Todd Clark, Executive Director, Constitutional Rights Foundation

Todd Clark joined the staff of Constitutional Rights Foundation in 1967 as education director and has served as executive director since 1989. Constitutional Rights Foundation (CRF) is a community-based and supported organization that sponsors K-12 education programs, provides staff development, and creates curriculum materials on civic engagement and participation. Each year, several thousand lawyers, judges, and community volunteers work with young people in CRF’s programs in Los Angeles and California. Foremost among these programs are History Day in California and the California State High School Mock Trial. More than 400 senior high schools and hundreds of middle and elementary schools take part in these programs. Other CRF programs and publications are widely used by social studies and service-learning educators throughout the United States. 

Todd is a former high school history and government teacher. He is the past president of both the National Council for the Social Studies and the California Council for the Social Studies. He also serves on the advisory committees of several state and national projects on citizenship and service-learning and is a board member of Civitas International. He was the founding editor of the Bill of Rights in Action, a national publication for high school social studies and history teachers and has authored numerous curriculum materials now used in high schools throughout the U.S. Todd recently completed four years of service as the chairman of the Governor’s commission that administers the AmeriCorps program in California. He was first appointed to the commission by Governor Wilson and re-appointed by Governor Davis.

In 2002, Todd served on the advisory group in the creation of The Civic Mission of Schools report issued by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. He is now organizing a California Campaign to implement its recommendations.

Online Resources
• Citizenship Toolkit
• A Facilitator's Guide for By the People
• A Guide to Effective Citizenship through AmeriCorps
• More

Library Resources
• WiseWords: Wisdom for Making Good Choices
• We the People...Project Citizen
• Net Activism: How Citizens Use the Internet
• Teen Power Politics: Make Yourself Heard
• More

Effective Practices
• Creating a young people's Bill of Responsibilities
• Blending service-learning and character education to promote strong citizenship
• Creating a culture of civic responsibility on a college campus
• More

Links to Other Useful Websites
• Justice Learning
• Our Documents
• Dirksen Congressional Center CongressLink
• More

Promoting Civic Engagement and Citizenship Education
It has been widely noted that all forms of civic engagement in the United States, particularly voting and political dialogue, are in decline. Young people, through their expression and their action, demonstrate a desire to improve the quality of life in their communities, but reject involvement in traditional political activity. Even so, a widespread national response to the events of September 11, 2001, provoked many Americans to take personal action, to “do something to help” following that great national tragedy. Read more

Promising Practices in Civic-Based Service-Learning
Cultivating responsible and effective citizenship among young Americans requires that explicit attention be given to the knowledge, skills, and values of democratic life as a part of both education and volunteer service. Civic-based service learning provides youth with the opportunity to actively engage the processes and institutions of government while effectively addressing issues and needs that are important to them. Read more