INFORMATION

• Maine Citizenship Education Task Force
• Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools
• For Educators
• For Communities
• For Youth
  • Stories of Engaged Maine Youth
  • Tips for Getting Involved
  • Resource Links
  • Maine Legislative Youth Advisory Council
  • Maine Youth Voting Campaign
  • Student Representation Maine School Boards
  • Articles, Documents, and Tools

Express Yourself

Once you have an educated and informed opinion, share it with others! Whether this is just talking about how you feel or taking larger action to make change in your community, it is important to make sure that your voice is HEARD!

• Engage in debates, dialogues and discussions.
  • Sometimes hot topics can cause controversy.  Here are some tools to help you have respectful and informed dialogues.
    • How to Have Supportive and Respectful Communication Among Friends, Classmates, and Co-workers (PDF)
    • Raise Your Voice dialogue tool
    • National Issues Forum
• Testify at a Public Hearing.
  • Look at the Public Hearing schedule for Maine.
  • Find information on a Public Hearing & how to prepare testimony.
    • Guide to a Public Hearing
    • Check out the resources section of the Michigan House Civics Commission page
• Write, call and visit your elected officials.
  • Find your elected officials and how to contact them (Maine).
    • For state officials (Maine)
    • For local officials (Maine)
    • For other states
  • Learn how to lobby. (What exactly is lobbying? Simply put it is an attempt to influence someone else's opinion or activities. Lobbying in the governmental process is making information available to public officials who cannot be expected to know how every law or regulation will affect all of the people they represent.)
    • How to write your legislator
    • Fundamentals for Effective Lobbying
• Write to your newspapers when you have an opinion to share.
  • Look at a list of Maine newspapers.
  • Learn how to write an op-ed or letter to the editor.
    • http://action.aclu.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AP_write_op_ed
    • Green Media Toolshed: Write an OpEd
    • EHow: How to write a letter to the editor
• Boycott, sign a petition, join a protest or a rally.
  • Sign a petition if you agree with the ideas being expressed in it!
    • Petition Spot
  • Think about participating in a protest or rally if you want to join with others to support a cause and have your voices heard.
    • How to organize a protest or march
  • Consider boycotting a product or organization if you don't agree with its methods, principles, or ethics.
    • For general information on boycotts
• Vote!
  • Check out our Youth Voting Campaign section for more information about elections and voting!
    • Rock the Vote