Citizenship Counts

Citizenship Counts
Established	2008
Founder	Gerda Weissmann Klein
Location	PO Box 805, Voorhees, NJ 08043;
Executive Director	Alysa Cooper
Website	citizenshipcounts.org

Citizenship Counts is a non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization based in Arizona.

History

In October 2004, Gerda Weissmann Klein was asked to speak at a naturalization ceremony that was hosted by Three Rivers Middle School in Cleves, Ohio.^[1]

Klein shared her experience with her granddaughter, Alysa Ullman Cooper, and her friend, Rita Schaefer, then President of McDougal Littell, a publisher of educational materials for middle- and high-school students. After learning that Klein and Ullman were invited to attend a special naturalization ceremony at the White House, Schaefer encouraged Ullman to author a civics-based curriculum about the naturalization process. In February 2008, The Path to Citizenship was published and in August 2008, Citizenship Counts was founded to implement the program in schools across the United States.^[1]^[2]

On March 23, 2009, the inaugural naturalization ceremony under the stewardship of Citizenship Counts was held at the Phoenix Convention Center. Fifty new citizens from twenty-six countries took the "Oath of Allegiance," which was administered by former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. ^[1]

Board members

Citizenship Counts has a variety of educational, political, business, and community leaders who serve on its advisory or governing boards. ^{[citation needed]}

Advisory board

The Honorable Sandra Day O'Connor, retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Kirk Ankeney, Executive Director for Curriculum and Instruction for the San Diego Unified School District
Dr. Jesus Garcia, former President of the National Council for the Social Studies
Carlos M. Gutierrez, former United States Secretary of Commerce 35th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce
Sam Harris, former President of Northbrook United Way of America, author and Holocaust survivor
Benjamin Johnson, Executive Director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association
Thomas H. Kirk, Jr., former Deputy Commander of Special Forces in Europe
Carrie Martz, former CEO and Founder of The Martz Agency
Ted McConnell, Executive Director of the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools
Marney Murphy
Jason Steinagle

Board of directors

Roger Cohen
Dr. Eric Mondschein
Syd Golston
Don Streets
Jim Ullman

References

^ ^a ^b ^c www.bizjournals.com https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2009/03/23/daily13.html. Retrieved 2023-07-12. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
^ "Flag Day ceremony welcomes 20 new U.S. citizens". National Museum of American History. 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2023-07-12.

[:0-1] www.bizjournals.com https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2009/03/23/daily13.html. Retrieved 2023-07-12. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

[2] "Flag Day ceremony welcomes 20 new U.S. citizens". National Museum of American History. 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2023-07-12.

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