BIG Citizenship: Citizens as Catalysts and Innovators

The 65^th Annual National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) will be held September 17, 2010 at the Library of Congress. Registration is available here.

The Conference is an annual event that focuses on the state of civic engagement in America. It brings together 400 civic leaders, educators, CEOs, and representatives from each of the three branches of government to address issues related to our nation’s civic health.

Entitled, “BIG Citizenship: Citizens as Catalysts and Innovators,” this year’s Conference will explore the powerful role civic innovators are playing in fostering societies that are informed, engaged, giving and trusting. Here are a few of the program’s highlights:

• Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will participate in a keynote conversation

• TIME Magazine Managing Editor Rick Stengel will receive the “Citizen of the Year” award for the integral role he has played in elevating America’s dialogue on national and community service

• A discussion on how institutions are supporting citizen-driven solutions, will feature elected officials and representatives of our country’s leading corporations, foundations, and media outlets

• A discussion on the “Civic Health Assessment,” produced for the first time in partnership between NCoC and the Corporation for National and Community Service, will highlight progress and challenges facing our country’s civic life

• For the third year, Chief Judge Royce Lamberth will perform a naturalization ceremony welcoming America’s newest citizens

Registration is complimentary and available here.

News in the Information Age: A Public Forum on March 4th

By Mark Neikirk, Northern Kentucky University

Newspapers have long been counted on – locally and nationally – to deliver the reliable, timely information any democracy requires. What happens if it all goes away? Dr. Sam Schulhofer-Wohl, who teaches economics and public affairs at Princeton University, is doing research bout this very question and is finding a direct link between civic activity and a vibrant media.

Much of his work is based on the impact of the closing of The Cincinnati Post, where I was managing editor. After his research was published, I called Dr. Schulhofer-Wohl to discuss what he found – and invited him to Northern Kentucky University, where I now work at the Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement, to tell our community about his research.

He’ll be here on March 4^th at 7 p.m. to participate is public forum, “News in the Information Age: What happens to democracy if the presses stop?”

After summarizing his findings, Dr. Schulhofer-Wohl will join a panel, including a media company CEO (Rich Boehne of the E.W. Scripps Company, which owned The Post); a daily newspaper newsroom manager (Dennis Hetzel who oversees the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Kentucky edition); a weekly newspaper owner/publisher (M. E. Sprengelmeyer of the Guadalupe County Communicator in New Mexico; he previously covered national affairs in Washington for the Rocky Mountain News, which was shuttered last year); and a New York Times reporter who has covered the media during this time of immense change (Jacques Steinberg).

There’s a fine old saying: If you don’t like change, you’ll like irrelevancy even less. Although our panelists have a foot in the old media world, they have another firmly planted in new media. Mr. Boehne’s daily challenge is to find ways his publicly traded company can assure investors a return, something he believes cannot be done solely with ink and paper. Mr. Sprengelmeyer is openly experimenting with a community journalism model he hopes to export to a metropolitan market one day. Mr. Hetzel started in journalism before online news but now spends much of his day assuring online content. Mr. Steinberg writes for print, of course, but he also blogs.

If you can come to the forum, please do. If not, follow us on ustream (our channel is NKYFORUM) or with a live Twitter feed (nkyforum) on March 4^th. And check out our poster on designer Ryan Ostrander’s site.