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Civitan International, based in Birmingham, Alabama, is an association of community service clubs founded in 1917. The organization aims "to build good citizenship by providing a volunteer organization of clubs dedicated to serving individual and community needs with an emphasis on helping people with developmental disabilities." The organization includes 40,000 members (referred to as ''Civitans'') in almost 1,000 clubs around the world. ==History== In 1917, a group of Birmingham, Alabama, businessmen were members of the local Rotary club. Many of the men thought that the club focused too much on increasing the business of club members, so they surrendered their club's charter. Led by Courtney Shropshire, a local doctor, they formed an independent service club named ''Civitan'', derived from the Latin word for ''citizenship''. Since the creation of Esperanto in 1887 "civitan" has been the root—civitano in common usage—for the word "citizen". Rotary's first fellowship was its Esperanto-speaking fellowship.〔http://www.rotaryfirst100.org/philosophy/fellowship/fellowships/esperanto.htm#.UxKbNvRdUeY〕 The United States entered World War I just one month after the club formed. With all attention focused on the war, Civitan remained a local organization. Some of the earliest projects the club undertook supported soldiers, helped European war orphans, and encouraged voter participation through the payment of poll taxes. Shropshire envisioned an international organization of Civitan clubs dedicated to serving humanity. The process to incorporate was begun, and the International Association of Civitan Clubs was founded in 1920. In the years immediately following World War I, the organization saw rapid growth. By June 1922 at the second international convention, delegates from 115 clubs attended; there were more than 3,300 Civitans throughout the United States. Service clubs like Civitan were extremely popular, since they promoted the spirit of optimism which characterized much of the Roaring Twenties. The club suffered sharp declines in membership and fundraising during the Great Depression. Some also questioned the necessity of service clubs after the New Deal's creation of relief programs. The organization persevered, in part due to cooperation with Rotary, Kiwanis, and Lions clubs. One of the few bright spots in the 1930s was the creation and rapid growth of the first Junior Civitan clubs. The organization experienced another noticeable drop in membership at the outbreak of World War II, since many of its civic-minded members were among the first to volunteer for military service. Civitans who remained at home organized scrap metal collections, war bond sales, and blood drives. One club in Birmingham, Alabama, held so many successful bond drives that the Army Air Forces named a B-25 and a P-47 in the club's honor. The period after World War II saw another surge in growth. There were 10,000 members by 1947, with membership tripling in size between 1946 and 1956 as Civitan became the sixth largest service club in the United States. By 1960, there were 34,000 active Civitans in 998 clubs. One reason that Civitan expanded so quickly was the flexibility that it allowed to clubs in other countries. Compromises over issues such as the Civitan creed and membership dues allowed the ethnically diverse organization to maintain a strong sense of unity. By the 1950s, Civitan's focus had shifted to helping the developmentally disabled. The Civitan International Foundation, established in 1960, provided financial support for many organizations and programs which benefited developmentally disabled individuals. By 2005, the Civitan International Foundation had provided $13,000,000 in grants to the UAB Civitan International Research Center, the first institution in the United States to focus solely on researching developmental disabilities. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Civitan International」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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