We've aggregated a collection of tools and information from community organizations with similar missions as the Public Broadcast Industry. These resources are aimed at citizenship, focusing on ways of informing and engaging people in the democratic process. It does not specifically focus on elections, but on the need for ongoing involvement in community.

Citizen Engagement Resources

Options for Engaging Citizens

http://www.mngts.org/services/citizens.html: An article outlining ways to engage citizens through Community Visioning, the collective recognition that the future is to be achieved and managed by people thinking and working together because they care about their community.

The Center for Communication and Civic Engagement

http://depts.washington.edu/ccce/Home.htm : CCCE is dedicated to research, the creation of citizen resources and student-designed learning experiences that develop new areas of positive citizen involvement in politics and social life. The primary focus is to understand how new information technologies can supplement more traditional forms of communication to facilitate civic engagement.

The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation

http://www.theharwoodinstitute.org: The Institute seeks to spark fundamental change in American public life - so that people can tap their own potential to make a difference and join together to build a common future. They have been evolving both the ideas and the practical approaches for changing the negative conditions in society that too often divide people and keep them from making progress in their neighborhoods, communities, and the nation as a whole.

Pew Partnership for Civic Change

http://www.pew-partnership.org: The Pew Partnership for Civic Change is a civic research organization that provides consulting and program support to communities, governments, foundations, and nonprofit agencies. PEW help clients identify and implement solutions and strategies crucial to making communities stronger.

Benton Foundation

http://www.benton.org/: Since 1981, the Benton Foundation has worked to realize the social benefits made possible by the public interest use of communications. Through its own projects, the foundation seeks to shape the emerging communications environment in the public interest. Bridging the worlds of philanthropy, public policy and community action, Benton demonstrates and promotes the use of digital media to engage, equip and connect people to solve social problems.

Training Resources

The Wilder Nonprofit Field Guide to Conducting Community Forums:

Engaging Citizens, Mobilizing Communities (Wilder Nonprofit Field Guide.) by Carol A. Lukas , Linda Hoskins

The Amherst H. Wilder Foundation

www.wilder.org: The Wilder Foundation is a nonprofit health and human services organization. They operate dozens of programs that help children succeed in school, older adults remain independent, troubled youth create healthy futures, and individuals and families to maintain long-term housing. Their web-site has publications listed.

Community Toolbox

http://ctb.ku.edu/: Their mission is to promote community health and development by connecting, people, ideas, and resources. The tools include: a model for change, working together for healthier communities, and a couple of evaluation guides. The searchable database with links to practical organizations is a very good resource/tool.

Sustainable Communities Network

http://www.sustainable.org: SCN is a Web site for those who want to help make their communities more livable. A broad range of community issues are addressed and resources are provided to address these issues. The Web site was developed to increase the visibility of what has worked for other communities, and to promote a lively exchange of information to help create community sustainability in both urban and rural areas. It opens doors to connect individuals to other initiatives, tools, people and organizations.

For Youth

Community Partnerships with Youth Inc.

http://renewal.typepad.com/philanthropy/: Community Partnerships with Youth, Inc., is a national training and resource development organization dedicated to promoting active citizenship through youth and adult partnerships.

The National Youth Leadership Council

www.nylc.org: A national nonprofit organization that links youths, educators, and communities to redefine the roles of young people in society. It empowers youths to transform themselves from recipients of information and resources into valuable, contributing members of a democracy.

YouthBuild U.S.A.

www.youthbuild.org : YouthBuild U.S.A. is the national nonprofit support center and intermediary for the YouthBuild movement. Their mission is: "to unleash the intelligence and positive energy of low-income youth to rebuild their communities and their lives." YouthBuild wrote the book on youth involvement and leadership development.

The Promising Practices Network

www.promisingpractices.net: Highlights health and human service practices and programs that are effective in achieving positive results for children, youth, families, and communities. Our goal is to provide clear, practical, up-to-date information that will be useful in your work.

Community Development Organizing

The On-line Conference on Community Organizing and Development

http://comm-org.wisc.edu/: Helps connect people who care about the craft of community organizing, finds and provides information that organizers, scholars, and scholar-organizers can use to learn, teach, and do community organizing, and involves all members in meeting those goals.

The National Civic League

http://www.ncl.org: NCL provides expert technical assistance to communities of all sizes by convening diverse perspectives from across the community and working with them to jointly plan and solve community challenges. This Web site contains resources and research spotlighting cutting-edge innovation and trends, including community stories, publications, speeches, and links to related organizations.

Center for Community Change

http://www.communitychange.org: Helps low-income people, especially people of color, build powerful, effective organizations through which they can change their communities and public policies for the better.

Leadership

The Aspen Institute

http://www.aspeninstitute.org: The Institute is an international non-profit organization founded in 1950. Its mission is to foster enlightened leadership, the appreciation of timeless ideas and values, and open-minded dialogue on contemporary issues. Through seminars, policy programs, conferences and leadership development initiatives, the Institute and its international partners seek to promote the pursuit of common ground and deeper understanding in a nonpartisan and non-ideological setting.

OneWorld US

http://us.oneworld.net: OneWorld.net is the premiere global hub for groups and individuals who care about international issues--a town hall for today's interconnected world. OneWorld aims to bring together a global community, to transcend geographic and linguistic barriers and in particular to give a voice to those typically overlooked by mainstream media and policy-makers.

The Community Leadership Association

http://www.communityleadership.org: The Community Leadership Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to nurturing leadership in communities throughout the United States and internationally. The association is a membership organization with hundreds of diverse community leadership organizations and encourages sharing and mutual learning by its members and embraces the diversity of community leadership development efforts. A listing of leadership programs by state is provided at this site.