American Civil Liberties Union Foundation Of Iowa

Public education program services: (1) finalized our three year reproductive freedom action team public education campaign. (2) beginning in 2021, the campaign sought to engage, educate, and recruit 10,000 volunteers and advocates by november 2024; we began the fiscal year a year ahead of schedule on our goal. (3) the public education campaign ended with volunteers in every state legislative district, house and senate, with a final number of 13,294, which exceeded our goal by roughly 30%. (4) affiliate staff held 181 individual events, to an audience of more than a thousand. (5) held our second day of action in may 2024, with 60 volunteers, with over 750 doors knocked in 20 separate communities. (6) from july - november, we had our final push, resulting in contact with 53,135, including 43,000+ individual text messages - sent from a live person - through phone banks managed by staff and performed by volunteers and canvas banks. (7) in november 2024, we analyzed the full program, and closed its doors through a series of volunteer and partner webinars to show people what they had accomplished, with the simple theme that individual citizen engagement is the indispensable piece of our c3 public education work. (8) in december 2024, we formally dissolved the reproductive rights action team as it had existed during our three-year program. (9) as a result of this intentional downsize, we have moved our public education volunteer program to capitol corps, and to the people who provide direct assistance to our affiliate staff and activities at events - however, even as the program ended, we have maintained our contacts and our lists for use in the future, which paid off from jan - apr 2025, as denoted above. (10) printed and mailed our defender newsletter to a mailing list of approximately 13,000 supporters and other interested parties. (11) responded to media inquiries, held press conferences and crafted media statements on our efforts and on matters regarding civil liberties and civil rights. (12) updated and printed brochures regarding civil liberties with topics such as the right to protest, voting rights (in english and spanish), and rights when interacting with police (in english and spanish).

Legislative and policy program services: (1) drafted model legislation to protect people's due process rights before government agencies regarding eminent domain; passed the iowa house of representatives in 2024. (2) continued our multi-year emphasis on open government, anti-slapp (first amendment), and eviction expungement as part of our affirmative agenda; anti-slapp, open government, and eviction expungement all passed the iowa house of representatives in 2024. (3) continued capitol corps programming through the end of the 2024 legislative session to help constituents meet their legislators. (4) leading organization in opposing an anti-homeless local ordinance in iowa's largest city. (5) in summer 2024, we expanded religious and service provider coalition to advance protections for survivors of domestic violence, specifically, on the issues of eviction records expungement and early lease termination for survivors of domestic violence, stalking, and harassment - core issues based on race and gender disparities in legal protections and services. (6) continued our ongoing efforts to meet more iowa state legislators, specifically, iowa state senators, to determine where we can be helpful in areas in which their work protects civil rights and civil liberties and we are succeeding; we have maintained existing strong relationships with legislators of all parties, and have expanded our role as trusted voices.