The greatest tool is the Internet. Joiwind Ronen, a director with CEG, said that surveys indicate this demographic group uses the Internet about six hours per day. It was generally agreed that schools are not doing an adequate job of educating youngsters about government or, at the very least, not making the topic vital and exciting. Tim Karney, vice president of Business Development for Government Technology magazine, suggested that American youth be invited to become part of the process. Other avenues for reaching young people included using existing media channels, such as MTV, a cable channel with a long history of offering educational information and youth forums on social and political issues to this audience.
Government is top down.
The Internet is bottom up. The Internet is ultimately the logical tool they would use to engage. Outreach Ronen added that government is the source for a great deal of public information on television but that it doesn't claim credit for its contributions. Focused marketing, the group agreed, would help to raise awareness of government's role in everyday life. Although numerous studies exist that correlate voting and civic participation with economic, racial and educational factors, none seem to specifically address the broad topic of civic engagement.