This resource was developed for the First Annual Congressional Conference on Civic Education, September 2003. All information was obtained from the listed organizations' websites. It is not intended to be exhaustive; rather, it was created as a tool to assist the efforts of the State Delegations upon their return home.
50-State and National Resource Guide Main Page
Representative Democracy in America Home Page
Trust for Representative Democracy Home Page
Mississippi:
The American Legion Auxiliary of Mississippi
Kathy Dungan, President
Contact: Tommie Stroud, Secretary/Treasurer
American Legion Auxiliary of Mississippi
PO Box 1382
Jackson, MS 39201
Phone: (601) 353-3681
Fax: (601) 353-3682
Email: alamshq@aol.com
http://www.legion-aux.org/contact_us/docs/state.html
Description:
The American Legion develops and plans activities geared towards high school students and their development and understanding of the United States Government. The American Legion Auxiliary Girls State Program is a program where young women across America participate in citizenship training at a weeklong session designed to mimic a state government. Delegates to Girls Nation, another program run by the American Legion Auxiliary, participate in a mock national government to learn the importance of the individual in a democratic government. The American Legion also provides classes on flag etiquette as well as support the Americanism Youth Freedoms Foundation. Link at: http://www.legion-aux.org/programs/docs/programs(2).html
The American Legion Department of Mississippi
Billy B West, Commander
Contact: Johnny F Bracy, Adjutant
American Legion Department of Mississippi
PO Box 688
Jackson, MS 39205
Phone: (601) 352-4986
Fax: (601) 352-7181
Email: legion27@aol.com
http://www.legion.org
Description:
The American Legion develops and plans activities geared towards high school students and their development and understanding of the United States Government. One such program is The American Legion’s National High School Oratorical Contest that is used to help students develop a deeper knowledge and appreciation of the Constitution of the United States. Boys State is another such participatory program where each participant becomes a part of the operation of his local, county and state government during a weeklong session. Following Boys State two representatives from each of the 48 Boys States are called upon to represent their state at American Legion Boys Nation in Washington, DC. It is here that the boys are introduced to the structure and function of the federal government. Link at: http://www.legion.org/events/evt_main.htm
First Amendment Schools: Mississippi
Lanier High School, Jackson, Mississippi
Contact: Sam Chaltain
First Amendment Schools
Freedom Forum First Amendment Center
1101 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22209
Phone: (703) 284-2808
Fax: (703) 284.2879
Email: schaltain@freedomforum.org
Contact: Michael Wildasin
First Amendment Schools
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)
1703 N Beauregard Street
Alexandria, VA 22311
Phone: (703) 575-5475
Fax: (703) 575-5408
Email: mwildasi@ascd.org
http://webserver3.ascd.org/web/firstamendment/flashintro.cfm or http://webserver3.ascd.org/web/firstamendment/lanierhigh.cfm
Description:
First Amendment Schools: Educating for Freedom and Responsibility, co-sponsored by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) and the First Amendment Center, is a national initiative designed to transform how schools model and teach the rights and responsibilities of citizenship that frame civic life in our democracy.
Kids Voting Mississippi
Contact: Bobbie Thomas
Kids Voting Mississippi
USM Gulf Park Campus
730 East Beach Boulevard
Long Beach, MS 39560
Phone: (228) 867-8780
Email: bobbiesthomas@aol.com
http://www.kidsvotingusa.org/
Description:
Kids Voting USA is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan, organization that fosters an informed, participating electorate by educating and actively engaging young people and their families in voting and other elements of effective civic engagement.
The League of Women Voters of Mississippi
Contact: Ms. Neva Greenwald
LWV of Mississippi
PO Box 55505
Jackson, MS 39216-5505
Phone: (601) 352-4616
Email: MSLeaguePres@aol.com
http://www.lwv-ms.org/
Description:
The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan, multipurpose organization of women and men that encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government and influences policy through education and advocacy. The League does not support or oppose candidates or political parties. However, they do provide a forum where all candidates to an office can state their own positions.
The Mississippi Bar Law-Related Education
Contact: Spiller Burnham, Statewide LRE Coordinator
PO Box 2168
Jackson, MS 39225-2168
Phone: (601) 948-4471
Fax: (601) 355-8635
Email: sburnham@msbar.org
http://www.msbar.org/students_educators.htm
Description:
The Mississippi State Bar helps to support many Law-Related Education programs. Examples of these are Celebrate your Freedom Day, Mock Trial, and the Lawyer in Every Mississippi Classroom program.
The Mississippi Department of Education
Contact: Dr. Henry Johnson, State Superintendent of Education
Phone: (601) 359-3512
Mississippi Department of Education
Central High School
Suite 365
PO Box 771
359 North West Street
Jackson, MS 39205
Phone: (601) 359-3513
http://www.mde.k12.ms.us/
Description:
The Mississippi Department of Education website is a comprehensive guide to parents, educators, administrators and students in the state of Mississippi. The homepage contains links to various topics such as the, “K-12 Curriculum,” “Student Assessment,” and “No Child Left Behind.”
