Center for Civic Life
Are you a proactive citizen of the surrounding Ashland community seeking a public forum to initiate change? Look no further than the Ashland University Center for Civic Life.
We facilitate opportunities to educate you about civic life and engage you in deliberative practices that allow you to meet the needs of your community and shape the future. The center works with both the AU campus and the surrounding community to bring citizens into deliberation on public issues by:
- Hosting/co-hosting public forums on issues of common interest
- Facilitating groups and study circles of citizens who are developing and enacting solutions to issues of common concern
- Consulting with and conducting workshops for organizations, schools, agencies and departments on important issues of today.
- Providing opportunities for AU students and faculty to participate in and lead forums
- Conducting research related to deliberative democracy and citizen action
Participation Benefits
Learning how to deliberate issues fairly and honestly develops you intellectually and ethically in order to effectively carry out real-time solutions to local and global problems.
Participation in the Center for Civic Life teaches you how to:
- Engage in dialogue and civil conversations with those who hold different perspectives
- Work with others to solve difficult problems
- View civic action and involvement in civic matters as part of the ongoing work of citizens
- Develop strategic networks for achieving public ends
- Weigh the benefits and trade-offs of choices
- Become more open to other perspectives
Get Involved
The many ways to get involved in the Center for Civic Life include:
- Attending forums and engaging in deliberation on public issues
- Facilitating or participating in a Study Circle
- Participating in moderator workshops and becoming a forum moderator
- Partnering with the center or hosting a moderator workshop
- Discovering and implementing solutions to public issues
- Becoming a member or supporter of the Center for Civic Life