Frequently Asked Questions

We hope you find the following series of common Questions and Answers helpful in understanding the Committee for Citizen Awareness.

If you have a specific question that is not addressed here, please Contact Us and we will answer as promptly as possible.

Q: How many years has the CCA been in operation?

A: Founded in 1985, the Committee for Citizen Awareness has been serving our nation's communities for over 35 years.

Q: What is CCA's objective?

A: To engage American youth in their federal democracy by having their locale's elected representative in Washington and local hosts in a civic role demystify the process and make it interesting. The representative and host in a civic role appear in award winning educational DVDs shown in the schools and elsewhere.

Q: What is required of the local host?

A: A representative of the hosting organization appears in the DVD to present brief opening and closing remarks.

Each local host makes a tax-deductible contribution of $3,500 a year for two years to the CCA (a 501c3 organization) to cover the costs of production and distribution of the educational DVDs in their congressional district.

 

Q: What is the host's role in preparation of the DVD and the web site?

A: A representative of the hosting organization can be taped at the location of his or her choice. The CCA handles all of the logistics and arrangements for the taping including interfacing with the host's staff to schedule the taping time, hiring the professional videotaping crew and providing a suggested script for the host's civic segments to be shown on the DVD.

The CCA encourages the host's representative appearing on the DVD to include in the script a brief description of their organization. In addition, the sponsoring organization can include DVD footage of its facility to heighten viewer identification with the locale. The taping takes approximately 30-45 minutes.

The CCA handles all other aspects of the production and distribution process.

 

Q: What is the involvement of the member of Congress?

A: As part of the effort to make the DVD pertinent to each locale and to help audiences have more of a personal connection to national civic issues, the CCA invites the elected member of Congress of the host's district to serve as a special guest on the DVD. As a general rule, the CCA does not approach the Member about appearing on a specific DVD and web site until a host is secured. Over 95 percent of the members approached agree to participate in this program.

 

Q: Does the CCA guarantee that the hosting organization's representative will be videotaped for the DVD with his or her member of Congress?

A: No, the CCA cannot guarantee that the hosting organization's representative will tape for the DVD with his or her member of Congress. If a host decides that he or she would like to tape with the appropriate member of Congress, the CCA will attempt to find a day and time on the busy schedule of the member of Congress and host when both can tape their segments together. Although many members of Congress have participated in such joint tapings, it is often difficult to schedule them. Therefore, while the CCA does its best to facilitate joint tapings, we cannot guarantee their occurence.

 

Q: How are the DVDs distributed?

A: The CCA has an elaborate process for DVD distribution to assure that they are widely used. The CCA sends a copy of the DVD with explanatory materials to the following organizations in each congressional district:

every public and private high school
every community and junior college
major public libraries
major chambers of commerce
cable television facilities

In addition, the "Where We Stand"DVD is also sent to senior centers and assisted living facilities.

The CCA follows up periodically with those who have received the DVD to encourage them to use the DVD and ask for feedback, which the CCA in turn sends to the host to keep him or her informed about the DVD's success.

Q: How do you know the DVDs are utilized?

A: The CCA routinely surveys DVD audiences. Our survey of high schools found that 100% of those with whom we spoke indicated routine use of CCA DVDs. Over one in four schools who received DVDs sent us a note explaining their use of the DVD and expressing their appreciation for it. Each year the CCA receives many of these notes from high school teachers and others. Only 30% of the schools surveyed indicated that they have in their library any civic-related DVDs other than those provided by the CCA.

In a focus group at a senior high school, 100% of the students said they would recommend the DVD for classroom use. In another CCA survey, the number of high school students who indicated they understand how Congress works increased from 20% to 90% following viewing of the DVD, and the number of high school students who said they feel that they know enough to cast a vote increased by 40%. 

Q: How can I obtain CCA's DVD series?

A: After the CCA completes the production of each localized DVD, copies are mailed to all schools, junior colleges, cable television stations and main public libraries and chambers of commerce in that congressional district. If you have never received our DVDs or are interested in obtaining additional DVDs in our series, please email your request to cca@citizenawareness.org or use the Contact Us page. Please include your mailing address. We are happy to mail you the requested DVD(s) if they are available in your district. There is no cost for the service.