Civitan International, based in Birmingham, Alabama, is an association of community service clubs founded in 1917. The organization aims "to build good citizenship by providing a volunteer organization of clubs dedicated to serving individual and community needs with an emphasis on helping people with developmental disabilities." The organization includes 40,000 members (referred to as Civitans) in almost 1,000 clubs around the world.

History

In 1917, a group of Birmingham, Alabama, businessmen were members of the local Rotary club. Many of the men thought that the club focused too much on increasing the business of club members, so they surrendered their club's charter. Led by Courtney Shropshire, a local doctor, they formed an independent service club named Civitan, derived from the Latin word for citizenship. Since the creation of Esperanto in 1887 "civitan" has been the root—civitano in common usage—for the word "citizen". Rotary's first fellowship was its Esperanto-speaking fellowship.