05:Podcasts
Wednesday, Feb 20, 2008
"Green" civic organizers achieve success on local project to improve water quality
Jenny Morris, a transplant from Missouri and recent graduate of the University of Minnesota, was looking for ways to connect with and be more involved in her new community, and develop her skills as a leader.
Through the Citizens League, a Minnesota policy organization that aims to promote the common good, she joined a handful of other young adults to form an environmental action group. Dennis Donovan, an organizer at the Center for Democracy and Citizenship, helped connect Jenny's group with high school students at St. Bernard's school in St. Paul who are learning how to make positive change on issues they care about - like water quality - using the Public Achievement organizing model.
In an interview with Ellen Tveit, Jenny talks about her work with the team at St. Bernard's. She describes some of the challenges they faced - from identifying a clear goal to overcoming bureaucratic hurdles - and the skills they learned on the way to achieving success.
Jenny looks forward to putting her new skills to use - along with the many relationships she's built - in a professional capacity: she recently took a job at the state capitol working for a legislator who chairs an important and powerful legislative committee.
Friday, Feb 15, 2008
The Voices of Second Shift Youth Commission
We invite you to learn about the St. Paul Second Shift Youth Commission, a group of young people from across the City of St. Paul who know they can make a difference in their communities. Listen here to the fifteen minute story on what motivates the different teens to do what they are doing.
This audio report was funded by the Surdna Foundation and was produced through a collaboration of the St. Paul Second Shift Youth Commission and the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.
Thursday, Feb 14, 2008
Getting around to learning is a priority in this city
More than five years ago, community organizations and parks and recreation workers in St. Paul, Minn., began thinking of ways to bring kids to places where they could learn and socialize with one another. They imagined - and got funding for - a free bus that would run after school and during the summer, connecting the library to a neighborhood landmark, with stops in between at schools, parks, community and recreation centers, and a large housing complex. Keeping young people connected to other people and to learning opportunities is the goal of the Neighborhood Learning Community, a coalition of neighborhood organizations, local government, and residents working together to ensure that children grow up as successful, engaged citizens.
The West Side Circulator worked so well in its first few years, that staff in the mayor's office secured private funding for another circulator on the city's East Side last summer, and the city of Minneapolis is looking at how they can create circulators in their neighborhoods. Read - or listen - to a Feb. 11 report on the circulator by Minnesota Public Radio.
Semyia Navarro, 8, of St. Paul is one of about 80 kids who ride the West Side circulator bus every day to afterschool programs in the neighborhood. (MPR Photo/Laura Yuen)
Thursday, Jan 24, 2008
Harry Boyte talks about public service and citizenship
Harry Boyte was interviewed by Access Minnesota about the notion of public service and citizenship. He talks about the Warrior to Citizen campaign and other work being done by the center.
Click here to listen to the interview.
Monday, Nov 12, 2007
Podcast: Youth commissioner develops life skills for making change
The Center for Democracy and Citizenship sat down with Alexandra Young, an 18-year-old high school senior at St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists in St. Paul, Minnesota, to discuss her involvement with the City of Saint Paul through its Second Shift Youth Commission.
Young is part of the 18-member Youth Commission that represents each neighborhood in St. Paul. The multi-generational approach to civic engagement provides leadership opportunities for youth, such as Young, who want to make a change in their community.
We invite you to hear how participation on the Youth Commission has changed Young's views on local and national elections and civic participation:
Friday, Nov 9, 2007
Podcast: Students should get a (public) life
Kelly Heskett, a 20-year-old student at "the U" doesn't come right out and say "get a public life." But it's clear she thinks that she and other students at the University of Minnesota have opportunities - and a responsibility - to organize and make change on campus. Kelly talks about how she came to see herself as an organizer, and what she wants to change first.
In her interview, Kelly refers to an organizing class called Community Organizing Skills for Public Action, taught by Harry Boyte and Dennis Donovan. Read the PA1401 course description.
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