American Civil Liberties Union

Communications: the communications activities of the aclu of illinois are designed to: keep our members and supporters updated on the work of the organization; broadly inform and advance the public about important developments in our work and issues of concern (constitutional issues) in the general public; and target messages that may move opinion leaders in support of our work. We utilize an array of communications tools in order to achieve these goals, from public speaking to social media, email communication with members and supporters, other written messages, and a podcast. The department is responsible for messages that reach thousands of people across the state of illinois during the year regarding the work of the organization.

Chapters: in four discreet geographic areas across the state - urbana-champaign, bloomington-normal, springfield, and peoria - aclu members voluntarily gather together to form local chapters to advance the work of the organization in these areas. These chapters serve as a critical early warning system for civil liberties violations/concerns in these areas and often produce important public programs that address concerns that might be federal, statewide, or local. Finally, the chapters serve as representatives for the aclu in these communities, raising our profile by participating in local activities, from marches and parades to demonstrations and farmers markets. The chapters also play a critical role as conduits to local elected officials, including mayors, police leaders, and others. During this year, each of the chapters addressed local proposals to adopt and implement automatic license plate reader systems in their community; chapter members reached out to public officials to share aclu concerns about privacy raised by the systems. In addition, chapter members focused on ways to ensure the smooth implementation of the pretrial fairness act, ending the use of money bond in illinois.