Nashville businessman Lee Beaman will serve as Founders Club vice president for the next year for the 917 Society, created to improve Constitutional literacy among Tennessee’s eighth-graders.
This, according to a press release members of the 917 Society put out this week.
And 917 Society members will put Beaman to good use, said Joni Bryan, who launched the group a few years ago.
Beaman’s primary job is to help raise funds for, and awareness of, the 917 Society project, Bryan said.
“He [Beaman] has an extensive knowledge of nonprofit work,” Bryan told The Tennessee Star Tuesday.
“He has been on so many different boards and organizations that we feel like he can really help us because we are young and small. He can help us with his expertise and his knowledge because we want to grow this into a national nonprofit, and we feel like he can help lead us in that direction.”
As reported, because of the 917 Society every eighth-grader in Tennessee gets a copy of the U.S. Constitution — right before they go to high school and about four years before they start voting.
Eighth-grade is the year students are supposed to have civics in the U.S. curriculum.
Constitutional literacy right now, as members of the group have pointed out, is low among many people.
As reported, Tennessee is the first state to offer a free state Constitution Day program.
Bryan told The Star Monday that members of the group plan to give out 90,000 copies of the U.S Constitution throughout Tennessee’s 95 counties between Sept. 3 through Sept. 13 in time for Constitution Day, which is Sept. 17, Bryan said.
Members of the group delivered about 50,000 copies last year, Bryan said.
“Our goal is to expand into other states, including Kentucky and Maryland,” Bryan said.
“We want to raise $1.5 million this next year to reach all 50 states.”
For more information or to join visit www.917society.org
Editor’s note: Lee Beaman is CEO of Beaman Automotive, an advertiser with The Tennessee Star
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
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