| The pre-election season seems full of events, opportunities, and messages that emphasize engagement as individuals and groups seek to engage with others through debate, fact-checking, media activity, lobbying, and many other means. Civic engagement might be seen as including, among other things, certain kinds of activities as we participate in this process, getting informed, informing others, encouraging voting, and similar activities. What happens after an election? And what might be some responsibilities of reflective practitioners beyond that point? What does it mean to continue to reflect upon and develop practices that support ongoing engagement and encourage communities to uphold the promises made about creating change? How can we see our individual practices as fitting in within the whole? What does this mean as we make choices around how to carry out our work? "Civic engagement means working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes...A morally and civically responsible individual recognizes himself or herself as a member of a larger social fabric and therefore considers social problems to be at least partly his or her own; such an individual is willing to see the moral and civic dimensions of issues, to make and justify informed moral and civic judgments, and to take action when appropriate." (pp. vi-xxvi) From Civic Responsibility and Higher Education, Thomas Ehrlich (ed.), 2000. Further reading: Voters Must Stay Involved Post-Election For Real Change to Happen, John Izzo (Hiffington Post Canada) |