We are extremely pleased to announce the receipt of a grant of $1.5 million from the Pew Charitable Trusts to establish a collaborative program to strengthen precollegiate education about the Bill of Rights and its role in American political life. The grant is the end product of discussion initiated by the Philadelphia-based foundation in January of this year and extended to include the American Political Science Association, our partner in Project '87, an earlier ten-year joint venture focused on the Bicentennial of the Constitution. The AHA and the APSA welcome the opportunity to oversee this new bicentennial program and look forward to renewing and strengthening our contacts with teachers and constitutional scholars as well as archives, museums, state humanities councils, and other cultural and civic institutions that share our commitment to improving school-based education efforts.

The AHA and the APSA will jointly administer the Bill of Rights Education Collaborative, as the program has been named. A governing board will shortly be established, and then we will proceed with developing and funding projects in three areas:

1. Continuing education and professional development for civics, history, and social studies teachers.
2. Broader utilization of civic education resources, including both the contributions of non-school organizations to the classroom and opportunities for teachers to share their substantive and technical expertise outside the schools.
3. Special initiatives focusing upon Philadelphia-area institutions and the city's unique historical and cultural role in America's founding.

Details of specific projects in the above areas will follow in the next few months.