Center for Civic Life:
What is the Center for Civic Life at Ashland University? The center strives to involve citizens in deliberating issues of concern and in developing and initiating solutions for their communities. Through this effort, Ashland University will educate people in the region about civic life and engage them in deliberative practices that allow them to meet needs in their communit
ies and to shape their communities' future. The Center for Civic Life works with both the campus and community to bring citizens into deliberation on public issues by:
~Hosting/co-hosting public forums on issues of common interest.
~Facilitating groups and study circles of citizens who are developing and enacting solutions to issues of common concern.
~Consulting with and conducting workshops for organizations, schools, agencies and departments on issues of importance internally or externally.
~Providing opportunities for Ashland University students and faculty to participate in and lead forums.
~Conducting research related to deliberative democracy and citizen action. Community Impact
Facilitated public forums, including:
~Shaping Our Future: How Should Higher Education Help Us Create the Society We Want?
~A Nation in Debt: How Can We Pay the Bills?
~Prescription Drug Abuse: A Problem Hiding in Plain Sight?
~Stimulating the Economy of Loudonville, OH
~Right from the Start: What Should We do to Help Our Youngest Children Thrive?
~Are We Over-Medicating Our Children? How Should a Community Respond to Emotional and Behavioral Issues in Children and Youth?
~Boosting the Local Economy of Ashland, OH
~Participated in interviewing citizens and developing Issue Guides for forums
~Promoted the development of a Community Action Group on prescription drugs & Are We Overmedicating Our Children
~Held moderator workshops
What are the benefits? Learning how to deliberate issues fairly and honestly develops people intellectually and ethically. Deliberating impels people to seek wisdom and justice and prepares them for being citizens who work together to devise and carry out solutions to both local and global problems. More specifically, people participating in the Center for Civil Life will learn how to:
~Engage in dialogue and civil conversations with those who hold different perspectives.
~Work together to solve difficult problems.
~View civic action as part of the ongoing work of citizens.
~Develop strategic networks for achieving public ends.
~Desire to be involved in civic matters.
~Weigh the benefits and trade-offs of choices.
~Become more open to others' perspectives. How can you get involved?
~Attend forums and engage in deliberation on public issues
~Facilitate or participate in a Study Circle
~Participate in a moderator workshop and become a forum moderator
~Partner with the Center or host a moderator workshop
~Discover and carry out solutions to public issues
~Become a member or supporter of the Center for Civic Life at Ashland University
