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Civic Vitality

Photovoices

Photovoices International is an international program that empowers indigenous peoples by giving them a "voice" through photography.  The program provides cameras and training for people to document important issues in their lives like the state of the natural environment, their traditional cultural values and their community strengths and challenges.  By using simple cameras, photographs and stories, indigenous people, who are not often conversant in their country's dominant language, gain a potent means to communicate their knowledge and concerns to international organizations, and govern

CIRCLE

CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement) has been the leading force in building the research field on the civic and political engagement of young Americans, and has begun to change public discourse and press coverage about young people as citizens.

Somerville Voices

Community online forums have been around for decades, but Somerville Voices is cutting new ground in citizen-driven independent media with high journalistic integrity.  It began in May 2007 with a group of residents interested in forming a new media collaborative, and the website now promotes an open forum for broad-based dialog, covering important community issues and events, produced by and for people who live or work in the city.  It demonstrates the constructive capacity of internet technology to connect a local community to the places, events, and opinions that matter to residents.  So

ServiceNation and BeTheChange

ServiceNation has utilized both new media and traditional advocacy techniques to truly shift the national paradigm in thinking about the potential for government to promote volunteerism, particularly the "year of national service" concept.  Through it's extensive presence in formats such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr,  ServiceNation is expanding the reach and appeal of service opportunities, and encouraging government officials to invest in scaling proven service strategies to help address some of our nation's most important challenges.  The ultimate vision of ServiceNation - a

Ibero-American Service Learning Network

The Ibero-American Service Learning Network leads the way in capitalizing on increasing global attention to civic education and the increased technological capacity for people to work together across great distances.  Since 2005, the Network's work represents a genuine step forward in international partnerships for the purpose of shared learning on matters of civic engagement, by building connections between institutions and initiatives in Europe, Latin America, the Carribean, and the United States.  At regular conferences and through the efficient use of technology, members of the network

Recovery.gov

The new Recovery.gov website provides an unprecedented degree of transparency in government-funded programs. It provides interactive tools to map spending across the nation, chart it on a timeline, and allow all citizens to submit feedback.  In the wake of billions of dollars of new spending this year, many Americans are calling for more accountability and transparency on the part of the federal government.  Internet technology promotes a new opportunity to engage all citizens on issues of national importance.