Emily Voss

Center for Civic Education

The Center for Civic Education is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization based in Los Angeles. The mission of the Center is to promote an enlightened and responsible citizenry committed to democratic principles and actively engaged in the practice of democracy in the United States and other countries. The Center's programs are implemented with the assistance of a network of public- and private-sector organizations and educational leaders in every state and congressional district in the country and in more than eighty other countries, many of which are emerging democracies. The Center's work has been the subject of numerous books, studies, and professional articles, including Professor Brian Schultz's "Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way," as well as two documentary films, including the award-winning feature The World We Want. The Center began as an interdisciplinary Committee on Civic Education formed at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1964 to develop more effective curricular programs in elementary and secondary civic education. In 1969, the Center became affiliated with the State Bar of California. In 1981, the State Bar of California established the Center for Civic Education as an independent nonprofit organization. The Center's main programs are We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution, Project Citizen, and Foundations of Democracy. Independent research has found them to be the most effective programs in the field of civics and government.