The Mississippi Department of Education: Social Studies Standards
Contact: The Mississippi Department of Education
Phone: (601) 359-2856
http://www.marcopolo.mde.k12.ms.us/downloads/social_studies/ss_gen_introduction.pdf
Description:
All strands of federal standards are used in the creation of the Mississippi curriculum, including the National Standards. The standards for Social Studies in Mississippi “overlap” in the grade levels, covering an integrated course curriculum of History, Geography, Economics and Civics.
The Mississippi Humanities Council
Contact: Dr. Barbara Carpenter, Executive Director
Phone: (601) 432-6753
3825 Ridgewood Road, Room 311
Jackson, MS 39211
Phone: (601) 432-6752
Fax: (601) 432-6750
Email: barbara@mhc.state.ms.us
http://www.ihl.state.ms.us/mhc/Dreamweaver/index.htm
Description:
The Mississippi Humanities Council sponsors, supports, and conducts a wide range of programs designed to promote understanding of our cultural heritage, interpret our own experience, foster critical thinking, encourage reasonable public discourse, strengthen our sense of community, and thus empower us with a vision for the future.
The Mississippi State Bar
Contact: Larry Houchins, Executive Director
The Mississippi Bar
Mailing address:
PO Box 2168
Jackson, Mississippi 39225
Shipping address:
643 North State Street
Jackson, Mississippi 39202
Phone: (601) 948-4471
Fax: (601) 355-8635
Email: houchins@msbar.org
http://www.msbar.org/index.php
Description:
The Mississippi Bar shall serve the public good by promoting excellence in the profession and in the system of justice by promoting excellence, increasing the public's understanding and appreciation of the system of justice and the role of the legal profession, and providing programs and services to assist members in providing high quality legal services in a professional and cost effective manner.
The Mississippi State Mock Trial Program
Contact: Spiller Burnham, Section and Division Activities Coordinator
Mississippi Bar Association
643 North State Street
Jackson, MS 39202
Phone: (601) 948-4471
Email: sburnham@msbar.org
http://www.nationalmocktrial.org/
Description:
The National High School Mock Trial Championship, Inc. is an annual competition that allows students to experience and gain a full understanding of the law, court procedures, and the American judicial system. The program also helps students become better critical thinkers, readers, and speakers, as well as to improve communication between community members, teachers, government leaders, and law professionals.
We the People: Project Citizen
Contact: Ms. Susie Burroughs, State Coordinator
Mississippi State University
PO Box 9705
Mississippi State, MS 39762-9705
Phone: (662) 325-3747
Fax: (662) 325-7857
Email: sburroughs@colled.msstate.edu
Contact: Mr. Stephen Williams, Project Citizen State Co-Coordinator
Stennis Institute of Government
PO Box LV
Mississippi State, MS 39762-5916
Phone: (662) 325-3328
Fax: (662) 325-3772
Email: swilliams@sig.msstate.edu
http://www.civiced.org/
Description:
We the People: Project Citizen, administered at the middle school level, promotes competent and responsible participation in state and local governments. It actively engages young people in learning how to monitor and influence public policy. As a project, young people work together to create a portfolio related to public policy issue that they have researched and documented. Classes may also enter their portfolios in a local showcase with other classes. Winners advance to annual state and national showcases. Project Citizen is administered nationally by the Center for Civic Education in cooperation with the National Conference of State Legislatures, a bipartisan organization dedicated to serving the lawmakers and staffs of the nation’s 50 states and its commonwealths and territories. In Mississippi, Project Citizen is administered and sponsored by Susie Burroughs and Stephen Williams.
We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution
Contact: Ms. Susie Burroughs, State Coordinator
Mississippi State University
PO Box 9705
Mississippi State, MS 39762-9705
Phone: (662) 325-3747
Fax: (662) 325-7857
Email: sburroughs@colled.msstate.edu
http://www.civiced.org/
Description:
We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution, a program funded by the United States Department of Education by act of Congress, teaches elementary, middle and high school students the history and principles behind the American constitutional democracy. The program is based on curricular materials developed by the Center for Civic Education and acclaimed by leading educators. The curriculum not only enhances students’ understanding of the institutions of American democracy, it also helps them to identify the contemporary relevance of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. 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. In Mississippi, We the People is administered by Susie Burroughs.
Youth Court Center of Mississippi
Contact: There are three Youth Court Centers in the State of Mississippi. Go to: http://www.youthcourt.net/national_listing/United_states/query.asp to find the center most appropriate to you.
National Youth Court Center
C/O American Probation and Parole Association, Council of State Governments
PO Box 11910
Lexington, KY 40578-1910
Phone: (859) 244-8215
Email: nycc@csg.org
http://www.youthcourt.net/
Description:
The goals of Teen Court are to help youth realize they will be accountable for their behavior; educate youth on the impact their actions have on themselves and others (i.e., victims and the community); build competencies in youth by providing instructions on how the legal system functions and how to communicate and resolve problems with peers more effectively; and provide a meaningful forum for youth to practice and enhance newly developed competencies. |
