Calling All Social Studies, Government, Humanities, and Gifted Teachers!

We know that in order for viable democratic processes and institutions to become established that serve the public good in communities, its citizens must develop the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and habits, that enable democracy and democratic representation to work.

•  Get your students involved in local government:

In the drafting of the new Albuquerque City/Bernalillo Unification Charter

The City of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County governments have proposed the drafting of a new charter that would unify the two government entities pursuant to Article 10, Section 11 of the New Mexico State Constitution. The City and County governments have appointed the Unification Charter Commission (UCC) to draft a charter proposal to be presented to voters of Bernalillo County in the Fall of 2004. This Charter proposal is to be meticulously detailed in addressing the reorganization of government entities, the form the new government will take, the number of elected officials, taxation issues, types of services provided, land use issues, and the transition process, etc. The UCC will be holding public forums on Saturdays for the purpose of receiving input from all county residents in the drafting of the Charter proposal, throughout the coming months.

The UCC and Shared Vision would like to extend a special invitation to high school students and teachers from civics/government, economics, history, gifted, student government, mock trial, and other social studies related programs and clubs to participate in this exciting process.

This project offers the opportunity for young people, whose voices are often not heard in public decision-making processes, to be active in the process of creating our new local government.

Educational, Skills-related, and Personal benefits to students

•  Cultivation of public speaking, professional communication, writing, research, and analytical thinking skills

•  The opportunity to be equal partners in community decision-making processes

•  The opportunity to make connections in the local public policy and non-profit communities .

How Students and Teachers can get involved……

  Contact: Signe Rich or Melanie Stansbury at Shared Vision

Phone 505-764-6078 or

E-mail mail@sharedvision.info