Participants identify and compare the different roles of the four sectors of the economy (government, business, nonprofit, and family). They identify which sector does what and observe how they approach differently the sometimes overlapping responsibilities. Participants describe the work of foundations and state the purpose of an organization's mission statement.

Participants will survey members of the community (school or local area) to determine a need, write proposals to satisfy the need, consider doing an optional one-day fundraiser to help fill that need, serve on a board of directors or a youth advisory committee to determine how such funds will be spent, and evaluate the project.

Now familiar with how a community foundation serves the community, the learners form a Youth Advisory Committee and use parliamentary procedure to conduct business.

Music may bring joy or it may help people reflect on their feelings. The "freedom songs" may have motivated the Civil Rights activists as they sought to aid the common good, and we can bring music to someone in the community as a gift of generosity and inspiration.

"Freedom songs" were an important motivating force during the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968. Through music we explore the important figures in the Civil Rights Movement and their contribution to the common good.

Even the person viewed as the most powerful person in the world does not have unlimited power. Constitutionally, the president of the United States is limited by the "advise and consent" rule (and other checks and balances). The learners look at the importance of limiting government and identify how the common good benefits when citizens and students participate in their communities.

Readers examine the lasting effects of power, privilege, and discrimination on communities.

We observe how power and privilege are used to keep African American families oppressed even after they were freed from slavery. 

Using award-winning literature, the learners describe and analyze racism in Mississippi during the Great Depression. The readers identify the injustices in the community as well as the values and self-respect that build community relationships and strength. 

Young people read about the talents and interests of people who took action for the common good during the Civil War and Reconstruction. The youth identify some of their own talents and match them to nonprofit organizations they can support today.