This is information is especially important for anyone working in education as the autistic spectrum is quite large and impacts a significant number of people/students at every schooling level. I'm particularly interested in how this national organization helps those whose autism effects their communication skills. Thanks for this resource.

This article comes from the Stanford University Social Innovation Review, a newsletter for "informing and inspiring leaders for social change". It is a book review for Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath, brother authors addressing change on individual, corporate and organizational levels. The review describes the perspective approached by the authors and their belief that all change involves logic, emotion and environment. From my personal experience, affecting change is often frustrating because of the few things I know about what motivates, or doesn't, the individuals inside the structures I am trying to move. This book appears to offer insight into this conundrum.

This was the community forum I attended before the New Hampshire senate voted on whether to abolish capital punishment in the state. The forum included world representatives from Amnesty International and others who've been working for death penalty changes world wide. There is serious capital crime abuses and death penalty sentences for minimal infractions in many countries.

This is a similar story to the recent vote in our town to fund the building of a new school. There seems to be a trend against public spending for social programs and schools that the current economy has only exacerbated. It reminds me that the funds for necessary services remains difficult to come by while politicians spend millions on election campaigns.

This article left me wondering whether London schools, or British schools in general, have the same level of testing that we have in the US. It is very difficult for teachers to not "teach to the test", and there is a significant challenge for teachers to engage students in a holistic learning environment trying to include their school and home life.

I was unable to open tis article, either by cutting and pasting the link on a new page or clicking the link attached to Dana's post. Any suggestions?
It is good to see that the community is keeping vigil by continuing to gather and keep conversation going. There needs to be more education for law enforcement about the institutional racism that we all have experienced in our country. It is pervasive, and doesn't get the attention it deserves. The predicaments that minorities and the poor are so often faced with begin with the inability to make progress in employment, housing and equal community rights.

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/economic-intelligence/2012/12/14/national-service-supports-innovation-and-job-creation
This article, though it's a little dated, talks about how few of those that want to get involved in AmeriCorps and programs like it. Israel requires all it's citizens of Selective Service age to serve 2 years in the military, and the article talks about the skills they come out with and the veterans of military service ability to be successful. It seems, too that they are more willing to engage in activities that contribute to stronger communities and country.

After failing to pass a Senate vote last month, the NH House resubmits death penalty repeal with added amendment defining capital cases and sentences of life without parole.

This article appeared in the Concord NH Patch, a town newsletter service specific to a number of New Hampshire towns. It details the panel discussion held Thursday April, 11th when the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty visited Concord in anticipation of the NH Senate's vote next week that could abolish the death penalty in the state.

This link is for the blog of a company called Cross Cultural Solutions. This company sets up volunteer opportunities for people in the US to work in countries around the world. The blog has stories from teens and others about their experiences teaching, building and caring for elders in developing nations. Do and learn has always worked better for me.

Veterans issues seem to be getting a fair amount of attention. There are billboards encouraging people to hire vets and also TV advertisements. Vets involved in the latest conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq are getting better support than either those in the Viet Nam or Gulf War conflicts. That's a good thing.

This dissertation about the direction the Bible gives to be civically engaged was a different twist on what I've usually seen people focus on when pointing to the Bible to regulate behavior. It had a less moral tone of what not to do and more of a values tone of what to do. This had a lot of appeal for me.

This story made me wonder exactly what she did to solve the water problem. Was it that her position with the town council made the vote for thins possible? Was it that the town couldn't get the water system run to that particular village? Water is also one of the resources people in power have come to use to maintain that power, especially in underdeveloped countries.

Having spent so much time trying to remember all that lobbying information, I thought it would be interesting to read about an organization experiencing some successes. The story also seemed relevant because of all the attention this year about the Affordable Health Act which had serious technical issue. Enough so I couldn't figure out if the act itself had merit. The piece I posted highlights the successes in 2013 experienced by The National Community Pharmacist Association, who actually has an Associate Director of Grass Roots and Publics Affairs. Their article highlights their successes but what struck me was the organization that they exhibited both in informing their membership, organizing their data and presenting their case.

The pressure that professional athletes come under to be more than model citizens (obviously murder is way out of the ordinary behavior) is just one more way that the values in America are sometimes a little out of balance. Athletes get fined outrageous sums and can often pay them and move on.

This piece is less an example of civic engagement but commentary on the status of contemporary college students and what the changing global structure required of higher education today. I thought it was an interesting read that corresponded with this week's topic.

Nice piece. It's too bad we couldn't have heard more from the kids. The idea that they are helping children who need protection probably made quite an impression. Learning by using skills so practically makes the skill more permanent. I like it!

This is my delayed post from week 3 and combines the CIRCLE survey look at young adults and their civic involvement and the Better Together look at Branch Libraries. This piece is a press release from the American Library Association about a program out of Chicago to introduce teens to civic engagement through the arts.

This article confirmed the information in Chapter 2, Branch Libraries, of Better Together, but because of it's statistical presentation the issue of how community building is done through libraries didn't get as much attention. Better Together also gave a little more information about the value of helping older people and some of the immigrant communities learn to use modern technology to access essential services.