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Publications

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The Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship has created a variety of materials to support the theoretical and practical work of democracy.

Democracy’s Education: Public Work, Citizenship, and the Future of Colleges and Universities

Edited by Harry C. Boyte

New possibilities for democratic revitalization with educators as agents and architects, not victims, of change. Today Americans feel powerless in the face of problems on every front. Such feelings are acute in higher education, where educators are experiencing an avalanche of changes: cost-cutting, new technologies, and demands that higher education be narrowly geared to the needs of today’s workplace. College graduates face mounting debt and uncertain job prospects and worry about a coarsening of the mass culture and the erosion of authentic human relationships. Higher education is increasingly seen as a ticket to individual success—a private good, not a public one.

Democracy’s Education grows from the American Commonwealth Partnership, a year-long project to revitalize the democratic narrative of higher education that began with an invitation to Harry Boyte from the White House to put together a coalition aimed at strengthening higher education as a public good. The project was launched at the beginning of 2012 to mark the 150th anniversary of the Morrill Act, which created land grant colleges.

Contributors: Harry C. Boyte, David Mathews, Scott J. Peters, Albert W. Dzur, Martha Kanter, Nancy Cantor, Peter Englot, Robert Bruininks, Andy Furco, Robert Jones, Jayne K. Sommers, Erin A. Konkle, Judith A. Ramaley, Adam Weinberg, Maria Avila, Romand Coles, Blase Scarnati, KerryAnn O’Meara, Timothy K. Eatman, Jamie Haft, Cecilia Orphan, David Hoffman, Julie Ellison, Jenny L. Whitcher, Robert L. Woodson Sr., Sam Daley-Harris, Benjamin R. Barber, Peter Levine, John P. Spencer, Shigeo Kodama, Xolela Mangcu, Lisa Clarke, Paul N. Markham

The Coach’s Guide for Public Achievement is available as a digital file.

This guide contains the material originally published in Building Worlds, Transforming Lives, Making History: A Coach’s Guide for Public Achievement, by Bridget Erlanson and Robert Hildreth, which is out of print.

Download the file here.

Training Manual: Developing and Preparing Coaches

by Margaret Post

54 pages (Minneapolis: Center for Democracy and Citizenship, 2003)

This manual is intended to equip coach coordinators and trainers with a variety of tools, techniques and exercises for coach orientation, coach development, and work with sites.

$8.00

CitizenSolutionThe Citizen Solution: How You Can Make a Difference

by Harry Boyte

224 pages (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2008)

Visit your favorite book retailer to purchase a copy.

Voices of Hope: The Story of the Jane Addams School for Democracy

voices_hope

edited by Nan Kari and Nan Skelton

144 pages (Charles K. Kettering Foundation, 2007)

 

everydaypoliticsEveryday Politics: Reconnecting Citizens and Public Life

by Harry C. Boyte

239 pages (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004)

Visit your favorite bookstore or online book retailer to purchase a copy.

commonwealthCommonwealth: A Return to Citizen Politics

by Harry C. Boyte

Harry Boyte offers a reinterpretation of politics and power in which citizens, not experts and pundits, take center stage.

218 pages. (New York: The Free Press, 1989)

Visit your favorite bookstore or online book retailer to purchase a copy.

free_spacesFree Spaces: The Sources of Democratic Change

by Sara M. Evans and Harry C. Boyte.

A pathbreaking study of the nature of democratic movements.

227 pages. (New York: Harper & Row, 1986)

Visit your favorite bookstore or online book retailer to purchase a copy.

building_americaBuilding America: The Democratic Promise of Public Work

by Harry C. Boyte and Nancy N. Kari

Boyte and Kari use examples from low-income communities, colleges, high-tech newspapers, government agencies, and schools, to put forth an original theory of work as a source of democratic renewal.

255 pages. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996)

Visit your favorite bookstore or online book retailer to purchase a copy.

Workshop Offerings

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The Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship offers workshops and training sessions on topics related to civic, community, and political engagement for students, community members, staff, and faculty. See upcoming workshops on our events calendar.

 

Basics of Organizing: Public vs. Private, Power, and Self-Interest

Interested in learning about community organizing but don’t know where to start? This workshop is for you. Learn some of the foundational concepts of organizing to get started on your change making journey. Participants in this workshop will gain an understanding of relational power, the difference between public and private relationships, and how self-interest motivates us to act.

