Project REAL empowers Nevada’s youth to realize their full potential, fostering a future that benefits all. Through conversations and activities rooted in mentorship, we guide students in understanding their constitutional rights, the intricacies of laws that shape daily life, and the value of lives rich with civic engagement.
Our mission is to help students become the greatest versions of themselves by breaking down barriers to success with knowledge that extends beyond their classrooms.
Justice is rooted in knowledge, and our work brings more fairness and justice into the lives of the students we reach. For that reason, all of our resources are available at no cost to the schools, organizations, and families of Nevadawho wish to use them.We envision a Nevada populated by high school graduates who have the opportunities they need to live the lives they want for themselves and whom contribute to their community to create a world they are proud of.
We value community-conscious individuals who seek to shape the world in a positive manner. Through actions of mutual respect, selflessness, and with a commitment to local communities, wework to contribute to a just and peaceful society.
Project REAL’s unique activities and educational resources engage Nevada’s students in critical thinking about citizenship, selfless action, democracy and the law, helping them to achieve REAL excellence.
Our Sequential Education Program helps to ensure that Nevada is populated by residents who respect the law and contribute to their community – people who work to create an environment they are proud to live in and call their own.
By fostering actions of mutual respect and selflessness, and by encouraging commitments to local communities, we contribute to a safer and more prosperous Nevada for us all.
We currently serve grades 3-12 with at least one unique law and civics related experience for each grade level. All of our activities are valuable on their own, but when received annually and sequentially they have a significantly greater impact on the students being served. As part of our ongoing efforts to expand and evolve our organization, we plan to eventually offer a full 13-year program of annual educational experiences for students in grades K-12.
As chairman of The Molasky Group of Companies, Irwin Molasky built Las Vegas’ first master-planned community (Paradise Palms) and high-rise office building (the 17-story Bank of American Plaza), as well as the Nathan Adelson Hospice. Additionally, Irwin helped find the right location for the McCarran International Airport and assisted with the land purchase for the Las Vegas Convention Center. Through The Molasky Group of Companies, he built the Internal Revenue Service Headquarters and Social Security Administration building in Las Vegas, along with many other great achievements in real estate and development. Irwin is also known for his philanthropic efforts throughout the state of Nevada. Although Irwin passed away in July 2020, his legacy lives on in many ways – including through the work of Project REAL.
In the fall of 2004, development magnate Irwin Molasky spoke with a few friends about what he saw as a troubling trend: Nevada’s youth engaging in increased amounts of criminal activity, and failing to show respect for the law. Throughout the discussion, Irwin kept returning to the fact that many of Nevada’s youngest criminal offenders had seemed oblivious to the laws they were charged with violating. By December of that year, Irwin was joined by several other concerned Nevadans as they collectively worked to create The Foundation for Relevant Education About the Law – an organization that would be renamed as ‘Project REAL’ just a few weeks later.
In its first five years, Project REAL served Nevada by providing two law-related-education activities that Sam and Irwin had learned were being used with great success in other parts of the country. The first of these was called Your Day in Court – a courthouse tour that introduced students to courthouse staff, and occasionally provided them chances to see live court in action.
The second activity was called Play By the Rules – a book and series of activities licensed from the Alabama Center for Civic Education. The center in Alabama took a publication they distributed that taught 200 of Alabama’s laws and the consequences of breaking them, and created a version that was specific to the laws of Nevada. This program was designed as a 10-15 day experience for middle school students.
Project REAL’s Play By the Rules and Your Day in Court met with immediate success, with field trip schedules and spots in Play By the Rules teacher-trainings both filling up quickly. Over time, that success allowed Project REAL to use evidence-based methods to expand and improve upon the resources it provides in Nevada.
Today, those resources are part of a carefully-designed and highly effective sequential education program. The sequence provided by Project REAL works to provide at least one law related education experience each year to Nevada’s students during their K-12 education. Currently, a student can have one unique experience a year from Project REAL from third grade all the way through grade 12.
Irwin envisioned Project REAL as an organization that would provide the foundation to foster a community of lawful and responsible young citizens, and in turn, a prosperous Nevada and safer communities for us all. We are happy to carry on the legacy of the work Irwin and the supporters of his vision began back in 2004, and continue to contribute to a safer and more engaged Nevada to this very day.
In the fall of 2004, a few key figures in the courts and I got together to figure out how we could help Nevada. We had been noticing greater numbers of students making it
That is why I called upon other prominent community members of Southern Nevada to join me, and with their support founded Project REAL to ensure that the young residents of Nevada would have consistent access to informative and empowering law related education. Project REAL has been teaching the students of Nevada about the law and their rights since the early weeks of 2005, and today I am very proud to say that since those early days nearly 200,000 of Nevada’s students have been reached by Project REAL’s resources. Thanks to our work, those students are – and shall remain – safer, wiser, and more informed members of the communities they live in.
It has been an honor to have built this organization and watched it achieve such great successes over the years. Now I hope to have the honor of having you join me in supporting Project REAL as it reaches hundreds of thousands of more young Nevadans each year, for many years to come.
-Irwin Molasky, August 2018
Thank you for letting us experience court for the first time. It was the best experience ever, thank you for everything. You really made me think about being a judge. Thank you
-Mina L [ Twitchell Elementary - Grade 5]
Thank you for letting us watch the civil case! It was cool because it was a real case and not one played out. I had a lot of fun watching the other kids act out a session. Thank you for your time.
- Kaylie [Hewetson Elementary - Grade 5]
My favorite part of the fieldtrip to the courthouse is when I got to play the part of Ron. I got to go on the witness chair and speaking. I helped Potter to be not guilty. Thank you for the great opportunity.
