New threats and opportunities have emerged in our time. They issue a renewed call for voluntary civic action. We can and must make a difference:

1. Without FREEDOM, efforts to rid the world of poverty, hunger, disease, and illiteracy invariably fail. International development efforts have long testified of this fact.

2. Without mutual UNDERSTANDING and respect, friendship for the United States and its democratic principles will continue to decline and the new menace of international terrorism will expand in its capacity to threaten all free nations.

3. Unless CITIZENS of nations learn democracy as a discipline, with its values, participatory skills, and processes, sooner or later those nations will fall victim to tyranny.

4. Without a renewable source of LEADERS of CHARACTER who embrace democratic principles, a new wave of despotism will sweep across nations in this generation. Youth around the world must learn how to engage in their civic responsibilities based on a love for freedom and an understanding of the principles that preserve it.

The George Washington Center for Freedom and Understanding exists to address these realities.