Civic Identity

Kae Enchill, Cheryl Weldon & Elizabeth Folkers

What is Civic Identity?

Civic identity entails the meaning of being a citizen and the concept of citizenship. In this context, citizenship has to do with the feelings and self-prescribed responsibilities of a person toward their community. Civic identity also means having a sense of efficacy regarding an individual's impact to their community.

“Civic identity is best understood as a set of beliefs and emotions about oneself as a participant in civic life” (Hart).

Examples of participation as a result of Civic Identity

Volunteering
Military service
Paying taxes
Voting
Serving on jury duty
Activism

Greater Birmingham Ministries

Community Partners

Greater Birmingham Ministries (GBM) was founded in 1969 in response to urgent human and justice needs in the greater Birmingham area. GBM is a multi-faith, multi-racial organization that provides emergency services for people in need and engages the poor and the non-poor in systemic change efforts to build a strong, supportive, engaged community and pursue a more just society for all people.

GBM & Civic Identity

Throughout our time volunteering at GBM, we learned that most of the people working there are from Birmingham. These people grew up in the Birmingham community, noticed a lot of issues going on, and decided to take action and help those around them. The people of GBM are active participants in their community, dealing with multiples problems that are prevalent in Birmingham. Their civic identity is evident through their work and passion towards building a better community.

West End-Urban Garden

‘Growing food, growing community’ is the motto that West End Community Gardens has been living by since spring 2008. They serve as a place to educate community about food including volunteer days in their half-acre garden and garden classes on growing, preparing, and canning food. The harvest is sold at area markets or curbside, so kids and volunteers can see the business side of urban farming.

WE-UG & Civic Identity

The West-End Urban Garden demonstrated civic identity through the people that work there and the volunteers that come through. We met two of the men that are employed at the garden. Both of them had a second job, yet still tended to the garden 7 days a week. Although there are paid positions within this organization, the people at the garden talked about how the volunteers really keep the place operating.

Love Lady Center

The Love Lady Center works to empower women, through faith-based initiatives, so they can return to society as well-equipped women of God. The program is about empowerment, hope and a belief in the value of each and every human life.

Their mission to help women rebuild their lives and walk forward with faith-driven hope for the future as a contributing member of our community. The Lovelady Program ensures each woman is taught how to overcome barriers to success by providing access to needed services.

LLC & Civic Identity

From maintenance to daycare to commissary, almost every role at the Love Lady Center is filled by a current LLC participant or graduate of the program.

The Love Lady Center was a mini city in itself and the civic identity of the women there was strong. They all felt a strong responsibility to contribute to their community at the Center and their active participation in the daily happenings of the center shows this. Some of the women even went on to doing their own Christian ministry with many of the missions and purposes of the Center itself, continuing to expand on LLC's impact.

BCFB & Civic Identity

The volunteers themselves at the Food Bank are the ones who exemplify the concept of civic identity. Volunteers at BCFB are essential in order to continue with the operations of the non-profit.

Birmingham Comm. Food Bank

The community Food Bank of Central Alabama supplies millions of meals per year to 230 food pantries, shelters, and to children's programs in 12 countries. They also create healthy food access for especially vulnerable populations. Lastly, each month they serve between 60,000-80,000 children and seniors, veterans, and families in need of emergency.

Our group posing for a photo after gardening at the West-End Urban Garden

Our group packaging boxes of food at the Birmingham Community Food Bank

Our group posing for a photo Greater Birmingham Ministries with signs from the Poor People's Campaign

Kae Enchill

Being a Global Health major on a Pre-Law track, the Birmingham food bank interested me the most. Hence, volunteering at the community food bank, I created/filled food bags for children. From the aspect of community and behavioral public health, knowing that this will aid in the benefit of educating students about proper nutrition, as it improves there health, I know i am benefitting their society. Being a part of this trip has helped me to align my focus on nutrition policy in the future.

Cheryl Weldon

As a social justice major, I was most interested in the Greater Birmingham Ministries (GBM). GBM deals with many different issues affecting the community: voter supression, food insecurity, bill assistance, etc. Being apart of GBM means actively learning and using that knowledge to provide solutions. Seeing them help all different kinds of demographics has inspired me to seek a career working with GBM or a similar organization.

Elizabeth Folkers

Visiting GBM and the Love Lady Center were powerful experiences that deepened my understanding about an individual's responsibility to their community. The quote by Mahatma Ghandi, "be the change you wish to see in the world," comes to mind when thinking about the work these organizations do daily. They are the change they wish to see. Participating in the Birmingham trip has changed my perspective about my roles in my own communities, including prompting my consideration to choose an organization to volunteer with this summer.

Sources

Hart, Daniel, et al. “Civic Identity.” SpringerLink, Springer, New York, NY, 1 Jan. 1970,

link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4419-7988-9_32.

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