Deliberative Dialogue

According to research through the National Issues Forum, Americans are deeply worried that the social fabric may be unraveling due to polarization. A deliberative approach helps to address the problem of polarization. Deliberative practice promotes learning, listening, and understanding across lines of difference, and can lead to collective action. This experience-based training for moderating deliberative dialogues offers the opportunity for participants to engage in a deliberative dialogue, and to develop facilitation skills for moderating deliberative dialogues.

Democracy and the Philosophy of Public Work

In this dynamic workshop, participants will learn about the theory and practice of public work. Participants will leave being able to distinguish between three ways of conceptualizing democracy and what it means to be a citizen, and will understand civic agency and its role in public problem solving.

One-to-One Relational Meetings

If you want to create change, few things are more important as one-to-one relational meetings. One-to-ones are at the heart of community organizing and leadership. These conversations are about establishing a public relationship with someone, and sharing stories as a way to understand their motivations and self interests. They can uncover common values and interests that might lead to collaborative work in support of the change you are trying to create. This mix of personal, sometimes intimate knowledge leading to public action holds unique value. Participants in this workshop will learn and practice one-to-one relationship building for organizing and public work.

Orientation to Community-Based Learning

Through community-based learning, students engage with a local community or organization around co-created goals. These experiences do not take place in a vacuum and have potential for substantial impacts making it important to do thoughtful preparation. Participants will engage in reflection about the skills, capacities and lens they will be bringing to their work, reflection about their pre-existing knowledge and remaining questions about the community they’ll be working in, and learn helpful practices for navigating collaborative work in a new context.

Power Mapping

People interested in promoting positive social change— through public work, civic action, advocacy and other vehicles—need to be aware of who else cares about their cause, and the political and social power structures in play. Social change agents need tools to access resources and to put their ideas into action. Power mapping gives participants a way to think about different kinds of power, and a set of tools to access the power needed to make things happen.

Public Narrative

Using Marshall Ganz’s framework for storytelling as a catalyst for social change, participants in this workshop will learn about the power of the story of self, the story of us, and the story of now, and will begin to develop their own public narratives.

 

Sabo Scholars (Archive)

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Photo of Martin Sabo with students.The sabo scholars was a Yearlong student seminar exploring civic and public life.

The Sabo Scholar program provided a unique opportunity for students to engage in civic life, study the political process, work on public policy, and explore careers in public service. The cohort met weekly for an academic seminar and civic engagement project work with the cohort. Augsburg students in their 2nd or 3rd year with an interest in politics, community, and civic life were encouraged to take part.

This program is now closed. The legacy of the Sabo Scholars program is continued through the Bonner Community Leaders program, and students interested in exploring these topics are encouraged to apply!

 

The Sabo Scholars was one of three public leadership scholars programs at Augsburg, alongside the Christensen Scholars and the Interfaith Scholars.

Supporters

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Much of the work of the Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship is supported by grants, contracts, and the contributions of many individuals. To make a financial contribution online, visit www.augsburg.edu/giving.

Current and recent support from organizations

21st Century Community Learning Center

A’Viands

Bigelow Foundation

Ford Foundation

General Mills

Kettering Foundation

McKnight Foundation

Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies

Minnesota Dept. of Education

Northwest Area Foundation

Sheltering Arms Foundation

Saint Paul Foundation

Surdna Foundation

Target

Travelers Foundation

W.K. Kellogg Foundation

And many generous individuals

Join the Sabo Center for a One-to-One Relational Meetings Workshop

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Blog post by Emily Braverman.

 

Do you want to learn significant tools for building bonds with others and making social change?

 

If you want to create change, few things are more important than one-to-one relational meetings. One-to-ones are when two people who intentionally engage in conversation to learn about one another, sharing personal knowledge and values to build a connection that will eventually create public action. These conversations are focused on establishing a public relationship with someone. By sharing stories, participants can understand one another’s motivations and self interests, and find commons areas for collaboration and action.

 

The Sabo Center is hosting two opportunities to learn about one-to-one meetings and to practice this important tool for relationship building, organizing, and public work. Come and join us!

 

Wednesday, October 24, 3:10-5:10 pm, OGC 100

Thursday, October 25, 3:40-5:40 pm, Marshall Room

Poster for One-to-One Relational meetings Workshop

Democracy Augsburg Teach-In: A Personal Look at Our Criminal Justice System

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Blog post by Emily Braverman

The Smart Justice Campaign and personal experience with the Minnesota criminal justice system are two topicsPoster for Democracy Augsburg: A Personal Look at the Criminal Justice System event with details that will be discussed, explored, and analyzed during a Democracy Augsburg Teach-In coming up mid-October.

