Maine Municipal Literacy Initiative
JMG, the Maine Municipal Association, and the City of Saco - with support from the Maine Community Foundation - have collaborated to develop the Maine Municipal Literacy initiative.
The goals of this program are to educate young people about the role and importance of local government, to improve relations and foster stronger connections between students and their local government, and to create more interest for students to consider career opportunities in local government and involve themselves in public service activities.
During its initial year, high school students from four communities helped to lead the creation of the Maine Municipal Literacy initiative. Students from Saco, Belfast, Newport, and Houlton have interviewed town officials, participated in job shadows, invited municipal leaders into their schools, and developed a variety of community service outreach events. One group of students from Thornton Academy in Saco documented their activities in their school newspaper Carpe Diem.
Through the Maine Municipal Literacy initiative, several lesson plans have been created to help guide the work of other educators and students who want to further explore the resources of their municipal government and leaders. These lesson plans have been developed for high school level students and integrate supporting classroom materials that can be found on the Web site of the Maine Municipal Association at www.memun.org.
Click on the title of a lesson plan below to download or print it.
