| About Constitutional Rights Foundation |
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Our Mission | Board of Directors | Annual Report/Financial Statements | Executive Staff | Staff/Contact Us Our MissionConstitutional Rights Foundation (CRF) seeks to instill in our nation's youth a deeper understanding of citizenship through values expressed in our Constitution and its Bill of Rights and to educate young people to become active and responsible participants in our society. CRF is dedicated to assuring our country's future by investing in our youth today. CRF is a non-profit, non-partisan, community-based organization dedicated to educating America's young people about the importance of civic participation in a democratic society. Under the guidance of a Board of Directors chosen from the worlds of law, business, government, education, the media, and the community, CRF develops, produces, and distributes programs and materials to teachers, students, and public-minded citizens all across the nation. Federal Tax Id: 95-2219680 | Tax exempt status: 501(c)(3) CRF staff includes teachers and educators, lawyers, community organizers and fundraisers, designers, writers, and editors. They provide technical assistance and training to teachers, coordinate civic participation projects in schools and communities, organize student conferences and competitions, and develop publications in the following areas:
Get to know more about Constitutional Rights Foundation by looking over our Annual Report. Contact our staff. Explore our Programs section to learn how CRF translates its visions into reality. Turn to the Publications page to survey our catalog offering materials in Government, U.S. and World History, Business, and Civic Participation. Tour our Support section to learn how we keep our vital work moving ahead, or check out the CRF Calendar. Do you have any questions about CRF Programs or Publications? Do you want to reach a particular CRF staff member? Download a copy of CRF's brochure. Board of Directors
Our Mission | Board of Directors | Annual Report/Financial Statements | Executive Staff | Staff/Contact Us Annual Reports2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 Financial StatementsLatest Audited Financials | Latest IRS Form 990 Executive StaffJonathan Estrin, President
John L. Plaxco, Director of Development John Plaxco joined CRF in April 2012 as Director of Development. John Plaxco has provided consulting services to political and nonprofit clients for the past 30 years. His career began as a consultant to the Office of the President during the Carter Administration. From 1981-1984 he worked with U.S. House of Representatives leaders on fundraising. From 1984-1988 John provided services to a variety of political clients across the country. In 1989 he formed a consulting firm in Los Angeles. The firm provided professional fundraising counseling services for political and nonprofit clients for 20 years. John has managed the fundraising efforts of over 32 political campaigns and has worked successfully with a variety of nonprofits.
Staff | E-Mail Staff
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T. Warren Jackson, Esq., Chair
Nestor Barrero, Esq.
Joel A. Feuer, Esq., 
Sharon J. Matsumoto, Esq., Vice Chair
Louis P. Eatman, Esq.
Robert S. Stern, Esq., Chief Financial Officer
Laurence J. Hutt, Esq.
Hon. John A. Kronstadt
L. Rachel Lerman, Esq.
James M. Aquilina, Esq.
E. Jane Arnault-Factor, Ph.D.
William K. Mills, Esq.
Robert C. Aronoff, Esq.
Kim N. A. Boras, Esq.
Alan N. Braverman, Esq. 
Howard M. Privette, Esq.
Joanne E. Caruso, Esq.
Fred R. Puglisi, Esq.
Joseph F. Coyne, Jr. , Esq.
Vincent J. Davitt, Esq.
Alan I. Rothenberg, Esq.
Hon. Raymond C. Fisher
Alan V. Friedman, Esq.
Robert A. Sacks, Esq.
Greg Gelfan, Esq.
Margaret H. Gillespie 
Jonathan M. Gordon, Esq.
Kent B. Goss, Esq.
Robert A. Greenfield, Esq.
Amy M. Hawkes, Esq.
Marshall P. Horowitz, Esq.
Gregory P. Stone, Esq.
Roberto J. Kampfner, Esq.
Louis E. Kempinsky, Esq.
Richard S. Kolodny, Esq.
John D. Vandevelde, Esq.
Scott Lichtig, Esq.
Jonathan Estrin joined CRF as President in April 2008. Estrin had run a consulting practice in education, entertainment, and newmedia opportunities for non-profit organizations. He was formerly Executive Vice-President of the American Film Institute, where he supervised its K-12 Teacher Education program, its renowned Conservatory of Filmmaking, and film exhibition and new technologies. Prior to that, he was the Dean of the College of Media Arts & Design at Drexel University. Estrin has been a writer-producer for 30 years and has created over 100 hours of award-winning television series, movies, and miniseries for various broadcast and cable networks. His credits include Cagney & Lacey, the Showtime movie Jasper, Texas as well as such series as Family Law and an adaptation of Pat Conroy's novel The Water Is Wide for the Hallmark Hall of Fame/CBS. Estrin also chairs the Board of Operation USA, a Los Angeles-based international medical relief and development agency.
Marshall Croddy assumed the position of Vice President of CRF in April 2008 and was selected as Assistant Secretary of the Board of Directors in 2011. Croddy previously served as Director of Programs for CRF. He is an attorney and has been a member of the State Bar of California since 1976. Croddy is a nationally recognized leader in the field of law-related and civics education. He has designed, edited, and co-written most of CRF's educational texts and publications including the Law in the Social Studies series, Criminal Justice in America, Letters of Liberty, Foundations of Freedom, Reviewing the Verdict, Active Citizenship Today, The W.M. Keck Foundation Challenge Series, CityWorks, and Bill of Rights in Action, a nationally distributed curricular newsletter. In the area of program design and implementation, he has helped create numerous educational programs for Constitutional Rights Foundation and other organizations, most notably, the 1991 Southern California Celebration of the Bicentennial of the Bill of Rights. He has served on the boards of a number of educational and civic organizations. In 2000, he received the American Bar Association's Isidore Starr Award for Excellence in Law-Related Education, and in 2007, he was awarded the Roy Erickson Civic Education Leadership Award by the California Council for the Social Studies.
Jo Ann Burton has spent more than 30 years working in development for nonprofit organizations in Southern California, including The Scientists’ Institute for Public Information (SIPI), Phoenix House, Children’s Home Society of California, the Los Angeles Children’s Museum, and the Los Angeles Ballet before joining the staff of Constitutional Rights Foundation. Jo Ann received a BFA in Theatre from Manchester University, England, and a teaching credential in Piano from the Royal School of Music in London, and she completed the Coro Women’s Program in Los Angeles. After moving to Southern California from her native England, Jo Ann chose a career in development in the nonprofit sector because of her strong commitment to improving lives and providing opportunities for young people in this community. Jo Ann recently announced that she will be leaving CRF, she will remain at CRF during the transition period to the new development director.