Thursday, July 16, 2026
6:00 p.m.
Small Meeting Room
Steele Memorial Library
101 East Church Street
Elmira, NY 14901

The Raven Society for Civic Renewal is founded upon a simple conviction:

A free people must know how to govern themselves.

For too long, citizens have been encouraged to watch government rather than participate in it. Elections have become spectator events. Public meetings are sparsely attended. The legislative process remains largely unknown to the very people whose lives it governs.

The Raven Society exists to reverse that trend.

Our purpose is to educate, organize, and equip citizens to become informed participants in local self-government. We believe that the health of a republic depends not merely upon good leaders, but upon educated citizens who understand both their rights and their responsibilities.

The Society will provide practical civic education through weekly meetings, workshops, discussion forums, legislative simulations, and hands-on training in the workings of municipal government.

Participants will learn:

• the structure and powers of city government;
• the duties and responsibilities of elected officials;
• the legislative process;
• parliamentary procedure;
• municipal budgeting;
• ethics in public service;
• constitutional principles;
• citizen participation;
• public speaking and persuasion;
• effective community organizing;
• constructive policy development.

The Society will also provide a training environment for independent citizens interested in seeking public office. As part of Julian Raven's vision for civic renewal, participants who choose to become candidates will receive practical instruction in public leadership and legislative service.

Working together, participants will conduct moot legislative sessions, draft ordinances, debate policy proposals, and learn to use every lawful legislative instrument available to advance the welfare, prosperity, liberty, and happiness of the citizens of Elmira.

The Society is founded upon the belief that lasting political transformation cannot be accomplished by one elected official alone.

True renewal requires the full participation of the citizenry.

It requires citizens willing to contribute not only their vote, but also their time, talents, wisdom, experience, voice, and resources toward the continual improvement of their community.

Julian Raven's vision for the renewal of Elmira rests upon this fundamental principle:

The greatest untapped resource in our city is not money. It is the intelligence, creativity, experience, and goodwill of its citizens.

Elmira cannot fully recover until its citizens once again become active stewards of their own government.

The Raven Society for Civic Renewal exists to make that possible.

Purpose of the Society

The decline of citizen participation

Why representative government requires informed citizens

Julian Raven's philosophy of civic renewal

The role of citizens in transforming Elmira

Formation of neighborhood leadership teams

Recruitment of future civic volunteers

Recruitment and mentoring of potential independent candidates for each of Elmira's six legislative districts

Weekly instructional meetings

Moot legislative sessions

Legislative drafting workshops

Municipal finance and budgeting

Public speaking and debate

Constitutional studies

Campaign ethics

Practical legislative strategy

Open forum

Volunteer opportunities

Membership

Future meeting schedule