September 2002

Hello, and welcome to the September issue of the National Civic League's email newsletter. This monthly communication will provide information on the activities and accomplishments of NCL and links to information on a variety of topics relating to NCL's mission.

The National Civic League is a 108-year-old non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to strengthening citizen democracy by transforming democratic institutions. NCL accomplishes its mission through technical assistance, training, publishing, research, and the All-America City Award. The National Civic League is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, and has an office in Washington, D.C. For more information, call 303-571-4343 or visit www.ncl.org.

This newsletter is by subscription only! You are receiving this newsletter because you requested a subscription on our website. If you would like to unsubscribe, look for instructions at the end of this newsletter.

1. National Conference on Governance
2. Nation's Capital to Host 2003 All-America City Competition
3. National Civic Review Issues Online
4. Money, Politics, and Campaign Finance Reform Law in the States
5. ANR: Things You Can Do For Your Community
6. Civic Index Feature

New Approaches to Political Reform
Sponsored by the National Civic League

November 15-16, 2002
Loews L'Enfant Plaza Hotel, Washington, D.C.

"Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform."
Mark Twain

The National Civic League was founded in 1894 by, among others, Theodore Roosevelt, Louis Brandeis, Marshall Field, and Frederick Law Olmsted, when more than 100 educators, journalists, business leaders, and policy makers met in Philadelphia to discuss the future of American cities. The gathering was organized in response to widespread municipal government corruption and served as a nationwide call to "raise the popular standards of political morality."

More than one hundred years later, the National Civic League is still working to answer this call. Today, however, efforts to "raise the popular standards of political morality" involve cutting edge political reform issues that our founders could never have imagined.

On November 15-16, 2002, the National Civic League will convene leading political reform innovators to discuss areas of interest, such as:

• New Approaches to Youth & Civic Engagement - Young adults represent the largest voting block in our country, but consistently turn out to vote in dreadfully low numbers. This long-standing problem has been the focus of many polls, think tanks, research groups, studies, and publications. This year's meeting will consider new approaches to youth civic engagement, such as introducing a civic engagement curriculum in the high school classroom and establishing a lasting relationship between youth and their government.
• Campaigns & Technology - Though technology now permeates almost all of our political processes and entities, one of its greatest impacts has been on political candidates and the way their campaigns operate. This year's meeting will examine how technology has influenced political campaigning.
• Free Air Time for Candidates - Providing candidates with free airtime used to be considered radical; now it seems nearly inevitable. Efforts to pass legislation mandating free airtime for all candidates are currently underway. The importance and timeliness of this proposed reform is demonstrated by the staggering amounts of money spent on political advertisement. Some analysts argue that in the year 2000, political ad spending on broadcast television reached one billion dollars. This year's meeting will examine the proposed legislation and its impact on the political system.
• Race and Campaign Finance Reform - Although campaign finance reform strives to improve the condition of the political process, the issue of race and campaign finance reform remains a concern for many. Some campaign finance reform solutions, such as contribution limits, have the potential to exclude the poor and people of color from the political process. This year's conference will examine the challenges that campaign finance reform presents to the minority population and possible solutions.

To register, or for more information, please visit the National Civic League's website at www.ncl.org/ncg, e-mail us at ncg@ncl.org, or fax us at (303) 571-4404. Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Fellowships are available for graduate and undergraduate students to participate in the Conference. Visit the Pforzheimer Fellowship application form for more information and to apply.

Back to top

The National Civic League has announced that Washington, D.C. will host the 54th Annual All-America City Awards June 12-14th, 2003. This three-day-long celebration annually attracts 2,000 community and business leaders, governmental officials and private citizens representing 30 communities from across the country. The event is expected to generate over $2.2 million for the local economy.

“The National Civic League is proud to announce that the 54th All-America City Awards will be held in Washington, D.C., a city, which like America, opens its arms to everyone,” states Christopher T. Gates, President of the National Civic League. “We look forward to working with the area’s regional leaders to produce a truly memorable event.”

"Washington, DC is the proud home of America's dearest symbols of democracy. It is a city rich with historic neighborhoods and cultural institutions, and a place that millions of travelers visit each year for a taste of the American Experience,” states William A. Hanbury, President and CEO of the Washington, D.C. Convention and Tourism Corporation. “We are honored that the National Civic League has selected our nation's capital to host the All-America City Awards and Competition."

