NCAC’s mission is to promote freedom of thought, inquiry and expression and oppose censorship in all its forms.
How We Work
- Assist students, teachers, librarians, parents and others opposing censorship in schools and libraries
- Help artists, curators and museum directors resist art censorship
- Inform public officials, the media and the general public about First Amendment rights and obligations
- Advocate for public policies and laws that respect First Amendment rights and principles
- Educate young people about the importance of free expression, claiming their rights and respecting the rights of others
- Engage with a nationwide network of activists and support local activism
- Analyze censorship trends and develop new strategies to promote free speech rights
PROGRAMS
The Youth Free Expression Program empowers youth with knowledge, tools and opportunities to assert and defend their right to free expression. YFEP believes that denying young people the freedom to create, explore and inquire is counterproductive and dangerous. Young people have every right to participate in conversations–locally, nationally and globally–that affect their lives.
The Kids’ Right to Read Project offers support, education, and direct advocacy to people facing book challenges or bans in schools and libraries and engages local advocates in promoting the freedom to read.KRRP has helped defend hundreds of titles, in almost every state in the nation. It was co-founded with the American Booksellers for Free Expression and is supported in part by the American Booksellers for Free Expression and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
The Arts Advocacy Program is the only national project dedicated to working directly with individual artists and curators involved in censorship disputes. AAP protects artists’ rights to participate in the democratic dialogue through advocacy and education, by defending public access to artists’ work and supporting their ability to freely express views that might be unpopular or controversial.
The Open Discussion Project promotes civil conversation at a time when Americans are deeply divided. ODP creates community-based spaces for discussion among people of opposing views–discussions that are intentionally political and not intended to convert. Our democracy depends on our continued engagement with one another.
Report Censorship
The best way to fight censorship is to call it out when it happens. If your free expression rights have been threatened, or you have witnessed the expression rights of others being threatened, please let us know!
We take on new cases everyday. Tell us your story.
Free Expression Network
The Free Expression Network is an alliance of organizations dedicated to protecting the First Amendment right of free expression and the values it represents, and to opposing governmental efforts to suppress constitutionally-protected speech. FEN members provide a wide range of expertise, resources and services to policymakers, the media, scholars, and the public at large.