This document is designed to help literacy practitioners and others establish civic literacy programs to help learners in South Carolina develop general literacy skills applied to the everyday tasks of being a citizen and active community member. The rationale for promoting civic literacy and the challenges for adult civic literacy system development are outlined, along with an ecological view of civic literacy development. Eight types of civic literacy initiatives, including the following, are described: involving youth in civic literacy learning; asset-based approaches to community development that promote civic literacy development; civic literacy development with special populations; civic literacy development promoted while examining neighborhood and community quality of life; and civic literacy development and enhancing just environments. Next, various aspects of starting a civic literacy initiative are discussed, including the following: a design for civic literacy initiatives; the work of the overall planning committee; typical community development perspectives and practices; typical adult education and communication practices; and 10 areas to consider in sustaining effective civic literacy initiatives. Ways of measuring success are suggested. Annotated listings of 21 quality of life and benchmark reports and processes and 135 available civic literacy resources are presented. An explanation of the National Adult Literacy Survey levels of literacy is appended. Forty-eight endnotes and references are included. (MN)