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National Student Poets Program

“What you learn through reading and writing poetry will stay with you throughout your life.  It will spark your imagination and broaden your horizons and even help your performance in the classroom.”

First Lady Michelle Obama, Honorary Chair of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities (PCAH), to high school students from across the country at a poetry workshop sponsored by the White House.

The mission of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities is, in part, to promote initiatives that give young people the opportunity to experience the mastery, discipline and accomplishment that are part of being an artist and a scholar.  For the past 18 months the President’s Committee has focused specifically on the critical role the arts and humanities play in preparing students for success in the knowledge and innovation economy. 

The new National Student Poets Program embodies these two priorities, and is born of many months of groundwork and partnership-building.

Looking Back to Prohibition to Understand the Unique American Story

Washington-area law students, experts on Constitutional law, and others will gather at the White House on Wednesday, February 22, for a screening of Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s documentary Prohibition and a panel discussion about the importance of Constitutional law. The screening is part of the National Endowment for the Humanities’ (NEH) “Bridging Cultures through Law” film series, which uses NEH-funded films to enrich legal education.

NEH is proud to have funded Prohibition, one of many exceptional explorations of unique American history from Burns and Novick. The film chronicles early Americans’ relationship with alcohol, the impetus behind the temperance movement, the passage of the 18th Amendment, the manifold legal issues during Prohibition, and its repeal with the 21st Amendment to the Constitution. This film transcends history by asking important questions about the function of the U.S. Constitution and the role American government plays in the lives of individual citizens. The three-part film premiered on PBS during the first week of October; the full film is now available on DVD and through iTunes download, with highlight clips available on PBS’ website and iPhone/iPad app.

HUD Plays Major Role in the White House Community Partnership Summit

Ed. Note: This piece is cross-posted from the Department of Housing and Urban Development's official website.

Over 500 partners and 50 local, regional and national agencies rolled up their sleeves and went to work on February 10th, as they collaboratively met to learn more about the new White House Housing Plan and Mortgage Settlement and to tackle their specific issues as part of the White House Community Partnership Summit in Atlanta. The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the General Services Administration along with Human and Health Services worked together along with other agencies to make the summit at the Martin Luther King Federal Building possible. HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan addressed attendees and brought them up to date on the overall and unprecedented $25 billion mortgage settlement via video conference. Congressman John Lewis got the attendees going with his inspired remarks about working together with an outstanding Administration that wants everyone to succeed.

Department of Housing and Urban Development Regional Administrator Ed Jennings, Jr. speaks at the White House Community Partnership Summit in Atlanta, Georgia. February 10, 2012. (by the Department of Housing and Urban Development)