Initiatives

Various initiatives related to civic literacy and civic engagement in Kentucky:

The Kentucky Workgroup on Civic Literacy and Engagement is a collaboration of several Kentucky agencies and offices - the Department of Education, the Secretary of State's office, and the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) - that has focused attention the past two years on civic education and participation. It has held two summits and published a report on civic literacy in early 2005. In addition, a professional development program for teachers will air on Kentucky Educational Television on Oct. 28.

The Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement, based at Northern Kentucky University, works to promote a democratic society through the development of civic literacy and civic skills.

The American Democracy Project seeks to build civic engagement on college campuses through both academic courses and extracurricular activities. All of Kentucky's public universities participate.

The McConnell Center for Political Leadership at the University of Louisville gives scholarships to those studying political science, holds a leadership academy for promising high school students and helps train teachers.

The Congressional Conference for Civic Education has convened in Washington D.C. in each of the last three years. Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson has been a presenter at the last two conferences.

Kids Voting Kentucky combines classroom plans with mock elections on election day to train youth to vote.

Teen Court gives teen-agers a change to participate in the juvenile justice system by letting them serve as prosecutors, defense attorneys and jury members during real cases involving juveniles accused of non-violent offenses.

"We the People... the Citizens and the Constitution" is a national civic education program in grades K-12 available to schools through the AOC. Another program includes "We the People: Project Citizen'' for middle school grades and "Foundations of Democracy.''