September is National Civic Awareness Month, and the Washington-based International City/County Management Association (ICMA) wants its members to educate college students on basic civics. The September 2006 report “The Coming Crisis in Citizenship” by the University of Connecticut's Department of Public Policy and the Wilmington, Del.-based Intercollegiate Studies Institute showed a dearth of political and historic knowledge on university campuses.

The 20-member ICMA Task Force on Civics Education also has created a list of recommendations for how to improve civics education for children in kindergarten through 12th grade. For more information, visit www.icma.org.