Annual Report Howard A. Friedman First Amendment Education Project S ince 1991, with a generous gift from the Friedman family, the Friedman Education Project has provided relevant and unique resources to high school teachers and students to broaden student understanding of the core principles underlying the Bill of Rights, and to make connections between these rights and the issues in their daily lives. With each new activity, new students are attracted to the ACLU and join the YAC, bringing new creative ideas and energy for planning future events on student rights and liberties.
All programs are free to students and schools.
This year's annual conference in Sacramento attracted more than 600 high school students from 26 northern California high schools to debate, discuss, and organize around key civil liberties issues. With youth activists and organizers as presenters, the conference focused on the juvenile justice system, homeless youth, hate crimes, media portrayal of youth, and the prison industrial complex. We also featured a Speak-Out on the relationship between youth and police with a young community activist fighting against police brutality and an Alameda County Deputy Sheriff who is also the Vice Chair of the National Black Police Association. The students lobbied their legislators on the Driving While Black bill, and held a rally on the Capitol steps to focus attention on the need for more funding of public education. Unplugged This year's summer field exploration looked at the issue of homelessness, and in particular, homeless youth.