There is no better site for political or democratic action than the school itself and the students' own community, according to educational philosopher John Dewey (1859-1952). Learning about local government provides students with authentic examples of democratic processes and institutions that shape their daily lives. Getting involved in local issues, particularly through service learning, offers students experiences in democratic participation with adults and peers in their community. As natural and desirable as it might be to teach about the local community in civics education, most textbooks give it maybe a section of a chapter on "state and local government." Resources available on the Internet can help fill the gap and the authors describe some of the better ones in this article. (Contains 1 table and 3 notes.)