C. Civic Engagement, Service, and Action · Civic Engagement, Service, and Action

Civic Contributions and the Common Good

C1.1 C1.2 A1.4 A2.1About 65 minutes

Learning goals

I can explain what the common good is and what makes an action a civic contribution.
I can name different forms of civic contribution, from volunteering to advocacy.
I can tell local, national and global contributions apart.
I can use criteria to assess how significant a civic contribution is.

Words to know

civic
Having to do with citizens and the life of a community, from a neighbourhood to a country.

common good
What benefits a community as a whole, not just one person or group: clean water, safe streets, fair rules, parks, public health.

civic contribution
An action by a person or organization that improves community life or the common good.

volunteer
A person who freely gives time and effort without being paid.

advocacy
Speaking up or acting publicly to support a cause or to ask decision makers for change.

organization
A group of people working together for a shared purpose, such as a charity, club, union, business or nonprofit.

political significance
How important an event, issue, person or action is, judged by its effects on people and communities.

criteria
The standards you use to make a judgement (singular: criterion).

The snowbank test

It is the morning after a big January storm. On your street, a neighbour in her eighties cannot get out of her driveway. Three different things could happen:

Nobody notices.
One teen shovels it once, then forgets.
A group of students sets up a sign-up sheet so that every senior on the street is shovelled out after every storm, all winter.

All three are choices. Only the last two help, and the third one keeps helping. This unit is about choices like these: how people contribute to the common good, how communities include (or leave out) people, and how you can take action on an issue you care about.

Remember from earlier grades

In Grade 5 you studied how citizens and governments take action on social and environmental issues and you made a simple plan of action. In Grade 9 geography you used an inquiry process to investigate a question. In this course you will do both again with more depth: you will judge actions using criteria, compare perspectives, and plan real action.

What is the common good?

The common good is what benefits a community as a whole. It includes things that everyone shares, such as clean air and water, safe roads, parks, libraries, public health and fair laws. No one person owns them, but everyone depends on them.

A civic contribution is any action by a person or an organization that makes community life better for others. It is civic because it is about our shared life as members of a community, not only about ourselves or our families.

A contribution does not have to be famous. Coaching a children's soccer team, sorting cans at a food bank and organizing a park clean-up all count. So do larger efforts, such as raising money for medical research across Canada or helping people after an earthquake in another country.

The common good works at three levels. A local action helps your school or town, a national action helps people across Canada, and a global action helps people in other countries too. Many actions start small and grow outward.

Forms of civic contribution

People contribute in different ways. Here are six common forms:

Giving time: volunteering at a shelter, a library or a community garden.
Giving money or goods: donating to a charity, a food drive or a coat drive.
Speaking up (advocacy): writing to a city councillor, starting a petition, raising awareness about an issue.
Taking part: voting when you are old enough, attending a public meeting, joining a school council.
Serving: working in public service, such as firefighters, nurses, teachers, election workers and city planners. (Being paid does not cancel the contribution, but most civic contributions in daily life are unpaid.)
Creating: starting a new club, charity, invention or idea that helps others.

Six common forms of civic contribution. One person or organization often uses several at once: a food bank, for example, asks for volunteers (time), donations (money or goods) and speaks to governments about hunger (advocacy).

Individuals and organizations

Contributions come from individuals (one person, or a small group of friends) and from organizations (charities, nonprofits, faith groups, service clubs, unions, businesses, sports leagues, First Nations, Métis and Inuit community organizations, and many more).

Individuals often notice a need first. Organizations can keep the work going for years, train volunteers and reach more people. Many famous contributions started with one person and grew into an organization.

How do we judge significance?

In civics, political significance is one of four concepts of political thinking (the others are objectives and results, stability and change, and political perspective; you will use all four in this unit). To assess significance, ask questions using clear criteria:

Reach: How many people did it affect?
Depth: How much did it change their lives?
Lasting impact: Did the effects last? Is it still going?
Ripple effect: Did it inspire others, start an organization, or change rules, laws or attitudes?

A small local action can score high on depth and ripple effect even if its reach is small. A judgement is strong when it uses evidence for each criterion.

