Pro English - organization summary
| Organization name | Pro English |
| Website | www.ProEnglish.org |
| Location | Arlington, VA |
| Founded | 1994 (under the name English Language Advocates) |
| Board | Bob Park, chair, former immigration official; founder, Arizonans for Official English Gerda Bikales (emeritus), naturalized US citizen; author; founding director Clifford Colwell, MD orthopedic surgeon; philanthropist; community activist Phil Kent, former newspaper editor; author; PR consultant Rosalie Porter, EdD, naturalized US citizen; author; education consultant Leo Sorenson, naturalized US citizen; businessman; co-founder, E Pluribus Unum John Tanton, MD. eye surgeon; conservationist; publisher; co-founder, US English |
| Purpose | Pro English is a member-supported, non-profit, national organization working to educate the public about the need to protect English as our common language and to make it the official language of the United States. ProEnglish is a self-governing project of U.S., Inc., a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Founded in 1994 under the name English Language Advocates, ProEnglish's first project was defending an official English initiative passed by the voters of Arizona, after the State of Arizona refused to appeal a decision overturning the initiative in federal court. ProEnglish is a member-supported, national, non-profit organization working to educate the public about the need to protect English as our common language and to make it the official language of the United States. Since its creation, ProEnglish has gained expertise and considerable experience in the rapidly evolving field of language law. As a result, in addition to doing research and conducting a wide variety of public education activities to advance the goals listed below, ProEnglish has specialized in providing pro-bono legal assistance to public and private agencies facing litigation or regulatory actions over language. |
| Immigration position | In a pluralistic nation such as ours, the function of government should be to foster and support the similarities that unite us, rather than institutionalize the differences that divide us. Guiding principles include: - Adopting laws or constitutional amendments declaring English the official language of the United States, and of individual states. - Defending the right of individual states to make English the official language of government operations. - Ending bilingual education (e.g. foreign language immersion) programs in public schools. - Repealing federal mandates for the translation of government documents and voting ballots into languages other than English. - Opposing the admission of territories as states unless they have adopted English as their official language. |
| Programs | In addition to doing research and conducting a wide variety of public education activities ProEnglish has specialized in providing pro-bono legal assistance to public and private agencies facing litigation or regulatory actions over language. |
| Questionable tactics 1 | None |