Individuals should never be denied the opportunity to augment their ability to participate in their community's life. As such, the job of civic education cannot reside solely within the confines of a community's school system. Toledo Ohio's leadership program demonstrates this commitment to, not just teaching the information, but allowing individuals to gain practice and thus skills in participatory behaviors. Forty high school sophomores participate in Youth Leadership Toledo annually though Leadership Toledo. At least one student is selected from each of the 38 area high schools, representing a diversity of backgrounds and leadership experience.
Students focus on community concerns, then complete volunteer community improvement projects.
Moreover, Leadership Toledo also provides training and opportunities for adults to further develop skills to effectively function in the community. Participants focus on the needs of the community and the roles they can play in addressing those needs and improving the quality of life. The end result of a community's civic education activities should be to engender within the community's residents a commitment to participating in the betterment of that community. Civic life thus becomes not just an activity which one can undertake if he or she so desires, but instead becomes a habit of the heart. While the study of our public tasks is a necessary part of civic arts, it is not wholly sufficient as civic education.