Improving Lives and
Strengthening Communities

Through public awareness and programming grounded in research, we provide character education and leadership development resources to improve civility and produce meaningful, measurable, and sustainable results in your school, organization, family, and community.

What We Do

The Ray Center helps create strong, vibrant communities that value positive, healthy relationships and respectful behavior. 

We provide professional development, assessments, curricular resources, and ongoing consultation that focus on values-based education and best practices in character development.

Six Pillars of Character

How We Can Help

Our school-based partners improve academic competencies, social-emotional, character, and leadership skills. 

Companies can improve the culture of their organization by applying our research-based programming to their mission, vision, and values.

5/5

Reviews

"The materials provided are great tools that help managers prepare and facilitate productive conversations within a team or organization and build long-term leadership skills."
Laura Edwards
Laura Edwards

Director, Retail Development
Hy-Vee, Inc
"This is the stuff that will truly help us!"
Dr. William Watson, UHS
Bill 
Watson

Activities Director
Urbandale High School
Urbandale, IA
"The students at West Hertel Academy proudly recite and pledge to be Kids of Character daily and, over the past three years, have internalized those words and now feel a sense of responsibility and commitment to demonstrating the Six Pillars of Character through their words and actions."
LaFraya Wilson, Buffalo Schools
LaFreya Wilson

Teacher
West Hertel Academy
Buffalo, NY

Ready to Get Started?

We’re here to help! Contact us today to
begin working on character and culture.

character counts curricular resources
1

People impacted by our work.

1
The number of annual CHARACTER COUNTS! Week proclamations by the White House (as of 2023).
1

The year we were founded.

The Robert D. and Billie Ray Center

We Send Great Emails

Every month we send out highlights of our latest free resources. Join our mailing list so you can have those new resources delivered to your inbox.

From Our Store

Way To Go Journals

Way To Go Journals engage students in personal reflection, small group discussions, and whole-group conversations about character and leadership.

The Journals are a must-have resource for any school committed to social and emotional learning (SEL) and character education.

This resource highlights the Six Pillars of Character (trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and good citizenship) and success skills like self-discipline, positivity, perseverance, relationship building, expressing emotions, resilience, and problem-solving.