Constitutional Rights Foundation

Causes: Education

Mission: Constitutional rights foundation (crf) is a non-profit, los angeles-based, national organization that develops programs and materials to educate students about the constitution, our democratic institutions and the rights and responsibilities of effective citizenship. It offers educational publications and resources, technical assistance, teacher training, direct youth programs, and other services in the subject-matter areas of law, government, and civic learning and engagement.

Programs: Law, history & governmentcrf's law, history, and government programs and materials focus on historical and contemporary issues, institutions, people, and processes that shape our laws and government. Each year crf's law & government department conducts the california state mock trial competition. In 2016, crf's mock trial competition directly involved over 8,000 california students and 3,000 legal and teacher volunteers. Crf continues to deliver a web-assisted history program for underserved student populations, an educational intervention in collaboration with the los angeles district attorney's office for at-risk elementary school students, and a lawyer classroom curricular program for middle and high schools.

publicationscrf publishes and distributes educational resources and materials on law and government, civic participation, u. S. And world history, and current issues. Crf offers nearly 60 high-quality educational publications in its catalog and maintains nine websites for various audiences, teachers, young people, and classroom volunteers, which, in 2016 our websites attracted over 3 million unique visitors. Crf also distributes its acclaimed quarterly curricular newsletter, bill of rights in action free-of-charge to some 32,000 educators nationally on an annual basis.

civic learning and engagementcrf's civic learning and engagement programs and materials bring to life the rights and responsibilities of active citizenship by challenging young people to become informed, skilled and civically engaged. Crf's evaluation-validated expanding horizons internship program places scores of qualified urban students in local law firms, businesses, government offices, and non-profit organizations to experience a professional work environment, develop civic engagement and leadership skills, and plan for their academic futures. The foundation's civic action project, a web-based program for u. S. Government students, provides a practicum in civic learning and engagement for teachers in 48 states.