Read the 2021 ACLU SoCal Annual Report
Dear Friends,
Thank you! Your continued support of and investment in the ACLU has allowed us to rise to the various challenges of the past year, defending and advancing civil rights and civil liberties through one of the most tumultuous periods in recent memory.
2020 was marked by a global pandemic, a national election in which the president attempted to overturn the result of the vote, and the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many other Black people at the hands of police. 2021 dawned with a mob of President Trump’s supporters storming the U.S. Capitol, a stark warning about the fragility of our democracy and the threat posed by white supremacy.
Throughout this difficult year, your partnership enabled the ACLU to work fiercely and strategically to defend democracy, protect vulnerable communities, and seize opportunities to make lasting change. I hope this report makes you proud of all that you helped accomplish here in our region and statewide.
This report highlights just a few examples of the work your generosity made possible this year. You also helped us secure a number of other wins, including:
- Advocating successfully to make California the first state in the country to adopt universal mail-in voting in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Securing a court order requiring Orange County to reduce its jail population by 50 percent—the most expansive legal victory in the country on jail conditions during COVID-19.
- Co-sponsoring two critical police accountability state bills that have made it to the Governor’s desk: one to decertify bad cops so they can’t be rehired by other jurisdictions, and another to fund a pilot program to create alternatives to police response for certain 911 calls.
- Winning an important Ninth Circuit ruling that ICE violated the First Amendment when it arrested an undocumented college student who read a protest poem about immigration at a Kern County Board of Supervisors meeting and held him on an exorbitant $50,000 bond in retaliation.
- Training and empowering hundreds of parents, students, and educators to ensure that their schools comply with the California Healthy Youth Act, which requires public schools to provide comprehensive, LGBTQ-inclusive sex education.
- Winning an administrative complaint against San Bernardino County education officials for misspending millions in state funding intended for high-needs students, including by routing millions of dollars to law enforcement instead of mental health and other support services.
- Preparing our Supreme Court oral arguments for Fazaga v. FBI in a long-running, landmark case defending religious freedoms and challenging the FBI for illegally spying on the Muslim community in Orange County.
Nationwide, the ACLU won 28 voting rights victories in 21 states, blocked more than 20 abortion bans and restrictions, fought to reunite separated families, secured the release of more than 48,000 vulnerable people from prisons and jails during the pandemic, and won landmark Supreme Court rulings protecting student free speech and establishing that employers can’t fire people for being gay or transgender.
Now is the time to redouble our efforts. We must not only fight to defend fundamental rights whenever they are attacked, but also to advance our own ambitious agenda for necessary systemic change. With your support, we will seize the opportunities ahead to create a freer and more just nation.
Thank you in advance for your continued partnership.
With gratitude,
Hector O. Villagra
Executive Director
Read the 2021 ACLU SoCal Annual Report
Date
Wednesday, October 13, 2021 - 2:00pm
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Read the 2018-2019 ACLU SoCal Annual Report
Dear Friends,
Thank you! Your generous support has been a power catalyst for justice this year. I hope this annual report lets you share my pride in what you're helping the ACLU accomplish.
Though it is our court cases that often make headlines, we have always been driven by people power, and we're looking for ways to grow it. We're investing new resources into a volunteer structure that will greatly strengthen our impact, including a leadership program for community activists to empower them to train and organize others.
We are also dedicated to educating people on confidently advocating for themselves Every year, we distribute thousands of " Know Your Rights" guides on everything from immigrants' rights to students' rights. I encourage you to share them with family and friends.
I'm excited about finding strategic opportunities to mobilize ACLU supporters to help bring elected leaders into alignment with our values. Thanks to these efforts, California has made big changes this year — like historic reform on police use-of-force — and I know that together, we can continue to lead the nation in promoting liberty, equality, and justice for all.
In solidarity,
Hector O. Villagra
ACLU SoCal Executive Director
Read the 2018-2019 ACLU SoCal Annual Report
Date
Thursday, October 24, 2019 - 5:45pm
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Read the 2017-2018 ACLU SoCal Annual Report
With gratitude for your generosity, we are excited to celebrate our affiliate's 95th anniversary with you. The outpouring of public support for the ACLU's mission is a vote of confidence from millions of individuals across the country that we take very seriously, and honor through our dedicated advocacy.
In our first two decades, the ACLU SoCal fought against police brutality, racial injustice, and religious persecution. Our lawyers went to court to take stands for free speech, the rights of immigrants, the right of an attorney to meet with a client, and more.
Since those early years, the ACLU SoCal has taken on other vital matters: gender equity, voting rights, LGBTQ rights, economic justice, and more. But in all of these causes, old and new, there is never a single court decision or legislative victory that makes injustice a thing of the past. No victory ever stays won.
Card-carrying members of the ACLU have long been one of our most- valued assets. Though we have been mobilizing our members to engage in constituent activism for decades, the ACLU is now answering the call of the Trump era, working diligently in regions where threats and opportunities for human rights abound. We are informing voters of the power held by county supervisors, sheriffs, and district attorneys and publicizing where individuals running for office stand on key issues. These efforts are creating a sustainable base of members and voters who will be with us in 2018 and beyond.
Looking to the future, the ACLU will call upon our new and invigorated base of members, the majority of whom are women for the first time in our organization's history, to fight with us as we dare to create a more perfect union.
From our founding in 1923 to the present, our strength is working together. It takes all of us — staff and board, donors and members, community partners and volunteers — keeping constant vigilance against injustice.
In this report we've selected a few highlights of our work from this past year. We hope you share our pride in all that we've accomplished together.
Read the 2017-2018 ACLU SoCal Annual Report
Date
Tuesday, November 20, 2018 - 12:45pm
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With your help, this is what the @ACLU_SoCal has accomplished in 2018.
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