CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

Mission:  NLCP Civic Engagement Programs provide opportunities to engage students in community and public life to develop the values of social responsibility, efficacy and empowerment to transform students, alumni and staff and the larger society. 

Vision:  All NLCP students, staff and alumni will foster a free, equitable and just society.

Guiding Principles:  Student Leadership/Voice – the work is authentic to students, generated by their ideas and acted on by them.

• Challenging status quo – the work is about transformation
• Connecting self to society – the work centers on students understanding who they are and the role they can/must play in creating a more just world
• Ethical core –the work focuses on creating a better society
• Critical analysis – the work is based in research, reflection and insight.

Civic Engagement at NLCP incorporates a wide range of activities, programs and initiatives that have generally been divided into two main areas.

• Core initiatives embedded in course curriculum that focus on exposure and awareness and 
• Extra curricular initiatives providing opportunity for enrichment and leadership.

PICTURE GALLERY ( Click Here )
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT BROCHURE

Tuesday 1/15 – North Lawndale College Prep will host a political forum on education funding featuring all of the candidates running for Illinois Senate District 5 and House Districts 9 and 10.  Forum starts at 6pm in the NLCP auditorium.

December 2007 has been a busy month for NLCP student activists, as they have gone to Iowa to work the upcoming caucus the first two weekends of the month.

11/31- 12/2 – Ms Bass, Kenneth Colbert and Nannesha West all traveled to Des Moines, Iowa (after being stranded at O’Hare airport for 9 hours!) to be part of the Active Citizen Project’s film crew creating a documentary on the Iowa caucus.  Ken and Nannesha interviewed attendee’s of the Heartland Forum to find out how they feel about democratic process and the candidates running for office. The group then attended the Black and Brown Forum, the oldest minority presidential forum in the nation.  All of the Democratic candidates were in attendance.  Ken and Nannesha were interviewed by BET and met Obama.  The group got to see all the candidates up close and personal and the political circus that occurs in Iowa in December.  It was a memorable and transformative experience.

12/6-12/9 – Ms. Bass, Crystal Wills, Brittney McKeithen, Jasmine Bland, Sherina Wordlaw, Darlissa Scott, Brandon Prince, Kayla Davidson, Nannesha West, Ariel Williams and Alexandria Moore joined 31 other Chicago students on a trip to Iowa organized by the Mikva Challenge.  Assigned to various campaigns, these students got to be a part of the political process.  They made phone calls, went door knocking in 15 degrees below temperatures, made posters and wrote postcards on behalf of their candidates.  The students saw Hillary Clinton speak and met with afterwards.  They also attended the Oprah-Obama rally.  In addition to the important political work they did, the students talked politics and other important issues with students from other Chicago schools as well as students from high schools in Iowa

Jill Bass
Civic Engagement Coordinator
jbass@nlcphs.org