Rockdale Citizen

CONYERS — Rockdale County has received a grant from the Association County Commissioners of Georgia to implement the Georgia Civic Awareness Program for Students to provide civic education to the county’s youth.

The ACCG Civic Affairs Foundation presented the Rockdale County Board of Commissioners with a check for $3,750 at it BOC work session Tuesday. The Verizon Foundation provided funding to the ACCG Civic Affairs Foundation to expand the GCAPS program. Rockdale County was chosen as one of the four new GCAPS programs in the state to launch this year. This is the county’s first time offering the program.

ACCG developed GCAPS to give students access to local government and provide them with the opportunity to learn first-hand the roles and services that local government provides.

The GCAPS application deadline is Sept. 28.

“This program will take them beyond the government classroom and into the community visiting, talking to people and seeing different aspects to our government which, without a program like GCAPS, they never would see,” Rockdale County GCAPS Program manager Brittany Johnson said.

About 12 students will be selected to participate in leadership training, team building exercises, tour county facilities, visit the State Capitol, and interact with local and state government representatives.

Those eligible for the program must live in or attend school in Rockdale County, and must be a high school sophomore or junior as of August. Public, private and home-schooled students are all invited to apply.

The program is scheduled to begin in October and continue until the end of the 2012-13 school year.

Johnson said she is excited about the program, and the opportunity it offers for the students.

“This program could open up a world of new career paths that these high school youth might have never known existed,” she said.

Oconee County and Wilkinson County, two pilot counties for the GCAPS program, have “graduated” more than 160 students. Post-program evaluations show that 100 percent of the students agreed their experience was rewarding and they had a clear understanding of the roles of local and state government.

For more information or to apply for the Rockdale County GCAPS program, call Brittany Johnson at 770-278-7373 or email her at britj112@uga.edu.