Civic Education Program at UW Receives Boost From Coe Endowment

Wyoming’s We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution, a civic education program at the University of Wyoming, will receive $90,000 per year for five years for a total of $450,000 from the W.R. Coe Endowment. We the People is a nationally acclaimed, comprehensive curriculum for elementary, middle and high school students that covers the history and principles of constitutional democracy in the United States. It is a flagship program of the Center for Civic Education, a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization.

Through We the People, students learn about America’s founding principles and documents, the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, and governmental systems and structure. The program culminates with simulated congressional hearings, where students testify before a panel of judges.

Allocated funds from the Coe Endowment will allow the Wyoming We the People program to provide professional development opportunities to Wyoming teachers, including the Civic Literacy Institute. The program hosted the inaugural institute July 14-17 on the UW campus. Twenty teachers received training in both disciplinary literacy and how to implement the We the People curriculum.

In addition to the Coe Endowment, the Wyoming We the People program is funded by a mix of state and private support, most notably by an endowed fund established by the John P. Ellbogen Foundation.