Building Communities Through Civic Engagement

Civic engagement is based on the basic concepts of democracy. Engaged citizens understand that com-munities will prosper when they are governed by “the many” rather than “the few.” Civic engagement is crucial for community leaders to be able to identify issues and to make good decisions. Civic engagement can include serving in a public office, but also includes ordinary citizens that want to be involved in determining the future of their community. Logically, communities that have high levels of civic engagement fare better and experience fewer declines than communities where apathy and disenfranchisement are the norm