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2009 News Articles › LRE Acquires Project Citizen Program
LRE Acquires Project Citizen Program
Article Date: Sunday, April 12, 2009
Written By: Russell Rawlings
We the People: Project Citizen has a new home in North Carolina – the North Carolina Bar Association.
To be more specific, the U.S. Department of Education’s Center for Civic Education initiative will fall under the auspices of the NCBA Foundation’s Law-Related Education Department, which already administers We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution in North Carolina.
News of the decision was communicated to LRE Director Diane Wright on Friday by Michael Fischer, who serves as director of We the People: Project Citizen, based in Calabasas, Calif.
“I am very pleased to inform you that after consultation with the Project Citizen staff here at the Center (for Civic Education), and given your willingness to take it on, the North Carolina Bar Association will be the new partner for Project Citizen in North Carolina,” Fischer stated.
“Because the (North Carolina) Bar Association is already managing We the People, the uniting of the two programs under one roof seemed to be the most advantageous arrangement and makes a great deal of sense both fiscally and programmatically. In addition, the strong support you have in your organization and the capacity to fully implement all aspects of the program were the basis of this selection.”
About the Programs
We the People: Project Citizen is a curricular program for middle, secondary and post-secondary students, youth organizations and adult groups. The program promotes competent and responsible participation in local and state government.
Project Citizen helps participants learn how to monitor and influence public policy. In the process, they develop support for democratic values and principles, tolerance and feelings of political efficacy.
“The Project Citizen program is not only a great program for children,” Wright said, “it has immense potential that is only limited by imagination, and multiple opportunities for our volunteers across the state.”
We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution focuses on the history and principles of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights for upper elementary, middle and high school students. The curriculum enhances students’ understanding of the institutions of American constitutional democracy while also helping them identify the contemporary relevance of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Critical thinking exercises, problem-solving activities and cooperative learning techniques help develop participatory skills necessary for students to become active, responsible citizens.
The program's culminating activity is a simulated congressional hearing wherein students are given the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge while they evaluate, take, and defend positions on relevant historical and contemporary issues. The hearings, whether competitive or noncompetitive, provide the classroom teacher with an excellent means of motivating and assessing student performance.
The Center for Civic Education programs are administered with the assistance of a national network of state and congressional district coordinators in every state and is conducted with the assistance of the National Conference of State Legislatures. It is funded by the U.S. Department of Education by act of Congress. Additional funding at the state level is also provided by an increasing number of state legislatures.
The Law-Related Education Department of the NCBA Foundation was established in 1998. Originally known as Lawyers in the Schools, the program receives volunteer leadership and service from the Law-Related Education Advisory Committee which is currently chaired by Heather Culp of Charlotte.
LRE is “committed to providing North Carolina teachers access to the People, Programs and Publications they need to make law-related education interesting, meaningful and fun for their students.”
“Bringing Project Citizen to the Bar further strengthens our successful partnership with the Center for Civic Education,” Culp said, “and provides our lawyer volunteers with a great new opportunity to work with North Carolina students on critically important issues such as democracy, shaping public policy, and participating in the political process.”