Bring a Civic Handbook to Your City

The free statewide site covers Massachusetts as a whole. The community program is different, and it is the paid edition: a printed handbook and a custom website built around your city alone, with your officials, your departments, and the local content the statewide site cannot carry.

• A printed community edition. A community-centric handbook, professionally typeset and classroom-ready, with one copy per student.
• A custom community website. A dedicated public site for your community, built and hosted for you.
• Up to 80 pages of any content. Shape the edition page by page: history, departments, programs, photos, and more.
• A welcome from your leaders. Open the edition with a message from your mayor and superintendent, side by side.
• Fully customizable. Your officials and departments, your branding, your local content. Add or remove anything you like.

Chapter 296 of the Acts of 2018 (M.G.L. c. 71, Section 2) requires every Massachusetts public school student to complete a student-led civics project at both the 8th grade and high school level. The mandate is statewide, but the civic life students are supposed to research and engage with is local.

That is the gap the community edition fills. Your students open a book that shows their own mayor, their own city council, their own departments and programs. They can look up who represents them, how to contact their school committee, and where their community meets. No searching. No dead links. No generic state content where their city should be.

DESE hosts regional Civics Project Showcases each spring, drawing students from across the state. Students who go in with a grounded understanding of their own local government produce stronger projects. The community edition is designed to be that foundation.

• Directly supports Chapter 296. Aligned with the civics project requirement at both the 8th grade and high school level, and ready for use from day one of the school year.
• Timed to the school calendar. Two delivery windows are keyed to the start of the civics project cycle and the core research phase. See Plan Your Timeline below.
• Puts your community on the page. Real local officials, departments, and contacts, in a book built for your city and no one else’s.

1. Scope. We confirm your city, quantity, and timeline, and send a fixed quote.
2. Build. We research and produce your edition, the print layout and community website together.
3. Approve. Your school or district signs off on the final proof, including any sponsor ads, before anything is printed.
4. Launch. Handbooks are printed and delivered, and the community website goes live.

Massachusetts civics projects launch in the fall and run through the spring DESE showcases. Because we deliver about four weeks after you commit, two deadlines line up with the school calendar:

• Commit by August 1. Editions are in students’ hands at the start of the school year, ready for day one of the civics project.
• Commit by October 1. Editions arrive in time for the core working phase of the project, while students are researching their topics and engaging their community.

Need a date in between? Tell us your project calendar and we will work backward from it.

The community program includes your custom website and is priced per printed copy. The more students you reach, the lower the cost per copy. Many schools fund their edition directly, and sponsors are welcome on their own or alongside a school, with contributions stacking to lower the school’s cost or grow the print run.

Starting prices. Final per-copy cost varies by community and edition length.

Every student who receives an edition takes it home. In a community of 1,000 students, your name is in 1,000 households for an entire school year, in a resource students are required to use. The community website extends that reach online for the full year. For a local business, that kind of sustained presence in your own community is difficult to replicate at any price, let alone at these rates.

• A captive local audience. Whole high school classes see your name, in a book they keep and on a website that stays live.
• Community goodwill. Tie your brand to civic education in your own backyard. This is the kind of support people remember.
• Print and web together. A printed ad plus a web placement that links to any resource you choose: your website, an offer, or a job listing.
• Flexible investment. Schools and sponsors can both take part. A community can fund its edition, bring in sponsors, or do both, with contributions stacking to reduce cost or grow the run.

Tiers

Every sponsor gets a logo on the front and back covers and a web ad on the community pages. Choose the level that fits.

The dedicated letter (Silver and up) is your space to tell your story: your local roots, a message to students and graduates, or the opportunities you offer, such as internships, jobs, or scholarships.

Starting prices per edition: Bronze from $300, Silver from $600, Gold from $1,200, Platinum from $2,500. Final rates vary by community, print run, and edition size. Multi-year commitments save: two years 10% off, three years 15% off. All sponsor placements are subject to school or district approval before printing.

For schools and districts

• What is the minimum order? The program starts at 500 copies. We can discuss smaller pilot runs for specific grade levels or programs on request.
• Can we see a sample before committing? Yes. We can share samples from comparable editions. Email us with your city and approximate student count and we will send the most relevant examples.
• Who handles distribution? We deliver printed copies to your school or district. Your team distributes to students, the same as any other classroom material.
• What if information changes after delivery? The community website can be updated at any time at no additional charge. Print editions reflect the information current at the time of proof approval, so we recommend finalizing content close to your commit date.
• Do we need to find sponsors? No. Sponsorship is entirely optional. Many editions are funded directly by the school or district. If sponsors participate, their contributions reduce your per-copy cost or grow the print run.
• How long does the full process take? About four weeks from commitment to delivery. See Plan Your Timeline above for the two windows that align best with the Massachusetts civics project calendar.
• What happens to the community website after the school year? The site stays live. We discuss renewal each year and can update content on request at any time.

For sponsors

• Does our ad need school approval? Yes. All sponsor content is reviewed and approved by the school or district before anything is printed or published online. Nothing runs without sign-off.
• Can we update our web placement during the year? Yes. We can update URLs and basic web ad content on request at no additional charge.
• What if our business is not based in the district? Regional and statewide businesses with a local presence or meaningful connection to the community are welcome. We review each case individually.
• Can we sponsor more than one community edition? Yes. Multi-community sponsors receive coordinated placement across editions and are recognized as regional partners.