Marcus Singletary -- citizen athlete

A citizen athlete might be described as an athlete who understands the bigger, broader societal responsibilities that they can have and take on. Marcus Singletary, a senior football player at the University of Minnesota, is one of those citizen athletes.

The profile of Marcus below was written by University of Minnesota communications and political science major Ben Flattum. Marcus initiated and appears in a short video produced by Ben, about a community organizing class taught by Dennis Donovan of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship. Click here to see the video.


The cliche preached at most of us from birth is that hard work pays off. Many people do not possess the dedication to test how deeply true this statement holds. But those that do often achieve extraordinary feats that separate them from the commonness of most. While Marcus Singeltary’s ending has yet to be written, the effort put in to get to this point speaks for itself in indicating what will come for one of the most dedicated souls to don the maroon and gold colors of the University of Minnesota.

Marcus grew up in a military family, with a father who served as an intelligence officer in the US Army. Although Marcus spent much of his childhood traveling, he eventually was able to call Hinesville, Georgia, his home. Despite the changing surroundings, one constant remained in the Singletary household. Marcus’s father, Liston, provided the insight and knowledge that provided a foundation of respect, accountability and dedication.

“Everything my dad taught me, I’ve applied to my life,” said Marcus. “(Liston) would always say ‘handle your business.’ So that’s what I’ve done.” For Marcus, football was not part of that business until 11th grade. Already a two-sport star in high school, he was approached by the head football coach about playing. Noting that his best chance at competing athletically in college was football, Marcus jumped at the chance to take up another sport. “I looked at the numbers and it only made sense to play football,” he said. “You have 12 guys on a college basketball team, but there’s a lot more on the football roster.” Displaying the work ethic that has come to define him, Marcus began his career on special teams and eventually worked his way up to starter by the end of his junior season. Finishing out a successful prep career in Hinesville, Singletary then set his sights on playing collegiately. International Falls, Minn., is a long way from Georgia, but that did not deter Marcus from attending Rainy River Junior College. Adjusting quickly, he went on to earn All-Region in football and All-Conference in basketball. With his desire to continue his education at a larger school, Marcus began to look at other colleges. The University of Minnesota was not one of them.

“I originally planned on going to a Christian school in Kansas,” said Marcus. “I happened to run into (Gopher Safety) Mike Rollis’s dad while I was training at Gamespeed in Eden Prairie [Minnesota]. He told me to look at walking on at Minnesota, so I did.” Marcus took out an application and waited for a response, receiving unpleasant news when it came: he was denied. Being a fiscally-minded college student, Marcus went down to the admissions office to attempt to retrieve his application fee. While trying to secure his $50, Liston Singletary’s years of lessons about respect and dedication shined through to the admission counselor, Ms. Harrison. Being so impressed by his politeness and manners, Marcus was directed by Ms. Harrison to a higher-up in admissions and was given a second shot. This time, Marcus received positive news and was admitted into the University of Minnesota. When asked how he convinced the school to change their minds on his status, Marcus simply said, “Respect will take you a long way in life and if you put in the effort for anything, it will end up working out for you.” Despite gaining entrance into the University, there was still a lot of work to be done. In order to play, Marcus needed to complete a psychology credit that was missing from his junior college and would then be forced to sit out a year. Taking everything in stride had become his trademark and would not change because of that. Singletary went on to finish up the required credits for admissions and took a year off, eagerly waiting for his opportunity.

“Of course I wanted to play right away but you have to earn your stripes. Nothing in this world is given to you,” said Marcus. “You’re going to have to prove yourself. As a walk-on, you have to be hungrier than everyone else. When that time comes and you get in the game, you have to make the most of it. You can never let your head down and must constantly have that attitude.” The life of a college walk-on remains far from glamorous. They must work like a scholarship athlete with little of the rewards to motivate. When speaking about what a typical day in summer training, Marcus described his typical week, filled with commitments and energy consuming activities.

“I get up at 5:30 AM and start my day off with the Bible. We have team runs at six in the morning, followed by workouts. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I’ll have a summer class from ten until noon. Then I’m headed to the Nike store in the Mall of America to work for six or seven hours,” said Singletary. This was before fall practices even began, which now take up five hours minimum of his time daily. It takes a special person to endure the hours of training and practice with nothing but an intrinsic motivation to keep them moving. Marcus happens to be one of those people. Despite seeing the field sparingly his junior season at Minnesota, he keeps his head up and realizes there are more important goals to strive for.

“I was always hard on myself, I had to push myself. Not just from an athletic standpoint but from an academic one as well. Sports are complements to your academics, and that’s the way I look at my education. All of my life I’ve had to work hard. I’ve never just received anything without working. I was always taught that hard work pays off and you have to get up and just handle your business.”

With a dedication to academic excellence and the tenacity to work for anything he wants, Singletary occasionally sets his sights ahead to bigger opportunities for himself and others. Looking forward, Marcus sees a life beyond the gridiron and all the possibilities to change the circumstances surrounding it towards a positive direction.