Applications are currently available for the All-America City Award, with a deadline of March 26, 2003 at 5:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time. For communities interested in applying for the All-America City Award, the National Civic League is hosting online briefings. Please visit the AAC website for the briefings schedule.

Back to top

The National Civic League has put selective portions of the Spring and Summer 2002 National Civic Review online. The Spring issue of the Review examines local government structure and performance; the Summer issue contains commentary on the democratic politics issue areas of public deliberation, electoral reform, and civic participation.

The National Civic Review, the quarterly journal of the National Civic League, is one of the nation's oldest civic affairs journals, now in its 91st year of publication. NCL Members receive each issue of the Review free of charge.

Back to top

Carolina Academic Press has recently released “Money, Politics, and Campaign Finance Reform Law in the States.” (available at www.cap-press.com) Edited by David Schultz, a professor in the Graduate School of Public Administration and Management at Hamline University, the book presents an exciting examination of campaign finance reform and the role of money in state politics through the 2000 elections. Written by leading scholars on state politics and campaign finance reform, this book is the first to provide in-depth case studies that describe the reality of the impact money has on state politics; what efforts have been undertaken to regulate this money; and how successful the law has been in ensuring fair elections. The book also contains a chapter written by former NPP director, Carl Castillo, describing case studies of some of the most innovative local campaign finance reform efforts around the nation. Americans are deeply concerned about the role and impact of money upon politics and government. While numerous publications have documented Congressional efforts to enact campaign finance reform, Schultz et al. put the spotlight on state efforts to address the impact of money on politics.

Money, Politics, and Campaign Finance Reform Law in the States offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of money and campaign finance reform at the state level on the market. Its findings will be invaluable to scholars, lawyers, legislators, and activists involved with campaign finance reform.

Back to top

The Alliance for National Renewal is an intentional community of civic leaders and community builders who collaborate to learn and tell their stories to inspire creative problem solving, imitation, and innovation in pursuit of democratic revitalization and the renewal of civic life. The following ideas are an excerpt from their poster "100 Things You Can Do For Your Community In A New Century".

Things You Can Do For Your Community With Your Family

1. Clean-up a playground with your family. For more ideas on playground-safety improvements, visit KaBOOM! (www.kaboom.org).
2. Help a child become a reader. Accept the America reads Challenge (800-USA-LEARN or www.ed.gov/americareads).
3. Discuss organ donor cards with your family. For information, call the Living Bank (800-528-2971).
4. Visit a nursing home during the holidays and help distribute gifts to the elderly residents who do not get to see their own families.
5. Explore ways your family can volunteer together. Contact Family Matters for more information (202-729-8147).
6. Talk about difficult issues like racism, discrimination, AIDS, school violence, teenage pregnancy, drugs, etc. with your family.
7. Model the behavior you would like to see from your own children.
8. Start a family recycling bin. Share responsibilities for collecting and taking materials to a recycling center.

To learn more about the Alliance for National Renewal, visit their website at www.ncl.org/anr.

Back to top

Volunteerism: Stakeholders give for the betterment of the community

Caring about, and sharing resources to help one another and the community as a whole is essential to community life. Moreover, in recent years, these activities have gained even more importance in the health of a community. Increased social needs combined with limits in government resources call for a greater contribution of time, money, and services from individuals and community institutions.

The challenges and problems we face as a society are increasingly becoming the responsibility of local and regional communities. The federal government can long longer be expected to play the primary role in addressing social problems, though national in scope, which are manifest at the local level. Federal, and even state, legislators spend the vast majority of their time dealing with a small set of issues; they have little time to focus on issues that communities bring them.

Therefore, a host of social challenges that were once the purview of higher levels of government have fallen directly into the laps of community problem solvers. The resolution of these problems will for the foreseeable future continue to devolve upon local policy makers...

Read more of this article by NCL's Derek Okubo...

Back to top

If you have comments or suggestions about this newsletter, please email them to webdesign@ncl.org.

If you wish to unsubscribe to the newsletter, click here.

Back to top