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April 18, 2018
ADL and Education
Since our signature education programs were started in the 1980s, ADL has reached millions of adults and youth through our education programs. And these programs have been widely recognized and peer-reviewed for their efficacy in promoting justice in schools and society.
Today, ADL is one of the leading providers in the United States of anti-bias and anti-hate content and resources to schools and law enforcement. ADL education programs, including the award-winning No Place for Hate initiative and the A World of Difference Institute, reach more than 1.5 million school children every year in classrooms across the country.
Here’s a quick look at the various anti-bias and anti-bullying education programs we deliver on a daily basis in schools and communities across the country through our 26 regional offices:
The A World of Difference® Institute
Founded in 1992, the A World of Difference Institute provides interactive anti-bias education and bullying prevention training and curriculum to public and private pre-K-12 schools throughout the United States and abroad.
The Institute has several goals:
- Helping participants recognize bias and the harm it inflicts on individuals and society
- Building understanding of the value and benefits of diversity
- Improving intergroup relations
- Challenging racism, anti-Semitism and all other forms of bigotry
The program provides anti-bias training and curricula that promote respectful and inclusive schools and communities. The program also uses the Peer Training Program, which prepares select students to be peer trainers, using the positive power of peer influence to motivate others to reflect on their stereotypes and assumptions and to take action against prejudice, bigotry and harassment. This program has been reviewed by the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices. In 2016 alone, an estimated 41,000 students learned how to use the power of positive peer influence to challenge bias and bullying.
In peer training, students get three full days of training. It starts with the question of what is identity and moves into understanding the language of bias, understanding exactly what bias is, and challenging bias in one’s self and others. The kids then go into classrooms and become leaders to train other students.
No Place for Hate®
No Place for Hate provides K-12 schools with a framework for combating bias, bullying and hatred. Schools that use this framework are able to create long-term solutions for establishing and maintaining a positive school climate where all students feel they belong. More than 1,600 schools across the country have been designated as No Place for Hate.
No Place for Hate schools receive their designation by:
- Forming a coalition of students, educators and family members
- Signing the No Place for Hate Resolution of Respect
- Completing one A World of Difference Institute Training
- Implementing three school-wide activities that address issues of bias and bullying
Words to Action™
Words to Action equips, empowers and motivates Jewish middle, high school and college students as well as their adult family members, to address anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias. Participants in Words to Action:
- Increase their understanding and awareness of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias in their lives.
- Gain resources and knowledge to counter anti-Semitic stereotypes and anti-Israel myths with accurate information.
- Learn and practice skills to strategically respond to anti-Semitism in any form, from insensitive or biased comments to hate motivated incidents.
ADL and Law Enforcement
ADL is an indispensable resource for law enforcement professionals, helping them investigate hate crimes and training more than 15,000 personnel each year at the federal, state and local level. We provide proactive education and training to ensure law enforcement personnel can effectively respond to hate crimes. ADL provides extremist-related information to law enforcement, including critical up-to-the-minute background on extremist threats.
ADL’s unrivaled and comprehensive Law Enforcement Program offers a variety of flexible trainings tailored to fit the evolving needs of law enforcement agencies. The trainings, which include anti-bias, core values, extremism, counter-terrorism, hate crimes and leadership, provide law enforcement officers the tools they need to strengthen their relationships with communities they serve.
Since 1999, more than 130,000 law enforcement professionals have participated in ADL’s leadership and core values training, “Law Enforcement and Society: Lessons of the Holocaust (LEAS)" in partnership with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. And ADL has conducted trainings with senior law enforcement leaders in 94 countries outside of the United States.
ADL is the only civil rights organization whose training is mandated for all new agents in the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
ADL and Civil Rights
As a 100+ year old voice for vulnerable and targeted communities, we speak out against anti-Semitism and all forms of discrimination through civil rights work and community partnerships. ADL is a staunch proponent of equal treatment before the law. We file amicus briefs to ensure fair treatment and religious freedom for all. We also use cutting-edge data science technology and techniques to analyze hate crime data and trends to educate law enforcement across the country.
Our civil rights focus areas include:
- Hate Crime Laws: Preventing and responding to bias-motivated crimes through community outreach, coalition building and advocacy
- Immigration and Refugees: ADL promotes fair and humane immigration policies such as protections for Dreamers and their families. We advocate for immigration reform in state legislatures and in Congress, pushing back against attempts to inject xenophobia and discrimination into immigration policy making. And we work to build trust between communities and law enforcement.
- Religious Freedom: We fight for the separation of church and state and safeguard religious freedom by rejecting attempts to use religion as a sword to discriminate against LGBTQ individuals and women; we protect religious accommodation in the workplace.
- Racial Justice: ADL works to end racial bias in the criminal justice system, fights to reform school discipline and to dismantle the “school to prison” pipeline.