NCAC is a co-sponsor of this year’s Sunshine Week, March 15-21. Sunshine Week "is a national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information."
From Sunshineweek.org:
What is Sunshine Week?
Sunshine Week is a national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Participants include print, broadcast and online news media, civic groups, libraries, non-profits, schools and others interested in the public’s right to know.
Sunshine Week is led by the American Society of Newspaper Editors and is funded primarily by a challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation of Miami.
Though spearheaded by journalists, Sunshine Week is about the public’s right to know what its government is doing, and why. Sunshine Week seeks to enlighten and empower people to play an active role in their government at all levels, and to give them access to information that makes their lives better and their communities stronger.
Sunshine Week is a non-partisan initiative whose supporters are conservative, liberal and everything in between.
How can I participate?
Anyone can be a part of Sunshine Week. In the first two national Sunshine Weeks, not only journalists, but also students, teachers, private citizens, librarians, civic leaders, public officials, bloggers, non-profit groups were involved.
The only requirement is that you do something to engage in a discussion about the importance of open government. It could be a large public forum or a classroom discussion, an article or series of articles about access to important information, or an editorial. The extent to which you participate is up to you.
Participation is not about how much you do; it’s about doing it.
To get involved with Sunshine Week, contact the state or regional coordinators for your area or e-mail Sunshine Week coordinator Debra Gersh Hernandez at [email protected]
What do people do during Sunshine Week?
The first two national Sunshine Weeks saw fantastic creativity and enthusiasm from participants. There were special sections devoted to open government, weeklong series, profiles of local Freedom of Information heroes, public forums, classroom activities, online packages, essay contests—and even a song.
Examples of the myriad ways journalists, students, lawmakers and public groups marked Sunshine Week in 2005 and 2006 are collected in Bright Ideas for Sunshine Week 2007" and Bright Ideas for Sunshine Week 2006".