Now in its seventh year, The Journal for Civic Commitment is a bi-annual, online, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to publishing the work of service-learning practitioners. The Community College National Center for Community Engagement sponsors the journal with funding from Learn and Serve America—Higher Education. It has become the central outlet for articles about service-learning in community colleges. In addition, the journal publishes work about service-learning in four-year colleges and universities. Its authors come from a wide variety of backgrounds—faculty, administrators, staff, community partners, and students have all had work in the journal.
As befits its title, the Journal for Civic Commitment is interested in a broad range of activities that lead to positive civic behavior. While service-learning is at its core, authors have explored the civic impact of community service, mentoring, and internships. The journal’s most recent issue looks at another essential civic activity—political engagement.
For years, service-learning practitioners have assumed that their projects would improve student political engagement, but had only limited evidence about their projects’ effectiveness. Two years ago, California Campus Compact began to explore what it takes to link service-learning with political engagement. In partnership with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, California Campus Compact created the California Campus Compact-Carnegie Foundation Faculty Fellows: Service-Learning for Political Engagement Program. This initiative, which received funding support from the Corporation for National and Community Service, Learn and Serve America—Higher Education, created a community of scholars, all committed to developing, implementing and evaluating courses that use service-learning to increase students’ understanding of and skills and motivation for political participation. The results of the fellows’ projects are published in Issue #14 of the Journal for Civic Commitment.
Authors interested in publishing in the Journal for Civic Commitment can consult the journal’s publication guidelines or contact Dr. Gary Daynes, Executive Editor of the Journal for Civic Commitment at gdaynes@westminstercollege.edu or 801.832.2812.
