WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Department of Education has partnered with the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), Turning Point USA (TPUSA), Hillsdale College, and dozens of other aligned organizations to launch a program dedicated to “renewing patriotism, strengthening civic knowledge, and advancing a shared understanding of America’s founding principles in schools across the nation.”
The groups, which also include the Heritage Foundation, the Claremont Institute, Moms for Liberty, and Prager U, gathered just blocks from the White House on Wednesday to announce the “America 250 Civics Education Coalition.”
Coalition co-chair Erika Donalds, leader of education opportunity at AFPI and wife of Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), said the joint effort is being made to “ensure that our children, our grandchildren, and generations to come are able to have this same celebration of pride in America at its 500th anniversary, 250 years from now.”
Representatives from around 40 of the member organizations stood behind Donalds and the other officials she introduced to the podium, with the first being Education Sec. Linda McMahon.
“Today, September 17, Constitution Day, marks the perfect moment to launch this coalition,” McMahon said. “On this day in 1787, our founders signed the document that has guided our republic for over two centuries, enshrining the principles of liberty, justice and self governance.”
Yet, young Americans are not proud of being American nor know how the country works, she stated.
“We face a sobering reality. Civic knowledge, engagement, and constitutional literacy among our youth … it’s in decline,” the secretary continued. “I can almost say it is absent, and we have to really refocus on this. The 2025 poll found that only 41 percent of 18 to 29 year olds today are proud to be Americans. They can’t name the three branches of government or explain the Bill of Rights. Can you imagine that?”
The coalition will hold over 100 events from this week through January 1, 2027, in an effort to revitalize knowledge and appreciation for American civics and history, she explained.
Greg Sindelar, the interim president and CEO of AFPI, then took to the podium to say that the coalition “is more than a commemoration of America’s 250th birthday — it’s a commitment and a promise that the next generation will know America’s story, understand her founding principles and have the courage to defend them, because to know America is to love her.”
“It isn’t about some niche educational subject matter concern. It is about the future of the country,” he added.
The coalition leaders also spent a significant chunk of time remembering TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated last week while speaking to a crowd on a Utah college campus.
Donalds said, “Now, this coalition was put together well before the tragedy of [Kirk’s] assassination, but rightfully so, Turning Point USA is one of our partners here, and no better organization to help us reach the young people with a love of country and civic literacy and a determination reflective of Charlie Kirk’s legacy to spread that far and wide.”
TPUSA chief education officer Dr. Hutz H. Hertzberg said, “I mean, when your founder and your chief executive officer is assassinated, really martyred, for the things that he believed and taught and stood for — obviously, that changes an organization — but it also has changed nothing in terms of the resolve, the commitment, the fortitude, the courage that I’m seeing throughout our organization.”
“I lead the education division,” Hertzberg continued. “There was not one second we thought we’re going to pull back, we’re going to fold the tents, we’re going to cower in fear. It was just the opposite. We’re doubling down. We’re tripling down.”
Hillsdale College President Dr. Larry Arnn took to the stand next and also drew the connection between Kirk and the coalition’s mission.
“Charlie Kirk was a friend of mine. Like many people here, I admired him very much, but they killed him. It didn’t settle anything that just told us it made it bigger, right?”
In a press release later put out by the Department of Education, Arnn said, “We celebrate Lincoln for his greatness in recalling the nation to the principles of its birth, the principles of the Declaration of Independence, the most beautiful political document in history.”
“It is time to repeat his work and the work of Jefferson and the Founders. We will work together to learn those principles, and for the love of them we will have a grand celebration,” he added.
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