drawthelinespa.org

What It Is

Draw the Lines PA is a Pennsylvania civic education project launched by Committee of Seventy in 2018. Its goal is to help the general public, students, and teachers understand and participate in redistricting, while opposing gerrymandering. The main text indicates that the project ran from 2018 to 2022, and its learning resources remain free to use today. It is best understood as a public education resource library and practical case-study platform.

Core Content and Format

The project provides teaching resources, digital tools, and data, encouraging users to draw their own electoral maps. Its learning topics include democratic systems, fair representation, district compactness, population equality, minority representation, competitiveness, and partisan fairness. Formats include online resources, video content, map examples, classroom activities, public competitions, and offline roadshow-style events. The project discloses a substantial amount of impact data: it reached 40 counties, 155 schools and colleges, more than 12,300 people, over 7,200 registered mapmakers, more than 10,000 completed or participated-in maps, and over 1,500 competition submissions.

Pricing and Certificates

The text clearly states that the learning resources remain free to use, and it mentions the use of free online software such as DistrictBuilder and Dave’s Redistricting. No paid courses, subscriptions, payment methods, or certificate/accreditation arrangements were found, so it should not be treated as a career-certificate-style course.

Pros and Cons

Its strengths are that it addresses a real-world issue, has a clear nonpartisan positioning, and turns political geography and civic education into hands-on mapmaking practice. It also has an independent evaluation conducted by ImpactED through the University of Pennsylvania, showing positive classroom impact. The drawbacks are also clear: the content is highly tied to Pennsylvania, so its direct applicability for learners in China or other regions is limited; the project’s main activity period was 2018–2022, with limited information on later updates or teaching support; and the site also warns that older browsers are not supported, meaning the technical experience may depend on using a newer browser.

Who It’s For and Access from China

It is best suited for teachers of U.S. civic education, political science, and geography, as well as Pennsylvania students and members of the public interested in redistricting. For users in China, it can serve as case-study material for comparative politics, democratic systems, or GIS-related public-issue teaching. However, the text does not provide information on access from China, so it is unclear whether the site can be reached reliably via a direct connection.