Blog #6

Citizen participation is extremely important to my community partner. Without citizen participation, the organization wouldn’t exist. All the tutors are volunteers so without them, there wouldn’t be anyone to work with the kids. That’s the obvious answer but participation in voting is also pretty important for my community partner as well. The textbook states that “individuals with lower levels of income an education tend to participate less than wealthier, more educated individuals” (71). The book also states that “if some traditional nonvoters (such as low-income, less-educated citizens) went to the polls, then vote-seeking candidates would be forced to pay more attention to their interests, and public policy might be nudged in a different direction” (70). My community partner serves the citizens and children of the low-income, less-educated communities. If the people of those communities went out and voted, then maybe they would be heard and something would be done in order to level the playing field. This is extremely important long term because sure, we can help these kids now, but why even put them in that position where they need us when we could prevent them and their peers and their children after them from even needing us. I think that before this summer, I had a passive destructive response. I had that mentality that the book mentions of “you can’t fight city hall” (70).  I think working with reading partners has pushed me towards a more active and constructive attitude towards things. I’m now participating in the community and trying to bring awareness and help be a part of the solution.

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