The Arizona Character Education Initiative and Commission (ACEIC) was founded by Governor Jane Dee Hull, with Eddie Basha and Tammy Amble Linn in 1999. Their primary objective was to provide character education training and materials to any educator, parent, youth stakeholder or youth nonprofit organization at no charge. By integrating character education with traditional education, children learn the importance of having good character.

In 2000, The Arizona Character Education Foundation (ACEF) was formed as a non-profit organization to facilitate fundraising activities and to provide long-term sustainability for the ACEIC. The ACEF is comprised of a board that makes all financial and fundraising decisions dealing with character education in Arizona.

Since then, over one million parent books have been distributed and tens of thousands of teachers and youth leaders have been trained in character education. Character education materials have been distributed to over 900 schools in Arizona, allowing millions of Arizona’s students to achieve excellence in character through the Six Pillars of Character.^SM The initiative for character education in Arizona has grown tremendously over the last ten years, and will continue to grow.

In Late 2012, AZ Character Education Foundation decided to expand their role and become a resource center for anyone choosing to learn what’s available in Arizona and nationally regarding the latest trends, statistics, outcomes, research and character education based programs available today.

Vision

To Become the State’s (AZ) leading Resource Center and Advocacy Group regarding the promotion of Character Education and Character Education Based Programs.

Mission

To provide educational resources and advocate on behalf of character education based learning within the state of Arizona.

ACEF believes that character education should be non-partisan and non-religious, teaching universally-accepted values, such as trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship, and motivating youth to incorporate these values into their lives.

• We value young people and recognize they are our future leaders.
• We value youth as assets to our community.
• We value that parents are the key influence in building good character in youth.
• We value that children need strong and constructive guidance from their families and their communities, including schools, youth organizations, and civic groups.
• We value educators, youth community organizations, positive peer mentors, and youth leaders for the impact they have on our children.
• We value that character training of children has taken on a new sense of urgency as violence by and against youth threatens the physical and psychological well-being of the people in Arizona and the United States.