civic engagement work
• To raise the Canopy by providing a broader
  vision under which our individual efforts are
  operating
• To take action in individual Working Groups on a
  range of specific focus areas

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Collaboration
Colorado Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools
Educating for Democracy
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Background of the Campaign

• 2003 National Report, The Civic Mission of
  Schools
• CO Coalition (grew out of the Canopy) part of
  National Campaign to address growing concern
  about youths civic knowledge involvement
• Focus is policy change
• One of 18 states (one of 6 Tier I states)

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National Campaign Efforts

• National Advisory Council (Gov. Roy Romer
  Justice Sandra Day OConnor, Co-Chairs)
• Students to Citizens Caucus in the US House of
  Representatives
• Advocacy Efforts
• Increasing the frequency of NAEP Civics (from
  every 8 years to every 4 years)
• New relationships with funders (Carnegie, Knight,
  Annenberg, Gates, etc.)
• National Steering Committee of leading education
  and policy organizations
• Communications
• Tools Supports
• Former CO Congressman David Skaggs is National
  Director for the Campaign
• Please stay for the reception to hear him speak
  at 545pm

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• Democracy must be born anew in each generation,
  and education is its midwife.
• ---John Dewey

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CO Campaign Mission
Key Question

• What would need to happen to ensure that all CO
  students receive adequate access to and quantity
  of high quality civic learning opportunities
  (quality) throughout their K-12 education?

• To increase the quantity and quality of civic
  learning in Colorado schools, grades K-12

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Our Plan

• Build public support
• Statewide coalition
• Communications Outreach
• Engage policy makers and school leaders
• Community engagement
• Outreach with policy makers
• Develop a shared agenda
• Statewide Summit (December 2005)

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Key Accomplishments to Date

• Designed community engagement process (Garfield
  Re-2 Poudre School district)
• Helped develop teacher professional development
  in civic learning using 200K state appropriation
• Orchestrated several OpEds and media coverage of
  the issue
• Developing key partnerships (forming host
  committee for Summit, etc.)

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Today

• Seeding conversations on key topics, including
• Overlap with workforce competence
• P-16 curriculum alignment
• Role of teacher preparation
• Youth leadership in real governance roles

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Dialogue
The Art of Thinking Together. . .
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(No Transcript)
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Dialogues on Homelessness

• Point 1
• Point 2
• Point 3
• Point 4
• Point 5

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Civic Indicators

• Defining and Measuring the Civic Health of
  Communities

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What are civic indicators?

• Ways to measure the capacity of a community to do
  other things (e.g. solve problems, address
  concerns, etc.)
• Distinct from Quality of Life Measures
• The vital signs of our civic health

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What is civic health?

• Capacity to engage effectively in mutual
  learning and decision making in order to maintain
  and improve quality of life."
• (Yampa Valley Partners)

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How do civic indicators help increase the civic
health of communities?

• Provide measures that different efforts can use
  to assess common progress
• Just like vital signs, they provide a snapshot of
  our overall civic health

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So what happens next?

• Continue to build the network of indicator
  partners and to define a short list of social
  capital measures that provide a common starting
  point for indicators
• Work to create or adapt an online database and
  reporting mechanism
• Use indicators to foster dialogue and
  collaboration amongst diverse partners

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Canopy Next Steps

• Engage a body of participants interested in
  moving the organizational capacity of the Canopy
  forward
• Use the website to disseminate information from
  todays event and future collaborative projects
• Continue to build connections and collaboration
  amongst the individual Canopy members