The Civics Institute’s Organizational History and Program Development

The Civics Institute (the Institute) is a 501c3 organization founded to provide opportunities for Michigan students to better understand and experience the relevance of civics in society and in their daily lives.

The Civics Institute’s mission is to engage students in rich, authentic educational opportunities intended to promote deliberation about key issues in their state and local communities and to encourage global citizen involvement. The Institute is comprised of three offerings to Michigan students and teachers: State and Local Government Curricula, the Michigan House Civics Commission, and the International Youth Initiative.

What follows is an organizational history, as well as a history of each of our initiatives.

Organizational History

The concept of a civics institute began as the brainchild of Doug Hart, state representative from Michigan’s 73rd District. Representative Hart’s political baptism began in his youth through his involvement in local campaigns, and continued as he entered the political world full-time, first as a legislative aide and then as an elected official (1998-2004). Through his legislative experiences he developed the vision of a civics program for Michigan students that would give motivated young people insight into the workings of Michigan state and local government, as well as provide hands-on experience within the political world.

Beginning in the winter of 1999 and through the first of half of 2000, Representative Hart met with Michigan education stakeholders, business associations, multi-client lobbying firms, higher education leaders, and statewide advocacy organizations, discussing his vision and gathering their input.

During the course of these sixty-plus meetings, Representative Hart discovered a building consensus. First, there existed no quality tools or materials available to Michigan teachers and students regarding Michigan state and local government and governance. As a result, very little Michigan government was taught in our schools. Second, there existed no significant, academically sound programs to authentically engage students in their state and local government. Finally, there was universal agreement that, though the time was ripe to do something to meet the civics deficit, any resulting program must be tailored not just for the politically active students, but for all students.

In 2000, Doug Hart entered into dialogue with Brian Berce, friend and former campaign director, as to how to remedy the civics deficit of our students concerning Michigan state and local government.

As a result, in the fall of 2000, Doug and Brian co-founded Michigan Civics Institute. The Institute received its first grant, a contribution from the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation, to provide seed money to research possibilities. Brian was named President of Michigan Civics Institute and took on the leadership role for the Institute’s development and operations.

Under Brian’s leadership, and with the continued input of Doug, the Institute began defining and developing the various components of a civics program, and building collaborative relationships with key institutions and individuals knowledgeable about civics education in Michigan.

A generous additional grant from the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation allowed Brian to move into full-time status with the Institute. The organization continued to grow and change through discussions, meetings, and new collaborations with University of Michigan, Allegan County ISD, and the Michigan Department of Education.

In the fall of 2000, the Institute conducted focus groups with students, teachers, and home school students at Michigan Virtual University, gathering information about civics education in general. In addition, the Institute commissioned a study by Van Buren Research Foundation to gather research on civics education in Michigan, the results of which confirmed the Institute’s original premise of the state’s “civics deficit.”

During this time, the Institute made two important connections that would prove to be immeasurably valuable to the growth of the organization. Rebecca Bush, then Social Studies Consultant with the Allegan County ISD, and Gary Weisserman, with the University of Michigan’s School of Education Interactive Communications and Simulations Group, became officially connected to the Institute as Education Director and Technology Director respectively.

The Institute applied for 501c3 tax-exempt nonprofit status in December of 2000 and was approved in the Spring of 2001.

In the fall of 2002, Michigan Civics Institute changed its name to The Civics Institute. This change was due to the expansion of our initiatives into the international community.

Michigan State and Local Government Curricula

The Civics Institute has created a Michigan state and local government curricula for the high school level of instruction. This curricula is comprised of 27 units and is closely aligned with the Michigan Curriculum Framework. In 2005, the Institute will be creating a Michigan state and local government curricula for elementary and middle school teachers.

Curricula Development

From 2001-2003, a collaborative relationship with Allegan County ISD enabled Rebecca Bush to contribute significant work hours to the Institute. This arrangement also allowed her to write and submit a grant request to the Michigan Department of Education for curriculum writing.

In June, the Michigan Department of Education approved the Innovative Curriculum Writing Grant proposal and allocated funding to the Institute to begin curricula writing. Brian, Rebecca, and Gary joined forces with Karen Todorov, Social Studies Consultant with Michigan Department of Education, to plan the writing of a state government curricula for the high school level of instruction. A group of Michigan educators wrote 14 instructional units consisting of approximately 70 total lessons.

In July 2002, the Institute initiated its local government curricula writing project funded primarily by local government associations, corporations, foundations, and individuals. Brian, Rebecca, and Gary again joined forces with Karen Todorov to plan and implement the writing project. A group of Michigan educators wrote a high school local government curricula, resulting in 13 instructional units consisting of approximately 65 lessons.

The Institute’s state and local government curricular units are currently available on The Civics Institute’s website (www.civicsinstitute.com).

Michigan House Civics Commission (www.civicscommission.com)

The Michigan House Civics Commission (MHCC) is a bi-partisan, ad-hoc legislative committee that holds public hearings statewide within Michigan's K-12 schools. Students learn the legislative process in an interactive, authentic way by researching and developing their own bill ideas and presenting written and oral testimony before the commission in hopes of finding a legislative sponsor. As a result, in the first year of this effort, one student-initiated resolution has passed the House and one student-created budget amendment was successfully added to an appropriations bill.

This program is taking Michigan by storm and is regarded as a premier civic education initiative by National Center for Service and Learning. For more details, go to Our Initiatives on the Institute’s website.