“I want to be able to give back and teach others what I have been taught. If you put in the work, you will reap the benefits. I want to be able to open up doors for people,” Marcus said. “For example, when I walk down the street and see the homeless it just breaks my heart. If I can get a door opened for me, I want to open it for someone else too.”

Given his desire to interact with people and affect change, Marcus has looked into motivational speaking or potentially television as an avenue for his goals. Both seem to fit his strengths of reaching out to others and will give Singletary a chance to show the dedication, passion, and respect inherent in his makeup. Anyone who sees Marcus exhibit the purely genuine and authentic smile, one that all who know him have come to recognize, will realize the great things that lie ahead for the Hinesville native.

The energy of an optimistic generation

"I think we have a very optimistic generation, and in many ways a very idealistic generation," says public affairs graduate student Noel Nix. "This class is all about tapping into that energy."

The class, Community Organizing for Effective Public Policy, which is offered at the University of Minnesota, allows students to practice building relationships and developing and implementing an organizing plan around an issue that they care about.

The class is taught by Dennis Donovan, an organizer with the Center for Democracy and Citizenship. Donovan's mentor at the Gamaliel Foundation also worked with President Barack Obama when he was a community organizer.



This fall, Ben Flattum, a political science and communications major and a student in the organizing class, produced a short video highlighting the connections some University of Minnesota students are drawing between organizing and their desire to change the world. Marcus Singletary, also a University of Minnesota student, assisted with the video.

Revitalizing student government at UMBC

As a United Nations student delegate in high school, Yasmin Karimian wanted to inspire others to take action on the many problems she saw in the world. But it was a daunting task, and one she didn’t feel prepared for.

When she started college at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) in 2007, Karimian joined the Student Government Association (SGA). It was an exciting time. SGA was launching an annual contest called Prove It!, which awards $50,000 “to a novel and innovative project, service, or event on the UMBC campus that makes everyone proud to be a member of the community.”

By the next year, however, SGA was falling apart, Karimian says. “People had no connections. No one wanted to do anything.”

(Karimian is pictured at left, speaking)

That fall, Karimian read The Citizen Solution in a civic engagement course. Then she joined her faculty advisor and another SGA member at a conference in Minneapolis launching the Civic Agency Initiative. The Civic Agency Initiative, organized by the Center for Democracy and Citizenship and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, brings together a national cohort of more than a dozen schools working together as they explore how to better integrate democratic practice while deepening campus-community connections.

Karimian says she left the conference energized by faculty and students from across the country who wanted to do something on their campuses, and by the organizing strategies she learned, including something called “one-to-ones.”

A “one-to-one” meeting is a tool for initiating or building relationships and understanding someone’s self-interest. Although Karimian says she left the conference “not really believing in one-to-ones,” she thought it was worth giving them a try to understand why SGA members weren’t showing up for meetings.

Over spring semester, Karimian and four other SGA leaders did more than 50 one-to-ones with other members. Then they came back to the group and talked about the experience. Some members didn’t get the organizing strategy behind the meetings, she says, but at least it helped reconnect them to the association.

At the end of the year, Karimian ran for SGA president and won. She wants all SGA members to understand and use one-to-ones, and worked with other students to create a space in the SGA office for holding these meetings. It’s more than symbolic, Karimian says, “It’s used a lot.”

Over the past several months, there has been a cultural shift, too. In the past, SGA saw itself as fighting against the university on behalf of students, says Karimian. Now the organization is working with faculty on issues such as course drop dates, and telling administrators “this is how you can work with us” rather than asking permission. “It brings a lot of legitimacy to SGA,” concludes Karimian.

New home for Jane Addams School

It is a time of change and new possibilities for the Jane Addams School for Democracy.

Thirteen years after the first learning circles met in 1996, the Jane Addams School has moved into the Baker Community Center in the West Side neighborhood of St. Paul, Minn.

The new space will allow participants to create a cultural learning center that reflects the values of the local community, in the spirit of the settlement house tradition pioneered by Jane Addams. Previously, the Jane Addams School was hosted at Humboldt High School, also on St. Paul's West Side.

Jane Addams School participants are getting getting used to the new space, including learning how to set up circles for dialogue and using new spaces for paired learning. The Hmong Circle has already decorated their space to make it more colorful and comfortable. The Youth Circle planned and carried out a Halloween party, and all four circles--including the Spanish Circle and East African Circle--are now planning a larger celebration to take place on December 9.

The Jane Addams School continues to benefit from the energy and talents of students from Normandale Community College, University of St. Thomas, and Hamline University. In addition to AmeriCorps members, there are students in leadership roles from St. Catherine University, Macalester College, the University of Minnesota, and Augsburg College.

With the move to Augsburg College by the Center for Democracy and Citizenship, a key partner, Jane Addams School leaders look forward to building stronger pathways for Augsburg students, staff, and faculty to be even more engaged.

