ACLU of the District of Columbia

2021-2022 ANNUAL REPORT

For more than 60 years, we’ve fought to make the District a place where the promises of the Constitution are a lived reality for all. We do this work in partnership with our clients, community members, partner organizations, volunteers – and you.

OUR MISSION

The ACLU of the District of Columbia, with more than 14,000 local members, fights to protect and expand civil liberties and civil rights for people who live in, work in, and visit the District of Columbia. We are a local affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a nationwide nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization devoted to ensuring free speech, equal rights, and other civil liberties.

HOW WE WORK

LITIGATION

Lawsuits are one of the key tools available for protecting individual rights. We litigate cases, both directly and as amicus curiae (friend of the court), that will broaden and strengthen civil liberties and civil rights.

Advocacy

We strive to achieve long-term, systemic changes for the communities of D.C., alongside and in coalition with grassroots and nonprofit partners. We testify and lobby the D.C. Council and mobilize community members to advocate on issues impacting their civil rights.

Public Education

We offer public education through speaking engagements, providing Know Your Rights/street law trainings, and providing teach-ins on our different issue areas and campaigns.

OUR ISSUES

Criminal Legal Reform

The rights guaranteed to criminal suspects, defendants, and prisoners are fundamental rights that protect all Americans from governmental abuses of power.

Reproductive Rights

Abortion is still legal in D.C., and it’s up to us to keep it that way. ACLU-DC and our partners are working to protect and expand abortion access in the District.

Free Speech

The First Amendment protects our freedom to speak, assemble, and associate with others. These rights are essential to our democratic system of governance.

LGBTQ+ Rights

We work to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people can live openly without discrimination and enjoy equal rights and equal dignity.

Police Practices

We work to ensure that police officers interact with the public on a race-neutral basis and with respect for individuals’ constitutional rights.

Voting Rights

Granting D.C. Statehood is constitutional and is the only way to enfranchise more than 700,000 Americans who have been denied their full voting rights for over 200 years.

Immigrants’ Rights

The fundamental constitutional protections of due process and equal protection apply to every person, regardless of immigration status.

Disability Rights

We strive for a District free of discrimination against people with disabilities, where people with disabilities are valued, integrated members of society.

Privacy

In this age of ever-expanding surveillance, our right to privacy is under assault. We work to protect our personal privacy in the District in a range of settings.

“We all have different roles to play, and it’s okay to be a beginner. Step one is to connect with the people who have already been doing the work locally. Then, consider what you can offer to a movement, with joy and commitment.”

 

Veronica Mosqueda, Campaign Organizer

OUR STAFF

 

Monica Hopkins

Executive Director

Maxine Davis

Organizing Director

Natacia Knapper

Managing Organizer

Michael Perloff

Staff Attorney

Arthur B. Spitzer

Senior Counsel

Brianna Tichy

Development Officer

Ahoefa Ananouko

Policy Associate

Scott Michelman

Legal Director

Loren Rahming-Curtis

Operations Associate

Elaine Stamp

Paralegal

Stacia Wallis

Executive Assistant

KT Beckman-Gotrich

Community Engagement Associate

Nassim Moshiree

Policy Director

Brigid Slipka

Director of Philanthropy

Amber Taylor

Strategic Communications Director

Nathan Warner

Deputy Director of Operations

Jada Collins

Intake Specialist

Tara Patel

Dunn Fellow

Yvonne Slosarski

Senior Communications Strategist

Thema Thomas

Digital Communications Strategist

Melissa Wasser

Policy Counsel

OUR BOARD

 

Cooperating Attorneys

A Better Childhood, Inc.

Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP

Covington & Burling LLP

Federal Public Defender for the District of Columbia

Human Rights First

Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

Loevy & Loevy

National Immigrant Justice Center

Oxfam

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Texas Civil Rights Project

WilmerHale

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

Atkinson Law Group

D.C. Open Government Coalition

Hogan Lovells US LLP

Jenner & Block

Law Office of Jeffrey L Light

Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP

National Immigration Law Center

Public Citizen

Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck & Untereiner LLP

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

University of California, Hastings Center for Gender & Refugee Studies

Yale Law School Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic

American Immigration Council

Ballard Spahr LLP

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Holland & Knight LLP

Knight First Amendment Institute

Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia

Morris E. Fischer, LLC

National Immigration Litigation Alliance

Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP

Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP

Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs