The decline in active citizenship in America is a threat to our democracy. This country must have a concerned and involved public if it is to retain its freedom and its greatness. In response to this urgent need for developing active citizenship, students from the University of St. Thomas are involved in the Public Achievement Program.
Public Achievement (P.A.) is an “”up and coming”" national citizenship program housed at the Minneapolis based Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. This program is designed to increase the involvement of young people in the problems confronting our communities. Started by Dennis Donovan, a former grade school principal and community organizer, and Harry Boyte, Senior Fellow and Co-Director of the H.H.H. Center for Democracy and Citizenship, Public Achievement focuses on empowering young people to act on issues which they feel are important.
Modeled on the “”citizenship schools”" of the South during the Civil Rights Era, Public Achievement attempts to revitalize democracy by teaching skills for public leadership. Typically, college students act as coaches for groups of grade school students. Groups of young students and their university coaches work through the process of defining an issue, choosing an appropriate strategy to resolve or improve the issue, and finally, executing a plan of action.
In the ’98-’99 school year, eight St. Thomas students served as coaches at St. John Vianney Grade School in South St. Paul. P.A. groups met weekly to “”map”" their issue and to strategize. They worked on perennial problems such as hunger and homelessness, animal rights, and the environment. They also worked on issues such as school safety and technology upgrades for their classrooms. Although the P.A. groups worked independently, they reported back regularly to their classmates and to their teachers.
The broader goal of Public Achievement is to help young people realize that they have the power to change things. In P.A., it is the kids who come up with the issues and the goals. The university coaches help with skill building and organization. This process helps teach kids how to get involved in public issues and how to effectively make a difference. Most importantly, P.A. teaches them that in order to make a difference, they need to find ways to cooperate and to work together.
Of course, the university students also learn citizenship by being coaches. Public Achievement helps broaden their college-centered focus. They gain a new sense of urgency by seeing issues through the eyes of the children. They gain insight into areas where they themselves need to grow. These include the fine arts of compromise and leadership. As coaches, these college students have the task of teaching organizing skills. But they end up learning how to empower others. P.A. coaches return to the university with a greater ability to be campus leaders and lifelong citizens.
Both the grade school students and their college coaches gain a new sense of civic responsibility. They all learn to get involved. As a result, P.A. is helping to build a future where America is no longer dominated by cynicism and apathy. P.A. is helping to bring about an America nourished by cooperative and caring citizen action.
Contact person: Erich Rutten, jerutten {at} stthomas(.)edu
P.A. web site: http://www.stthomas.edu/communitypartnerships/undergraduate/public_achievement.cfm
