For me, the last week has meant: the end of the Summer Institute of Civic Studies (6.5 hours of graduate-level teaching every day), the Frontiers of Democracy conference (150 excited guests at my institution), Albuquerque, a day back in Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco. At this point, I feel an urgent need to go offline. I’ll blog again on Tuesday–from Chicago.

(San Francisco) The short presentations from Frontiers 2013 are all available in video form here. As an enticing example, I present the police chief of Brooklyn Park, MN, Michael Davis. Brooklyn Park is one of the most diverse communities in Minnesota. Chief Davis argues that police forces must move beyond merely engaging their communities; they must help to build communities. He nicely summarizes the work of Harvard sociologist Robert Sampson, which I have described on this blog before. Sampson has shown that, holding other factors constant, neighborhoods with more “collective efficacy” see considerably less violent crime; and networks of nonprofit associations can boost collective efficacy. Chief Davis argues that police can help them do that.

(Chicago) According to the latest Pew poll, a majority of young White people are dissatisfied with the Zimmerman verdict, in contrast to older White people, who approve. Nevertheless, just 32% of Whites between 18 and 29 think that the trial “raised important issues about race that need to be discussed,” whereas a majority (52%) say that “the issue of race is getting too much attention.” Pew doesn’t break out young African Americans’ views of those issues, but overall, 78% of Blacks think the trial raised issues about race that need discussion. (See my recent argument that we should be talking about racism in relation to the case.)

According to previous research, a majority of young White people wrongly believe that discrimination is worse against Whites than against African Americans. The age group as a whole is diverse, but young Whites are pervasively segregated from people of color. Only 15% of white students attend multiracial schools. They don’t have much direct exposure to African Americans or much opportunity to observe inequality.

Jonathan Chait wrote recently, “Obama believes America’s racial problem has not only gotten dramatically better over the course of his life — it will continue to do so. Younger people are less racially biased than older people, and Obama believes that process will continue to rapidly transform America’s approach to race.” I think by some definitions of racial bias, that is true. But young White people seem especially prone to believe that racism is a thing of the past, and that may be barrier to actually doing something about it.

Here is an up-to-date list of interesting jobs related to civic engagement, civic education, and community organizing. (I post such lists periodically.)

• Program Administrator for CIRCLE’s National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement. NSLVE is an initiative of CIRCLE and Tisch College. It measures college student voting rates and will create a comprehensive national dataset of college and university student registration and voting rates. Reporting directly to the Director of Initiatives for the Study of Higher Education and Public Life, the Program Administrator will perform an important role in the NSLVE initiative. Key responsibilities of this position include: managing communications and information about participating campuses, working with the Director to recruit colleges and universities to participate by responding to inquiries and reaching out to institutional decision makers; working with the Director to develop recruitment strategies; producing and disseminating individual campus reports; working with CIRCLE researchers to ensure accuracy in the national dataset for research purposes;  maintaining a repository of program information to be used by the Director and other CIRCLE colleagues.
• Network Organizer at Leading Change Network. The Leading Change Network is a global community of practice of some 100 organizers, researchers and educators.Initiated by Marshall Ganz, Harvard Kennedy School, and others, its purpose is to support its participants in developing the leadership, building the organizational capacity, and improving the ability of democratic organizing to meet the critical challenges of our times. At present, for example, participants in 11 countries work on topics that range from immigration reform, human rights, gender equity, and economic justice to climate change, public health, and domestic violence. The demand, however, far exceeds our current capacity to respond, indicated by a growing data base of over 2000 interested persons in more 25 countries who would like to engage with us. The purpose of our search is to find a person who can enable us to respond. We seek a proactive, creative and “well organized” online organizer to work with a diverse leadership team to build the network, grow the network, and manage network infrastructure (database, web site, social media, etc.)
• Communications Coordinator, Tisch College, Tufts University. Tisch College generates an enduring culture of engagement by collaborating with schools, departments, and student groups to offer extensive programming for every member of the Tufts community. Reporting to the Communications Manager, the Communications Coordinator will be responsible for identifying, writing, and sharing print and web based content which showcases Tisch College’s work, reinforcing strategic communications themes. Assignments may include writing and managing print projects (such as newsletters, annual reports, and brochures) and digital communications (such as email, web content, social media, and video). The Communications Coordinator will assist in performing a range of editorial functions from brainstorming and researching themes to developing and writing feature stories. The position requires a demonstrated ability to write with style, verve, and brevity with an appreciation for engaging a variety of audiences. Additionally, the Communications Coordinator will strengthen the written research products from CIRCLE.
• Tenure-track professor in public administration, School of Government, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Desired fields of specialization include collaboration, organization theory and behavior, or human capital management.
• VP Marketing & Communications at Global Citizen Year. Through strategic marketing, partnerships and PR, the VP of Marketing & Communications will ensure that Global Citizen Year becomes: 1) a household name among America’s emerging leaders, and 2) the national platform to make a global “bridge year” after high school the norm, not the exception in America. The ideal candidate is an entrepreneurial leader, with a track-record building new brands, and driving successful, high-profile communications campaigns.