LibGuides: Civic Engagement: Get Involved

Civic Engagement and Nonprofits

Do's and Don'ts of Civic Engagement Work
Contains general guidelines for planning nonpartisan civic engagement activities such as voter registration drives and candidate forums.
Nonprofits are Playing a Vital Role in Civic Engagement
Tory Martin highlights the many ways in which nonprofit organizations are playing an increasingly visible role in our political lives - as pathways in to action and as proponents of civic engagement itself.
Using Human-Centered Design to Advance Civic Engagement in Nonprofits
Civic engagement efforts in the United States are becoming a renewed priority for nonprofits, but they can seem like a strain. Human-centered design can help.

Highlighted Books

Social Media and Social Movements by Baris Çoban (Editor)
Call Number: ebook (Forefront member login required)
ISBN: 9781498529303
Publication Date: 2015
This book examines the increased utilization of social media in daily life and its impact on social movements. The contributors analyze social media revolutions such as the Arab Spring, the 15-M movement in Spain, the OccupyNigeria movement, and the Occupy Gezi movement in Turkey.
You're More Powerful Than You Think by Eric Liu
Call Number: JF799 .L58 2017
ISBN: 9781610397070
Publication Date: 2017-03-28
Is this the America you want? If not, here's how to claim the power to change your country. We are in an age of epic political turbulence in America. Old hierarchies and institutions are collapsing. From the election of Donald Trump to the upending of the major political parties to the spread of grassroots movements like Black Lives Matter and $15 Now, people across the country and across the political spectrum are reclaiming power. Are you ready for this age of bottom-up citizen power? Do you understand what power truly is, how it flows, who has it, and how you can claim and exercise it?

Forefront Advocacy

Forefront’s public policy and advocacy work engages our Members to create a legislative and regulatory environment in Illinois (and at the federal level) that helps the philanthropic and nonprofit sector attain better results.

Read more about our positions, learn about the important work our Democracy Intiative’s did empowering communities to vote and be counted in the 2020 Census, and engage with policy shifts in our sector with updates from our P olicy Team.

Improving Civic Engagement

David Hiller, CEO of the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, gives an address at the City Club of Chicago on ways the state, non-profits, and educators can improve the Illinois public's civic engagement and knowledge.

60-Second Civics Podcast

60-Second Civics is produced by the Center for Civic Education. The show's content is primarily derived from the Center’s education for democracy curricula, including We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution, Foundations of Democracy, and Elements of Democracy.