MHCC Development

In spring 2002, during an evening budget debate on the floor of the Michigan House of Representatives, Representative Hart decided to share an idea with several of his Republican and Democrat colleagues. His idea was simple: to develop a substantive and interactive pipeline of authentic communication between members of the state House and the children and teens within their districts.

Twenty-four state representatives were enthusiastic about Representative Hart’s idea, and, under his leadership, formed an ad-hoc legislative committee, which they later named the Michigan House Civics Commission. To ensure bipartisan representation, Representative Ruth Ann Jamnick, a Democrat, also joined the commission as co-chair.

The mission of this new commission was to travel the state, hold public hearings in school buildings, and listen to elementary, middle, and high school students testify on ideas for new laws.

It soon became evident that the public hearing idea would not work unless students and teachers received some help preparing testimony. So, in the winter of 2003, lesson plans were made available to teachers who wished to beta-test commission hearings within their schools.

Commission members also decided to provide an array of other services to teachers and students interested in developing a relationship with the Michigan House of Representatives. With the help of The Civics Institute, a commission web-page was created. It includes a speakers bureau, semi-monthly legislative updates, and poll questions on current legislative issues.

During the winter and spring of 2003, lawmakers hosted 13 public hearings in public and private schools throughout Michigan.

Encouraged by early success and growing interest among educators and lawmakers, The Civics Institute decided to continue the initiative through the 2003-2004 school year. Due to generous contributions by State Farm Insurance and Delta Dental, a full-time commission coordinator was hired by The Civics Institute.

During the 2003-2004 school year, more than 200 primary and secondary Michigan teachers used commission web-based services within their classrooms, and 14 student hearings occurred.

International Youth Initiative (www.civicsinstitute.com/iyi)

The International Youth Initiative (IYI) aims to help Michigan’s young people become global citizens by learning about issues affecting youth around the world and taking socially responsible action to improve the lives of their peers locally, nationally, and globally. Through IYI, young people have an opportunity to influence international policy-making by constructing a platform representing the interests of young people across the globe and presenting and advocating for this platform to the UN and other multi-national organizations.

IYI is primarily classroom-based and students participate in the following web-based modules:

Global Student Congress (GSC) engages late secondary and early post-secondary students in deliberations on issues of local concern and global interest to youth.

HighestWire.com. is a newswire service written, edited, discussed and published by youth ages 15-22.

International Youth Initiative Development

In the fall of 2002, the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan-Flint provided a substantial in-kind contribution to the Institute that allowed the School of Education’s Interactive Simulations and Communications Group to facilitate the development of the Institute’s International Youth Initiative.

The International Youth Initiative software was developed by students through a college-level course at University of Michigan. It was built upon an earlier software design, the Michigan Youth Caucus, collaboratively developed between the Institute and University of Michigan in 2001.

Concurrently, the Institute met with a number of foreign dignitaries to establish demonstration sites for IYI’s Global Student Congress and HighestWire.

In addition in early 2003, Ivan Šimonovic, Croatian Ambassador to the United Nations and President of the Economic and Social Council of the UN (ECOSOC), agreed to head an advisory board for the International Youth Initiative. Tom Watkins, Michigan Superintendent of Public Instruction, serves as Vice Chair of the IYI education subcommittee.

The Civics Institute is partnering with the University of Michigan in a five-year IYI demonstration process that is currently being piloted in 18 nations. Other stakeholders include educators, politicians, bi-lateral and UN diplomats, and various international organizations.

Other Initiatives and Events

Celebration of Civic Engagement

On Friday, September 19th, 2003, The Civics Institute (the Institute) conducted a successful fundraising breakfast reception in Novi, Michigan attended by more than 225 people. The Institute’s first annual “Celebration of Civic Engagement” was keynoted by Governor Granholm, and co-hosted by more than 65 individuals.

Governor Granholm discussed the value and importance of civic education for Michigan students. She discussed our youth’s future and how their success is tied to the level of civic engagement and attitude of service in their lives. She praised The Civics Institute for its commitment to civic education and publicly recognized four students for their accomplishments through their involvement in Institute initiatives.

The event was attended by a broad cross-section of people. The participants ranged from middle school and high school students from Detroit and Grand Rapids to teachers, school superintendents, curriculum directors, principals, state agencies, legislators, non-profit organizations, education associations, local government associations, foreign embassies, university professors and administrators, corporations, media, business people, foundations, ISDs, Institute board members, past legislators, and local government officials.

The primary goal for the event was to raise financial support for the continuing implementation of the Institute’s initiatives, including professional development for teachers. Secondarily, the event publicly summarized the Institute’s initiatives, identified the multiple collaborations we have established, and displayed Governor Granholm’s support.

Michigan Civics Summits

The Institute collaborated with the Education Commission of the States, the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Michigan Department of Education in 2002 to host two Michigan Civics Summits in Lansing. Attendees at these events met with several objectives in mind: to assess current student civics competency and engagement in Michigan, to review civics programs and best practices now being utilized, and to develop a plan to improve civic education in Michigan. Participants included civics educators, civics practitioners, community leaders and policy makers.

The Michigan Civics Summits’ findings were handed over to Connect Michigan Alliance in the summer of 2003 as the new facilitator of this enormous endeavor. Connect Michigan Alliance in turn has worked to create the Michigan Coalition on Civic Education which has now taken up the original charge of the Michigan Civics Summits.