CIVIC-US

Who We Are

Our Mission

CIVIC-US is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan corporation dedicated to creating a civil society in America where youth are actively engaged in the work of creating healthy, safe and thriving schools and communities and are valued partners in the governance of those schools and communities.

CIVIC-US builds the capacity of schools and communities across the country to foster meaningful involvement by young people in civic life. Our approach to youth civic engagement is a strategy that allows youth, particularly middle and high school age youth, to co-develop their developmental ecology while fostering civic participation in efforts that will improve community life. It combines youth development, civic activism and problem-solving. It facilitates new ways for young people and adults to work together for a better community.

Staff | Board of Directors | Partners

We facilitate the development of an America that sees young people as valued resources and partners and prepares and engages them in working toward solutions to school and community issues and in governance of their schools and communities. An outcome of our work is an increase in civility of young people.

Our goal is to encourage civic responsibility and increase civil behavior and civic engagement in youth. We awaken the nation to the potential of youth and adults working alongside each other to create a healthy America.

We compel, appreciate, train, coach skill development, develop and disseminate resources around increasing civility and civic engagement in youth in order to create and sustain the rich and healthy developmental ecologies necessary for their success in school and in life.

The work of CIVIC-US is founded in the pyscho/sociobiology of Integrative Youth Development. Integrative Youth Development demonstrates how young people need relationships and supports to develop as healthy and thriving individuals. These relationships and supports prepare them to invest in their communities and contribute to the public good.

We Have Succeeded When...

  • Civic responsibility has increased in youth and they are more willing and prepared to work toward solutions to community issues through service learning and youth in governance.
  • Civility has increased in youth of all ethnic, racial, gender, class, and educational backgrounds
    Youth of all ethnic, racial, gender, class and education backgrounds work respectfully together, to contribute to America through the use of civic virtues.
  • Young people are viewed as valued resources and partners in every community, and they respond to their respected status by devoting their tremendous energy and focus to the pursuit of forming a more perfect union.
  • Schools and communities across the United States consist of youth/adult partnerships that access, plan, implement and evaluate solutions to community issues based on Integrative Youth Development's full spectrum ecological approach to strengthening caring and connected schools and communities.

Outcomes We Deliver

  • Increase in civil behavior among youth Increase in youth civic engagement
  • Increase in youth involved in the governance of school boards, community coalitions, and community and agency/organization boards
  • Increase in student academic achievement Increase in caring and connectedness in schools and communities
  • Decrease in youth risk behaviors, such as bullying, violence, juvenile delinquency, sexual assault, alcohol/tobacco/other drug use

Guiding Principles

  • We begin our work from a core understanding of youth development.
  • We believe that youth need to be fully prepared to lead America.
  • We recognize that youth have knowledge, skills, attitudes and energies that are valuable.
  • We do not fix youth, we strengthen systems that build youth.
  • We are NOT a national organization that comes with the answers. We come showing what youth need, and then work with local communities, schools, agencies, organizations, and programs to do what is necessary to deliver the full spectrum of youth development.
  • We create opportunities for young people in government and civic engagement. We work with others to eliminate injustices, prejudices and systems that oppress people.
  • We share our learnings with the rest of America.

CIVIC-US, a non-profit, meta-partisan 501(c)(3) corporation, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, religion, national and ethnic origin, ancestry, marital status, age, physical or mental disability, status as a disabled or Vietnam Era veteran, or other status protected by applicable law. EOE

Staff

Susan Dillingham, susan@CIVIC-US.org, a Co-founder of CIVIC-US, serves as our Executive Director. Susan has spent her life as a passionate advocate for children and youth. She began her career as a classroom teacher, first in a middle school, and then in a high school, while sponsoring several youth leadership organizations in the school and community. Later, as Safe and Drug Free Schools Coordinator for the Humphreys County, Tennessee School System, she developed and led twenty-two youth development and character education programs for Pre-K through 12th grade students. Susan has been a leader in her home state of Tennessee in Community Coalition development and strategic prevention planning, implementation, and evaluation.

Susan is a contributor to the development of Integrative Youth Development (IYD)™ and is the founder and CEO of ICARe-TN. She is certified as a Phlight Instructor on IYD for ICAR-US. Susan was a founder of LAUNCH, Inc. in Jackson, Ohio, a 501(c)(3) non-profit youth development Coalition in Jackson, Ohio. She also served as the Coordinator of the Jackson County, Ohio Family and Children First Council. Part of Susan's career includes serving as the statewide Coalition Coordinator for Community Anti-Drug Coalitions Across Tennessee (CADCAT). She also served as a Facilitator for the National Youth Leadership Initiative, a program of Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) for two years. In her personal life, Susan is actively engaged in the life of her church and community and has spent much of her life involved in political efforts across her community, state, and nation. Susan received her B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and her M.A. in Education from Austin Peay State University. She is the Mother of two incredible grown sons, Griff Lucas, an attorney who resides in Atlanta with his wife Katy, also an attorney, and Ross Lucas, an engineer who resides in Nashville with his wife Natalie, a fund developer for Youth Villages. She is also the proud Grandmother of Frank Doyle Lucas, the 20 month old son of Griff and Katy, and has two more grandchildren on the way. In her spare time, Susan enjoys the beach, boating, hiking, camping, reading, and college football and basketball...particularly the University of Tennessee Volunteers.

Mark Beecham, mark@CIVIC-US.org, a Co-Founder of CIVIC-US, serves as our Director of Strategic Advancement. Mark has invested much of his life helping others. He is a proud alumnus of Martin Methodist College where he received his B.A. degree in Biblical Studies. Mark also studied at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel and Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. He was a pastor/youth pastor in the middle Tennesse area for more than 13 years where he was able to work with youth in both the rural and urban settings. During his time as a youth minister, Mark developed and implemented a youth leadership curriculum that proved very successful in the lives of his youth. After his retirement from the pastoral ministry, Mark developed No X-Cuse! Seminars, a motivational and life coaching business. Using his goal setting and follow through principles, he has completed two marathons and is currently preparing for his first triathalon. In his spare time, he enjoys writing. In 2004, Mark wrote and published "A Cracked Pot," a book about his own struggles to overcome the effects of childhood sexual abuse. His new book, No X-Cuses!, is set to be published in 2010. Mark currently serves as the Coalition Coordinator for an Alcohol, Tobacco and Drug Prevention Coalition in Humphreys County, Tennessee. He is certified as Phaculty on IYD for ICAR-US. He is also an avid runner and cyclist and a huge Big Orange fan.

Board of Directors

Coming soon.

Partners

Derek Peterson, derek@icar-us.com , is one of the Co-Founders of CIVIC-US. Derek is the founder of Integrative Youth Development (IYD)™ and the Institute for Community and Adolescent Resilience - Unifying Solutions (ICAR-US). He is a pioneer in the implementation of the principles and outcomes of youth development within schools, communities, families, as well as within the minds and hearts of individual youth. The IYD Phramework has been developed over decades of research and is supported by the work of numerous theorists and researchers. Today, Mr. Peterson is an International Child/Youth Advocate for the Institute for Community and Adolescent Resilience (ICAR-US). ICAR-US does IYD work for dozens of communities and school districts throughout the United States and worldwide. Derek is on the staff of the International Institute for Children’s’ Rights and Development in Victoria, Canada. He is also the "Youth in Governance" Director for the National School Board Association.