July 12, 2001 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Rae Hudson 301-405-6334 or hudsonr@wam.umd.edu

COLLEGE PARK, Md.C After a generation of near-neglect among social scientists and other scholars, the question of how young people acquire civic attitudes and habits is back on the research agenda.

The University of Maryland announced today that it has been awarded a $4.57 million grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts to create a new research center that will explore the causes of civic disengagement among young people between the ages of 15 and 25 as well as factors and initiatives that encourage their civic engagement. The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) will serve as a key source of rigorous, impartial information and research for scholars, practitioners, and policy makers.

Reflecting on civic engagement among young Americans today, William A. Galston, a professor in the University of Maryland School of Public Affairs and director of CIRCLE, says he is drawn to Dickens=s famous characterization of the French Revolution, AIt was the best of times, it was the worst of times.@

AOn the one hand, young people are volunteering their services in record numbers,@ Galston said. AOn the other hand, young people are disengaging from the institutions through which binding public decisions are made.@

CIRCLE will address this issue by assessing the current state of our knowledge of youth civic engagement, by funding research to fill the gaps in that knowledge, and by disseminating information and research findings to practitioners and policy makers as well as interested scholars in disciplines such as political science, sociology, and education.

AIt is the Maryland School of Public Affairs= mission to have a fundamental impact on the nation through research and training of individuals engaged in public service,@ said Dean Susan C. Schwab. AThis generous grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts helps us to fulfill that mission.@

An Advisory Board comprised of leading scholars and practitioners from around the country will help shape CIRCLE=s research agenda and guide its grant-making decisions.

CIRCLE is a key building-block of The Pew Charitable Trust=s ambitious Youth Engagement Initiative, which is designed to increase the amount and quality of young Americans= involvement in public life.

Former domestic policy advisor in the Clinton Administration, and currently director of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, Galston was executive director of the bipartisan National Commission on Civic Renewal, also funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, established in 1996 to examine the civic condition of the United States and offer recommendations for reform. The Commission=s final report, A Nation of Spectators: How Civic Disengagement Weakens America and What We Can Do About It, was released in 1998. Among many recommendations, the report urged renewed attention to civic education for young people as a key means of boosting their knowledge, understanding, and engagement.

The Maryland School of Public Policy (www.publicpolicy.umd.edu) is a graduate school of public policy, management and international affairs that is nationally recognized for its excellent faculty, innovative curriculum, and leadership in the education of public policy professionals.

The Pew Charitable Trusts (www.pewtrusts.com) support nonprofit activities in the areas of culture, education, the environment, health and human services, public policy and religion. Based in Philadelphia, the Trusts make strategic investments to help organizations and citizens develop practical solutions to difficult problems. In 2000, with approximately $4.8 billion in assets, the Trusts committed more than $235 million to 302 nonprofit organizations.

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