ACLU Centers
The ACLU's work to defend and promote equality, liberty, democracy, and justice is organized around three Centers. The Centers serve as focal points for strategic thinking and collaborative initiatives involving the Legal Department, the Communications Department and the Affiliate Support and Advocacy Department.
The Center for Liberty
The Center for Liberty is dedicated to the principle that we are all entitled to determine the course of our lives based on who we are and what we believe free from unreasonable government constraint and baseless stereotypes. Directed by Louise Melling, the Center for Liberty includes the LGBT & AIDS Project, the Reproductive Freedom Project, the Women's Rights Project, the Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, and the Disability Rights Program.
The Center for Democracy
The Center for Democracy, under the direction of Ben Wizner, works to strengthen American democratic institutions and values, promote human rights, ensure government accountability, and protect the rights of immigrants in our national community. The Center for Democracy includes the National Security Project, the Human Rights Program, the Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, the Voting Rights Project, and the Immigrants’ Rights Project.
The Trone Center for Justice and Equality
The Trone Center for Justice and Equality,directed by Yasmin Cader, is focused on the problems in the U.S. criminal justice system, including the treatment of prisoners, the death penalty and the policies of over-incarceration that have led the United States to imprison more people than any other country in the world. The Trone Center for Justice and Equality includes the National Prison Project, the Criminal Law Reform Project, the Racial Justice Program and the Capital Punishment Project.
The Centers are designed to facilitate a multi-disciplinary approach to advocacy. For that reason, each Center brings together ACLU litigators, lobbyists, communications specialists, policy experts and state advocates from throughout the organization to plan and implement the ACLU's program and goals.
The Affiliate Support and Advocacy Department works with ACLU affiliates throughout the country to develop effective advocacy strategies at the state level, and thereby further the vision of the ACLU's founders of a nationwide organization that is both responsive to local needs and unified in its pursuit of national priorities.
The ACLU is proud of what we've accomplished in over 100 hundred years. With this structure in place, the ACLU is committed to remaining a dynamic defender of civil liberties for the next 100 years and beyond.