January 31, 2025
By William Cracraft

The Ninth Circuit’s Public Information and Community Outreach (PICO) Committee held a ground-breaking online symposium to share knowledge about how courts and individual judges can inspire involvement and educate the public to understand the role and importance of courts to the general public.

The 2024 Community Outreach Symposium held November 8, emceed by PICO Chair and Senior District Judge John A. Kronstadt, U.S. District Court, for the Central District of California, featured panelists from around the country who run a wide variety of successful outreach programs each talking about their program and how they reach their audience.

The audience of about 125 heard from over a dozen judges and law professors. Topics included:
• Helping Teachers Navigate the Courts, Constitution and Law.
• Historic Trial Reenactments: Bringing Learning to Life.
• It’s Never Too Late: Civic Education for Adults.
• It’s Never too Early: Civic Education for Younger Students.
• Discovering the Law: Building a Court Camp or Summer Institute for Students.
• Civics Contest Promotion: Getting the Word Out.
• Here to Help: Civics Outreach Support from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

“The purpose of the symposium was to expand civic education throughout the Circuit,” said Judge Kronstadt. “To achieve this purpose, the presenters from around the Ninth Circuit and from the Second and Third Circuits made short and compelling presentations about the programs in which each has been involved. Those watching were impressed and inspired to adopt them.”

Choosing wide-ranging topics took some thought. “The working group felt it was important to include all age groups represented in our civic education programming – elementary, high school and adult civics education,” said Kari Kelso Ph.D., public education and community outreach administrator, Office of the Circuit Executive for the Ninth Circuit. “In addition, we wanted to cover both one-day programs with schools and multiday programs such as court camps and weeklong programs held by universities and nonprofits.”

Nyla Rosen, civic education liaison at the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center, Peralta Community College District, in Oakland, California, attended the symposium. “Our particular focus is civil rights, personal and social responsibility through civic participation and protecting and promoting democracy,” she said. “Programs highlighted in this symposium present excellent models for expanding popular participation in this branch of government. It is a great model for cross-sector collaboration that may be emulated by other circuits in the country.”

Rosen added that a session moderated by District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr., U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, ‘Discovering the Law: Building a Court Camp or Summer Institute for Students,’ was also very helpful,” Rosen continued. “The Freedom Center has carried out civic engagement summer camps for over two decades. They focus on personal transformation through civic participation. Students meet with civic and elected leaders (federal, state and local/municipal), civil rights, tribal, and community leadership and bodies. We are interested in learning from both models – professional development for civics educators, and summer institutes for young people.”

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