Elizer Darris and Anika Bowie, both organizers with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), will discuss their experiences with the Minnesota criminal justice system and their organizing work through the Smart Justice Campaign.

After successfully getting his life sentence overturned on appeal, Elizer Darris became an activist in prison and an advocate for his fellow inmates. Upon release, he began working in local politics. He currently runs field operations for the Smart Justice Campaign. Based in the Twin Cities, the Smart Justice Campaign is focused on reducing America’s prison population and combating racial inequity across the country. Darris’s main goal is to reduce widespread incarceration.

Anika Bowie is a powerful advocate for people of color. As co-chair of the Minneapolis NAACP Criminal Justice Reform Committee, she connects with government officials, community members, and local youth around reform of the criminal justice system, and is best known for being a group organizer, educator, and leader.

The Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship will be hosting Elizer Darris and Anika Bowie for a Democracy Augsburg Teach-In on October 15, 2018, at 5 p.m. in the Oren Gateway Center, Room 201. Please join us.

Power and Hope: Awakening Democracy Through Public Work

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Awakening Democracy Through Public Work: Pedagogies of Empowerment, is a new book written by Harry C. Boyte which tells many stories of Public Achievement and public work in the United States and around the world. Public work is a civic philosophy with deep roots in nonviolent traditions that express a generative power, never more needed than today when power is understood as domination and control.

This event will feature a diversity of voices, an opportunity to purchase a copy of the book and have it signed by the author.

Monday, November 12th,

6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Augsburg University, Hagfors Center, Room 150

700 21st Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55454

What’s at Stake on the Sixth?

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A Democracy Augsburg Teach-in

Blog post by Emily Braverman

 

The Midterm Elections.  Poster for What's at Stake on the Sixth? Event.

If you aren’t aware of what the midterm elections are, no worries! Here at the Sabo Center, we broke it down into an easily understandable, short guide:

U.S. presidents serve four-year terms. In between these terms, there is a midterm election. Participation during these elections tend to be lower than general elections, but they are very important!

During the midterm election:

  • Members of the U.S House of Representatives are up for election.
  • Most U.S. states elect their governors.

In addition, the political landscape may change because the president’s party may lose seats in both houses of Congress; this might change which party is in control of the legislature. This, in turn, will impact the president’s ability to pursue an agenda during the second half of his/her term.

Augsburg University’s Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship welcomes everyone to a presentation by political science professor Andrew Aoki, followed by a discussion about the midterm elections. This will take place on October 19th, at Oren Gateway Center – room 100, between 4:30-5:30 p.m.

The 2018 midterm elections will bring forward many important issues to discuss and vote on. Topics at “What’s at Stake on the Sixth?” might include:

  • Donald Trump’s presidency
  • Immigration
  • Healthcare
  • Marijuana
  • International Affairs

Let’s talk: consequences, redistricting, implications for control of Congress, the presidency, presidential-congressional relations, Supreme Court, and myriad public policies.

If you want to discuss these or other issues and to understand the importance of the midterm elections, we will see you at What’s at Stake on the Sixth.

Learn to Communicate Across the Political Divide with the Better Angels Workshop

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A Democracy Augsburg Workshop

Blog post by Emily Braverman  Poster: Better Angels Workshop

“Political ideology” is a term used frequently by political activists, students, and generally by anyone who considers themselves a political enthusiast. What exactly does it mean? Simply put, it is a term describing a person’s political views.

As a myriad of recent examples from American politics display, when diverging political ideologies collide the result is not necessarily respectful or peaceful. Even some of the most qualified politicians have not mastered the skill of respectfully engaging in conversation with those who have a different political ideology.

In response to this challenging reality, The Sabo Center is partnering with Better Angels to offer a workshop where participants will learn effective ways to communicate with others who differ from them politically. Better Angels is a national citizens movement that aims to reduce political polarization in the United States by bringing together liberals and conservatives to understand each other beyond stereotypes, to form red/blue community alliances, to teach practical skills for communicating across political differences, and to make a strong public argument for depolarization.

Come join The Sabo Center for a fish bowl-style discussion in which an equal number of self-declared conservatives and progressives join together in conversation about their differences and how to embrace each other’s side:

Wednesday, October 17, 3:30pm – 5:30pm, Old Main Room 105.