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2000 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 464
Commending the Virginia Citizenship Institute.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, March 8, 2000
Agreed to by the Senate, March 10, 2000

WHEREAS, the Virginia Citizenship Institute (VCI) is a nonpartisan alliance of educators, students, and business, political, and community leaders dedicated to improving public life in the Commonwealth by increasing civic engagement among young people ages 16 to 30; and

WHEREAS, VCI works specifically to educate the future leaders of Virginia in their responsibilities as public citizens in the Commonwealth, connect Virginia’s future leaders to one another and to present leaders in a lasting civic network, and strengthen the foundation of Virginia’s democratic system of government; and

WHEREAS, VCI brings together state and local public officials and community leaders from around the state in a bipartisan effort to consciously develop and cultivate the next generation of public leaders for the Old Dominion; and

WHEREAS, the VCI Summer Program hosts students from across the Commonwealth for a one-month residential academic program in which they learn about Virginia government and politics, public policy, political philosophy, and the tools of advocacy; and

WHEREAS, VCI assists these students after their graduation in employing their new knowledge and skills in the service of their schools and home communities for the betterment of the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, graduates of the VCI Summer Program have already gone on to organize dozens of civic education initiatives for their peers and communities; and

WHEREAS, the VCI Summer Program graduated its first class of students, in partnership with the University of Virginia, in 1999; and

WHEREAS, VCI has now permanently affiliated with George Mason University to strengthen the university’s ongoing commitment to civic education and youth engagement and will become an anchor of the new Center for Citizenship Education at George Mason University; and

WHEREAS, VCI’s efforts have placed Virginia at the forefront among the states in the national citizenship education movement, and its programs are recognized as a model for organizing current and future generations of civic leaders in a lasting network; and

WHEREAS, the Virginia Citizenship Institute has built a statewide community of citizens dedicated to preserving and enhancing the vital public life of the Commonwealth; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly commend the Virginia Citizenship Institute for its leadership in preparing Virginia’s youth to serve the people of the Commonwealth in the new century; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Gregory A. Werkheiser, executive director of the Institute, H. Martin Haley, Jr., associate director of the Institute, Alan Merten, president of George Mason University, and the VCI Board of Advisors as an expression of the General Assembly’s admiration for the Virginia Citizenship Institute’s vision and good works and for its sustained commitment to the future of the Commonwealth.