Secretary of State
October is Civics Month in Kentucky

(Frankfort, KY)  October is Civics Month in Kentucky, and there will be events throughout the Commonwealth to remind citizens, both young and old, about the importance of being engaged in the democratic process.  Civics Month developed out of the Civic Literacy Initiative of Kentucky (CLIK), chaired by Secretary of State Trey Grayson, and was made official by the passage of House Joint Resolution 109 during the 2005 session of the Kentucky General Assembly.

            “Civics month is a perfect opportunity for citizens to focus on the importance of being engaged in their local community as well as participating in the democratic process,” stated Secretary Grayson.

            Civics month in Kentucky has opportunities abounding for Kentucky students.  Students across the Commonwealth are participating in the Office of the Secretary of State Voter Slogan and Essay Contest.  The contest, which is also sponsored by the Kentucky Education Association (KEA), KEA Retired, and the University of Kentucky Scripps Howard First Amendment Center, invites Kentucky 6^th - 8^th graders to participate in the slogan contest and 9^th -12^th graders to participate in the essay contest.  Prizes of up to a $1,000 U.S. Savings Bond and four $1,500 U.S. Savings Bonds are available for winning slogans and essays, respectively. 

Across Kentucky, at local festivals and other civic celebrations, various organizations will be hosting voter registration drives and information sessions about voting in Kentucky.  These voter registration drives are important as Kentuckians will have the opportunity to vote on thousands of races in 2010.  Interest is already high in those elections as the Office of the Secretary of State has already received hundreds of phone calls for information about seeking political office.

            The Office of the Secretary of State will be traveling to speak to a variety of organizations about the importance of civic engagement and education.  Later in the month, the Office will launch a new website focusing on Kentucky children and providing them with important information about government and the Commonwealth.  Finally, Secretary Grayson will release an updated version of United We Stand: Encouraging Diversity in Kentucky's Leaders, a report about diversity in Kentucky’s elected leadership.  The report is the second update to Grayson’s original report from 2006. 

            “Even though we do not have regularly scheduled elections this year, it is our hope to more fundamentally get Kentucky citizens engaged in their communities and government across the Commonwealth,” noted Grayson.  “Civics month is an easy avenue to get citizens involved.”

            CLIK is a multi-year effort that will determine a strategy for enhancing long-term civic engagement and civic literacy within the Commonwealth.  As part of that effort, CLIK released a report, Rediscovering Democracy: An Agenda for Action, that calls upon the state to take tangible steps to increase civic literacy.  The report, which details four principle recommendations and scores of additional recommendations, was developed from the work of the Kentucky Workgroup on Civic Literacy and the CLIK

            For more information about CLIK or to find out how to get your school, organization, or family involved in any civic activities taking place across Kentucky during the next month, please visit: www.civics.ky.gov.

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