The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC), a Willett Public Affairs client, this week announced its selection by the New York State Education Department (SED) to lead a significant initiative: revising and updating curricular resources on the Holocaust and other genocides.
Under the guidance of HHREC Executive Director Millie Jasper and Director of Education Steve Goldberg, this endeavor represents a profound commitment to enhancing educational tools for understanding these critical historical events and is also a significant achievement and honor for HHREC to be selected for this role. The project is being supported by the New York State Archives Partnership Trust, which is developing an innovative platform to host the materials on ConsidertheSourceNY.org.
HHREC has enlisted the expertise of 29 current and retired educators to craft comprehensive resources for elementary, middle, and high school teachers of social studies and English Language Arts. Central to this effort is the principle of emphasizing “names not numbers,” highlighting individual stories to offer students a personal and meaningful understanding of historical events. The guide will feature chronological segments on the Holocaust, as well as sections on topics like Human Behavior, Literature and Art, The United States and the Holocaust, and genocides in Armenia, Ukraine, Rwanda, and Myanmar.
In 2024 Willett, representing HHREC, worked successfully to secure a $500K 2025 state budget line item appropriation to update the SED's Holocaust and genocide education and training materials, which had become very outdated. At the same time, Willett also strategically positioned HHREC before SED to become a leading contender to oversee the implementation and administration of this important project. Willett and HHREC thank Assembly Education Chairman Mike Benedetto for spearheading this effort in the State Legislature, and for his leadership on this issue, along with SED Commissioner Betty Rosa for creating the new program.
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