American Civil Liberties Union

A major part of the 2004 ACLU Membership Conference will be the Action Center - a resource for activists who want to find out what's happening on the issues, get materials, get training, meet with other activists and reach out to elected officials. In addition to the lounge area where you can relax and hang out with other attendees, there will be a small cyber cafe where you can check your email.

There will be booths on a range of exciting issues such as the Marriage Amendment, the Patriot Act and Religious Liberty. There will also be resource stations where you can write and call your Members of Congress and other elected officials. Breaking new ground, we're also setting up a videogram booth that will enable you to send your own video statement to Congress.

Activities will include:

• Getting Local (Civil Liberties in Your Community)
• Get to Know Your Elected Officials
• Talk Back (Letter Writing Station)
• Youth and the Future of Civil Liberties Advocacy
• Dialing In (Call Your Members of Congress!)
• In the Office (How to Lobby Your Elected Officials)
• Privacy and Technology Issue Booth
• Networking with Other Concerned Individuals

Where will the Action Center be?

The Action Center will be located in the Yosemite Room of the Hilton San Francisco (the conference hotel). There will be signs throughout the conference pointing you in the right direction.

Downloads/Features

• "Patriot Act's Impact on Your Rights"
• "Freedom is why we are here"
• The USA PATRIOT Act and Other Government Actions
• Two page, folding brochure on the PATRIOT Act ( color, black & white, Spanish )

Virtual Lobby Day !

We're giving you another way to reach out to your elected officials on the issues you care about. We will have a film crew set up to record statements on issues by our activists and will then send these to Members of Congress.

"It's the next best thing to being there...."

You're written letters to your Senators, you've called your Representative, now you can lobby them through this video service. We'll also send you a link where you can download a digital version of your taping to your home computer.

Click here to see a sample: [RealPlayer required]

Interested? Send an email to field@dcaclu.org (use the subject line "videogram") and we'll let you know when you can sign up for a slot.