Encourage Civic Engagement

“Students who volunteer in the community often end up staying or com-ing back after they graduate because they find out they can make a differ-ence, ” reports one economic development director in West Virginia. He and other community leaders agreed that getting college students involved in community activities not only had short-term benefits for the community but that often their experiences led to long-term gains for community life. This finding is important in a time when scholars, politicians, and pundits argue that a crisis of civic disengagement affects American politics. As a partial remedy for this crisis, educators have linked partnerships with com-munity organizations with various experiential teaching techniques to edu