Congressional staff briefing on December 3rd will highlight nationwide genocide education efforts and the bipartisan Armenian Genocide Education Act
WASHINGTON, DC – The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) will host a Capitol Hill staff briefing titled “Preventing Genocide Through Education” on Wednesday, December 3rd at 3:00 PM in Cannon House Office Building Room 156. The briefing will examine nationwide efforts to advance genocide education in U.S. schools and spotlight the Armenian Genocide Education Act, bipartisan legislation to support genocide education and teacher training nationwide.
The December 3rd briefing will feature two distinguished panelists from The Genocide Education Project. Roxanne Makasdjian, Co-Founder and Executive Director of GenEd, oversees the organization’s educational programs, fellowship initiatives, curriculum development, communications, and partnerships with educational institutions. She previously served as Director of Broadcast Communications at UC Berkeley and as a producer for ABC Network News. Makasdjian holds a Master’s in Journalism from UC Berkeley and a Bachelor’s in Political Science from UCLA.
Kerri Flynn, Education Director at GenEd, brings 25 years of experience as a high school social studies educator. She taught Modern U.S. History and created a Human Rights and Genocide course at Washington High School near St. Louis, Missouri. Flynn received the University of Chicago Outstanding Educator Award in 2022, serves as Executive Secretary for the Missouri Council for the Social Studies. She is an alumna of the GenEd Teacher Fellowship Program and has completed numerous professional development programs related to human rights, the Holocaust, and other genocides, and WWII.
Additional panelists will include social studies teachers in Washington, DC, who will attend the National Council for the Social Studies Conference and incorporate genocide lessons in their classrooms as necessary components of history and civics education.
The event will feature an overview of genocide education across the U.S. and will discuss GenEd’s work with schools, local governments, and state leaders to develop curriculum materials and conduct teacher-training workshops. The Genocide Education Project works closely with social studies and English language arts educators across the country to ensure that students gain an understanding of the Armenian people, the Armenian Genocide, its denial, and the continuing ramifications today.
The briefing will place particular emphasis on H.R. 2585 – the Armenian Genocide Education Act of 2025 – bipartisan legislation spearheaded by Representatives Dina Titus (D-NV), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Ted Lieu (D-CA), and David Valadao (R-CA). The bill currently has 63 cosponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Armenian Genocide Education Act would authorize $10 million over five years to direct the Library of Congress to implement a nationwide education program about the genocide committed by the Ottoman Turkish Government from 1915 to 1923 against Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks, Syriacs, Arameans, Maronites, and other Christians. The legislation supports the development and dissemination of educational materials, teacher training, online resources, and curriculum integration to teach students across the U.S. about the causes, consequences, and enduring lessons of this unpunished crime against humanity.
The briefing represents a strategic opportunity to advance genocide education policy as the Armenian Genocide Education Act gains momentum in Congress. The legislation’s 63 cosponsors reflect growing bipartisan recognition that education serves as a critical tool in genocide prevention. By equipping students with knowledge about past atrocities, the bill aims to combat genocide denialism while honoring the memory of victims and survivors.
Congressional staffers and members of the public in the Washington, DC area can register to attend the briefing at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScF7gJQGx9MjDUNY-7uoKMrx0MFd207CS1NSi4fpBo7uhYSdQ/viewform?usp=dialog. Light hors d’oeuvres will be served.
Armenian Americans and genocide education advocates can urge their Representatives to cosponsor the Armenian Genocide Education Act by visiting anca.org/education. The full text of H.R. 2585 is available at https://anca.org/assets/pdf/0425_AGEA_Titus_BillText.pdf, and the ANCA policy brief on the role of the Armenian Genocide Education Act in preventing future genocides is available at https://anca.org/educationbrief.
