Program Director of the Nevada Center for Civic Engagement tells about her how her background in education led to her participation in civic engagement.

Kathleen grew up in New York City and Northern New Jersey where, as a young woman, she practiced anti-littering and participated in a Walk for Biafra led by Actor Alan Alda. When she attended junior college in Northeast Pennsylvania, she saw racism practiced against one of her teachers and several of the African and Middle Eastern students. She spent 11 years in the Foreign Service and lived in Lebanon, Egypt, Cyprus and Greece seeing firsthand a variety of political systems. She completed her Bachelor's Degree in Psychology at George Mason University.  After leaving the government employ, she knew she did not know enough about how the U.S. government worked so she attended George Washington University's Washington Representative Certification program. She also participated in American University's Campaign Management Institute. Kathleen moved to Reno in 1986 and then Henderson in 1999. She lobbied in the Nevada Legislature on Environmental issues in 1989, organized seminars on Recycling and Earth Day in 1990, was President of Zonta in Reno in 1998 and of the League of Women Voters Las Vegas Valley 2006-2008.  From 2009 to 2019, she was the Law Related Education Coordinator for the State Bar of Nevada then transitioning to the Nevada Center for Civic Engagement. She has been the State Coordinator for We the People and Project Citizen in Nevada since 2009.  Kathleen continues her education through the Seminars and Conferences offered by the Center for Civic Education www.civiced.org and by Nevada Center for Civic Engagement nvcce.org. 

Q & A with Kathleen Dickinson

What brought you to NVCCE?

I helped to found NVCCE and believe 100 percent in its mission "To promote and support the study of history, law and civics for the development of responsible and informed citizens who are committed to democratic principles and active engagement in representative government"

What do you love most about the work you do with our civic engagement programs?

Supporting our teachers and providing the tools to generations of future and present community activists.

What is your vision of NVCCE in the future?

My vision is for all of our NvCCE programs to be in all elementary, middle and high schools statewide. I would like all students of all backgrounds to have our NvCCE tools of knowledge, critical thinking, research, literacy, communication skills and networking.