Worked example

Let's assess a local contribution together

In a small Ontario town, two Grade 10 students start "Snow Angels". About 40 student volunteers sign up. After each snowfall they shovel the driveways of 25 seniors and people with disabilities who asked for help. Two years later, the town's community centre runs the program, and two nearby towns have copied it. How significant is this contribution?

Reach: 25 households directly, plus the volunteers. That is important locally but small compared with a national program. Score: 3 / 5.
Depth: For a senior who cannot shovel, a cleared driveway can mean getting to medical appointments and groceries safely. Score: 4 / 5.
Lasting impact: It has run for two years and now has a permanent home at the community centre. Score: 4 / 5.
Ripple effect: Two other towns copied it, and many students learned to volunteer. Score: 5 / 5.
Judgement: Use the scores to write a sentence with reasons, not just a number.

Snow Angels is a highly significant local contribution. Its reach is small, but it makes a real difference to safety and independence, it has lasted, and it has spread to other communities.

The scorecard from the worked example. Each filled box is one point. A scorecard does not give a "right answer"; it makes you explain your judgement criterion by criterion.

Just for fun

Why did the snowflake join the Snow Angels?

On its own it was just a flake. Together, it was part of a real drift-erence.

Hands-on activity

Contribution map of your community

You need: paper, a pencil, and 15 minutes to walk or drive around your neighbourhood with a grown-up (or look at a local community website or newspaper).

Draw three circles, one inside another, like the diagram above. Label them Local, National and Global.
Find at least six civic contributions near you: a food bank bin, a community garden, a poppy box, a charity run poster, a library program, a volunteer fire department, a place of worship that runs a meal program.
Write each one in the circle that matches its main reach. Some may belong in two (draw an arrow).
Next to each, write which form it uses (time, money or goods, speaking up, taking part, serving, creating).
Choose one and give it a quick significance score using the four criteria.

What to look for: at least six real examples, sensible levels, and a score with one reason per criterion.

Your turn

In your own words, what is the common good?

Name the six forms of civic contribution from this lesson.

A student collects 300 cans of food for the local food bank. Which form of contribution is this, and at which level?

Is a paid paramedic making a civic contribution? Explain.

List the four criteria for judging significance used in this lesson.

Why might a contribution with small reach still be very significant?

Give one example each of an individual and an organization making a civic contribution.

More practice: warm-up

True or false: a contribution must be famous to count as a civic contribution.

Which level is a fundraiser for earthquake relief in another country: local, national or global?

What does advocacy mean?

Name one thing that is part of the common good in your town.

What are criteria?

More practice: on your own

A teen volunteers once at a park clean-up. Another teen organizes a monthly clean-up that 30 people join for a year. Compare their significance using two criteria.

Explain why organizations can often make longer-lasting contributions than individuals.

A company gives every employee one paid day a year to volunteer. Is this a civic contribution by the company? Explain.

Classify each by form: (a) writing to your MPP about bus service, (b) running for student council, (c) donating blood.

Why is a significance judgement stronger with evidence?

Challenge

Some people argue that giving money is the most effective contribution because organizations can use it flexibly. Others say giving time builds community. Give one strength of each view and your own reasoned position.

Design your own fifth criterion for significance and explain why it adds something the four criteria miss.

Explain how one local action could become national. Use a real or realistic example and describe the steps.

Check your understanding

Quiz

Which is the best definition of the common good?

Which action is an example of advocacy?

A fundraiser for clean water projects in several countries is mainly a contribution at which level?

Which criterion asks whether a contribution inspired others or changed rules?

Which statement is TRUE?

Which of these is one of the four concepts of political thinking?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: This lesson starts the Civic Engagement strand (expectations C1.1 and C1.2) by defining the common good and teaching your teen to judge how significant a contribution is using criteria (reach, depth, lasting impact, ripple effect). The thinking skill is more important than the scores.

How to help: Go on the contribution-mapping walk together, or look at your community's website or local paper. Share a contribution you have made or seen, and ask your teen to score it. Ask "What evidence tells you that?" whenever they give a score.

Common difficulties: Teens may think only famous or unpaid actions count, or may judge significance only by numbers of people. Point them back to the four criteria. Some may say "it doesn't matter, it's just small": the Snow Angels example shows how small actions can matter a great deal.