The Florida Joint Center for Citizenship (JCC) is a partnership between the Lou Frey Institute of Politics and Government at the University of Central Florida and the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at the University of Florida. JCC joined with the National Conference on Citizenship to do a report on civics in Florida. The National Conference on Citizenship is the nation’s leading advocate for civic participation and the only organization in the country chartered by Congress. The conclusion of the report is that Florida’s civic health is in critical condition. When all the factors are combined Florida ranks 47th in the country in civic involvement.

One of the factors considered is Florida’s voting. Florida is ranked 32nd in voter turnout, with only slightly more than half (52.3%) of registered Floridians actually voting. Since about 56% of adults over 18 years old are registered, this means less than 30% of Florida’s eligible population can typically be expected to participate in a general election. In the primary in 2006, when the candidates for governor and senator were nominated, only a little more than 19% of the population voted, meaning effectively 9.5% of the adult population voted.

Another milestone is volunteerism. Again, at the bottom of the list is Florida, who ranks 47th in the nation. A third indicator considers the extent to which citizens choose to involve themselves directly in the process of governing. At slightly under 6% Florida anchors the bottom of the public participation list at number 49.

Finally, another civic health indicator focuses on collaborative problem solving. Communities with strong civic cultures are those in which citizens have the skills and the inclination to join together to address issues of common concern. Florida is near the bottom of the list ranking 40th with only 5.6% of our citizens joining with others to collaborate in community problem solving. Combining all these measures, Florida is ranked 47th in the nation, only 1.7% from the bottom ranked state of Nevada.

Our poor civic health is compounded by the fact that Florida’s graduation rate is among the worst in the nation. Florida graduated only 64.5% of its entering freshmen, ranking 45th in the nation. These dropouts from high school have very little involvement in the civic process. Virtually no high school dropouts reported that they were highly engaged, either in community service or electoral activities. Conversely, those who attended or graduated from college were almost three times as likely to have a high level of electoral engagement and civic activity. This lack of education, this lack of civic participation has a negative effect on the economy of our state and our job base. Sen. Graham and I are supporting legislation by Rep. McBurney and Sen. Wise to make civic education part of our grammar school curriculum. This is our third year of trying. This three year program will include among others, year-long civic courses, mock elections in grades 3 to 12, and service learning experiences in 6th grade.

There is some hope; Floridians overwhelmingly supported two proposals which will encourage civic education. Seventy-four percent of Floridians are in favor of requiring service learning, the embedding of public service in school curriculum. Furthermore, 69% supported a required test on civics and government in primary and secondary schools.

The Frey Institute has many programs underway that should have a positive effect on improving civic literacy. For instance, the Institute has sponsored a high school Civic Leadership Academy each summer for the last two years and this year will hold its third academy. Our symposium has gone on for six years, with twelve symposia on key issues with an average of 800 students attending in person. The Frey Institute is the Florida coordinator of the National Student/Parent Mock Election, which will have over 500,000 Florida students voting on October 30th in a mock presidential election. In partnership with the United States Association of Former Members of Congress and the Office of the House Historian, the Lou Frey Institute is using Former Members of Congress as teachers to deliver for middle and high school classes on-demand live-broadcast-quality programs. In partnership with Campus Compact, the Frey Institute will add a Tallahassee-based college version of the high school Civic Leadership Academy in the summer of ’09 and every year thereafter.

There are also many programs going on under the sponsorship of the JCC. For instance, the JCC has joined with Leon County to create a Model Civics Education program. This was made possible through funding from the Knight Foundation, the Helios Foundation and the district. The JCC with the help of the Helios Foundation is conducting a civics academy for middle school civic teachers. The President of the Florida League of Cities, Carmine Priore, has announced that a Florida League of Cities civic education initiative is being developed through the JCC and has contributed $25,000 to start the process. Future newsletters will contain more details of these initiatives.

We have lost three generations of Floridians to civic indifference and illiteracy. This is intolerable, it cannot be allowed to be continued. We know that we cannot look to the state for all the answers, and have to use the free enterprise system to develop our own programs. However this problem can’t be solved without help from the state. New ideas should be explored. For instance, is it possible to require high school students to do community service as part of their course work (service learning)? Can we seek federal support for non-profit, faith-based, and civic organizations that use volunteers? Can we offer young people a chance to earn tuition money for college in return for a year of community service?

We are at the bottom and there is only one way to go, and that is up. We can’t cure thirty or forty years of civic illiteracy overnight, but we can cure it, we must cure it, we will cure it. This is something we can all work on together; there is no Republican or Democratic position. To help and to learn more, go to www.loufrey.org. Thanks in advance for your help and support.

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Lou Frey represented Central Florida in the U. S. Congress from 1969 to 1979. In his last election, he received nearly 80% of the vote. He was elected one of five Republican leaders in the House of Representatives during the 93rd and 94th Congress. He served on...