Citizenship Counts

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article contains wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information. Please remove or replace such wording and instead of making proclamations about a subject's importance, use facts and attribution to demonstrate that importance. (August 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article contains promotional content. Please help improve it by removing promotional language and inappropriate external links, and by adding encyclopedic text written from a neutral point of view. (August 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. Please discuss further on the talk page. (March 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Citizenship Counts

Established	2007
Founder	Gerda Weissmann Klein
Location	P.O 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.

The origins of Citizenship Counts trace back to October 2004, when Holocaust survivor Gerda Weissmann Klein spoke at a naturalization ceremony hosted by Three Rivers Middle School in Cleveland, Ohio. Following the event, Klein discussed the experience with her granddaughter, Alysa Ullman Cooper, and Rita Schaefer, then-president of McDougal Littell, an educational publishing company. After learning that Klein and Cooper were invited to attend a naturalization ceremony at the White House, Schaefer encouraged the development of an educational program to teach students about the naturalization process.

In February 2008, the civics-based curriculum The Path to Citizenship was published. Citizenship Counts was subsequently founded in August 2008 to implement the curriculum in educational settings across the country.^[1][2]

On March 23, 2009, the organization conducted its inaugural naturalization ceremony at the Phoenix Convention Center in Arizona. The event featured the swearing-in of 50 individuals representing 26 countries. The "Oath of Allegiance" was administered by retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. ^[1]

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

• 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

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