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Activist Resource Hub

Movements are made up of people like you, and together we can make change happen. From urgent opportunities to mobilize for justice to ongoing volunteer and skills-building opportunities to joining an activist community through a local ACLU of Northern California volunteer chapter, there are many ways you can get involved with ACLU NorCal and fight for civil liberties in your community.

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Chapters & Local Advocacy

Chapters across the region, including in Alameda County, Monterey County, North Peninsula, Sacramento County, and Santa Cruz County, are working on establishing robust sheriff oversight to increase transparency and accountability to the public. ACLU Sonoma County and Santa Clara Valley Chapters have embarked on efforts to stop unchecked police surveillance programs that present a threat to our privacy. And, our chapters in the Central Valley including Fresno County, Merced County, San Joaquin County, and Stanislaus County are involved in efforts on immigrants’ rights, district attorney accountability, and advocacy for people who are unhoused.

Connect with your Chapter

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Constituent Changemaker

Making your voice heard is an important part of the legislative process. Elected officials are elected by, work for, and ultimately answer to you, their constituents. We have the power to organize and advocate for what we want. By joining together, we can change the future of California and protect and advance the civil liberties of everyone in our state.

Learn More Here

Must Haves for Every Activists

Often, the most impactful change you can make is through engaging in efforts at your city, county, or even school board level. The ACLU NorCal Organizing Team is working with advocates throughout our region supporting them to lead local campaigns for justice against police abuse, local budgets that lead to real opportunity and safety for all residents, and more. You have the power to make change, and these toolkits can help. Need support? Contact changemakers@aclunc.org

Here you'll find some of our recent and most popular trainings and webinars. For more content, you can visit our page on YouTube.

Accountability and Transformative Justice 101: Transformative Justice is a practice for responding to harm and violence without creating more harm and violence. It is the very opposite of the police and carceral systems that tear our communities apart and can be practiced on a community — or interpersonal — level. In this workshop, we develop an understanding for how transformative justice practices can transform our relationships and our communities.
Analyzing Public Policy: Public policy has a huge impact on all of our day-to-day lives, but reading and understanding it is challenging. Find out how to decipher public policy with staff from the ACLU California Action legislative advocacy team, including the difference between a resolution and ordinance, subtle shifts in meaning because of words like "may" or "shall," and how to spot key words and phrases to understand the impact of legislation that affects you.
Campaign Planning: Setting Goals and Identifying Targets: During this training, we cover how clear goal-setting, identifying target decision-makers, and people power are critical to achieving meaningful change. What’s your visionary goal, and how do your short-term goals get you there? How can we identify the local decision-makers who can give us what we want and build the power to influence them?
California’s Hidden History of Slavery - The Case for Reparations: A video from the ACLU of Northern California's Gold Chains campaign, tells a story that was deliberately left out of official California histories. Watch and learn why reparations are not only just but necessary.