I would like to personally welcome you to this civic forum and to express my appreciation for your participation as we exchange fresh ideas to advance the common good of the citizenry toward social responsibility and to uphold the mission of The Center for Communal Photosynthesis Research. Inc. We look forward to an interesting and challenging dialogue on the civic issues of our democratic system of governance. In fact, it is our goal to foster a civic forum climate that encourages civic engagement, fosters the free exchange of democratic ideas, and upholds our core values statement of promoting the moral values of societal civility as epitomized by our CIVILITY acronym as follows:

C: Citizenship—strengthening the civic responsibilities of the citizenry.

 I: Integrity—promoting steadfast adherence to high moral principles for democratic living.

 V: Virtue—promoting the quality ofmoral efficacy and higher values of shared democratic experience.

 I: Innovation—promoting renewed commitment to civic capacity building of the citizenry and strengthening of thesocial fabric of democratic association.

 L: Leadership—promoting the civic missions of higher education for the training of the minds of the citizenry for higher capacity building of civic virtues and fitting them for higher callings in which there is a cultivation of the intellect toward democratic responsibilities and national development.

 I: Ideal—promoting the cultural values of democratic ideals for which the people live in pursuit and advancement of higher values.

 T: Teaching—advancing the scientific research and educational literary publication of democratic learning, experiential learning, service-learning programs, and open access to higher education for engaging the learning energies of the citizenry toward civic character development.

 Y: Young Blood—promotingthe exchange of fresh, new, and vigorous democratic and civic ideas of the citizenry toward civic engagement.