Making a Difference

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Making a Difference

This assignment assesses your ability to think critically about the role of civic responsibility and community engagement.

What is civic responsibility? Why is community engagement important? These concepts recognize our uniqueness as individuals, while at the same time emphasizing our personal responsibilities as members of a community and world at large. To prepare for this assignment, please read the instructor guidance, the articles Using Art to Define our Parks: How Creative Art Installations Can be Used to Add Character to Parks and Create Connections with the Wider Community (Jacoby-Garrett, 2015) and Evaluating Community Outcomes of Participation in Community Arts: A Case for Civic Dialogue (Kelaher, Berman, Dunt, Johnson, Curry, & Joubert, 2014), read the report Animating Democracy: The Artistic Imagination as a Force in Civic Dialogue (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (Schaffer, Yuen, & Korza 1999), watch New Models for Civic Engagement: Ben Warner at TEDx Jacksonville (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., and review The Definition of Civic Engagement (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (Ehrlich, 2000).

In this first assignment, you will begin your exploration of a social problem that is of particular interest to you (e.g., housing, health care, hunger, AIDS, immigration, and so forth). You may focus on either a local or global issue. Throughout this course, you will use this same topic for each week’s assignment. (Please note that you will be selecting one topic to use throughout the entire course. If at any point you wish to switch topics, you must first gain permission from your instructor.)

Include the following components in your assignment:

  • Describe the topic that you have chosen.
  • Explain why you are passionate about this issue.
  • Appraise the underlying causes of the social problem you have chosen.
  • Compare and contrast various means of addressing this issue, such as facilitating civic dialogue and engaging a diverse community.
  • Interpret the dynamics of civic responsibility in relation to your chosen topic.
  • Conclude with a reflection of your own engagement with this issue, including potential ways in which you might make a difference.

The Making a Difference Assignment