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Content: Attending civic meetings, especially in your local community, provides you with a face-to-face opportunity with your government leaders. By attending a school board or city council meeting you can become informed on the important issues that either group is dealing with. At a school board meeting, you can learn about important changes that might happen at your school and at a city council meeting you can hear about new ordinances and see how your city council chooses to vote. At both of these types of meetings, you can have your voice heard about what is important to you as a member of the school or city. By learning about the issues facing the school board or city council, you can inform others and learn how to become involved in your community. Petitioning Government
Civic Responsibility. The right to petition is one of the freedoms listed in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In general, the idea of petitioning the government means any nonviolent, legal means of encouraging or disapproving government action, directed to the legislative, executive or judicial branch. A common way that petitioning the government occurs is through citizens writing a document about an issue and collecting signatures in support of the document. This document is known as a petition and is a formal, written request made to an official person or organized body, usually the government, and usually with a list of signatures to show the government body how many citizens support the request.