Baker Community Center is located at 209 West Page St. in St. Paul.

For these young people, work is more than a job

The Youth Apprenticeship Project (YAP) is an initiative of the Neighborhood Learning Community in the West Side neighborhood of St. Paul, Minn. YAP connects West Side young people with summer jobs where they learn valuable civic and vocational skills, and establish lasting connections with the community. For each of the past five summers, 20 to 35 young people have worked part-time through YAP.

Pictured above are some of the 2009 youth apprentices. Jalil Shabazz is in the white sweatshirt.

One of the best things about YAP is that it helps to create lasting intergenerational connections between youth and their mentors. Many YAPpers stay in touch with the people they work for or turn their summer jobs into year-round employment.

Brittany Schwartz spent the summer of 2009 working in the offices of Laura Blubaugh, a committee administrator for the Minnesota State Senate. Brittany and Laura have remained in touch, meeting every month or so to check in.

“Working as an apprentice at the state capitol provided Brittany not only basic office skills, but also a recognition of how government policies relate to her own life,” Laura observed. Brittany asserts that she will use Laura's advice and guidance as she applies to other jobs and college.

Jalil Shabazz worked for the West Side Citizens Organization under the mentorship of Carlos Garcia-Velasco. They also remain in contact, catching up at events like Peace Jam. Jalil says he is using the skills he learned this summer in his life today. “I learned about doing things at the right time,” said Jalil. “I learned how to step up and be a better organizer.”

The food shelf at Neighborhood House and Cindi Yang hosted YAPpers Khou Yang and Nai Yang. Cindi Yang was so pleased with their work that she hired them for the school year.

"These two really impressed me this year,” said Cindi. “It’s just something about their will to survive and to do better that truly deserves continued support from someone. I can see them doing very well in life if they continue having a positive attitude and work hard.”

These young people and many others have benefited greatly from YAP, becoming active citizens and participants in the life of their community.

The Center for Democracy and Citizenship is a partner in the Neighborhood Learning Community. This post was written by Jamie Pierson, an AmeriCorps/VISTA volunteer.

Stop thinking about education crisis and start doing?

Andrea Grazzini Walstrom, a writer and community organizer from Burnsville, Minn., issued a challenge to academics and policymakers in today's MinnPost: stop thinking about how to solve our education crisis, and start doing.

What students could teach academics and policy-makers

Minnesota - #1 in civic health

A new report released by the Center for Democracy and Citizenship finds that Minnesota can claim the title of most civically engaged state.

That ranking is based on a combination of voting, volunteering, attendance at public meetings, and citizen efforts to address issues in their own neighborhoods. South Dakota is the only other state to finish in the top 10 of each of those categories, based on data collected last May by the National Conference on Citizenship, which produces an annual national civic health report.

But the report's co-authors, Harry Boyte and Nan Skelton, who co-direct the Center for Democracy and Citizenship, and others who attended a forum last night to discuss Minnesota's civic health, agree that a number one ranking is no reason for complacency.

The Rev. Grant Stevensen, who leads church-based organizing efforts as president of ISAIAH, notes that many Minnesotans -- especially people of color and those with low income -- are not part of the decision-making process on issues that significantly affect them. He echoed remarks from Gary Cunningham, vice president of the Northwest Area Foundation, which has long supported community-based efforts to address poverty from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. Cunningham warned against a tendency to rely on government to solve many or our problems. "It's not set up to do that, or wouldn't be our first choice," he said. Instead, we need to prepare and then tap every individual to participate in our economy and in our society, he said.

Bill Blazar, of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, believes that there are two strands of civic engagement: volunteerism, and what he calls a more traditional or political kind of engagement. While he and others note that volunteerism appears to be on the rise in Minnesota, he said that he sees "persistent problems on which we don't make progress." A lot of time and energy is spent convening stakeholders, he said, "but in the end there isn't enough leadership or decision-making."

Harry Boyte described three challenge areas: a lack of community centers of engagement such as the settlement houses of the early 19th century that created a space for people to come together for public work; a view of ourselves as consumers -- of government services and other community goods -- rather than producers; and a loss of respect for the knowledge and experiences of ordinary people.

Hopeful signs in addressing some of these challenges come from what David Smith of the National Conference on Citizenship referred to as "God, friends, and Facebook." Nationally, in the face of tough economic times, civic engagement appears to be strongest among people who are connected to religious groups or who have strong social connections. Those who are actively engaged online through social media sites such as Facebook are also more likely to be engaged offline.

Diane Tran, a community organizer now with Grassroots Solutions, said Millenials like her have been engaged in service learning throughout high school and college and are both equipped and poised to be involved.

Sponsors of the report and forum include the Center for Democracy and Citizenship, the Citizens League, Minnesota Campus Compact, and the Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration, with support from Target.

Click here to download Minnesota Civic Health Index 2009