All Encompassing
Women
Native American
African American
LGBT
Digital – Online – Internet
Descriptions are excerpted from individual sites.
All Encompassing …
For nearly 100 years, the ACLU has been our nation’s guardian of liberty, working in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.
Whether it’s achieving full equality for LGBT people, establishing new privacy protections for our digital age of widespread government surveillance, ending mass incarceration, or preserving the right to vote or the right to have an abortion, the ACLU takes up the toughest civil liberties cases and issues to defend all people from government abuse and overreach.
With more than 2 million members, activists, and supporters, the ACLU is a nationwide organization that fights tirelessly in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C., to safeguard everyone’s rights.
Alliance for Justice works to ensure that the federal judiciary advances core constitutional values, preserves human rights and unfettered access to the courts, and adheres to the even-handed administration of justice for all Americans.
Key Issues
- Judicial Selection: Every day, federal judges protect the Constitution, place a check on overzealous legislatures, and help Americans find justice. AFJ’s Judicial Selection Project monitors and assesses federal judicial nominations to ensure our courts are staffed with highly-qualified judges that will safeguard the rights of all Americans… not just the privileged few.
- Bolder Advocacy: promotes active engagement in democratic processes and institutions by giving nonprofits and foundations the confidence to advocate effectively and by protecting their right to do so. Our goal is to demystify and decode advocacy by equipping organizations with knowledge and tools. We help organizations fully understand the rules and become assertive in their right to pursue their policy goals.
- Access to Justice: Over the past several decades, a conservative-led campaign has eviscerated the ability of Americans to have their day in court. Victims of corporate malfeasance, medical malpractice, unsafe products, illegal working conditions, civil rights violations, and environmental pollution have seen their ability to hold perpetrators accountable undermined and the courtroom doors shut.
- Supreme Court: The United States Supreme Court has a profound impact on the lives of all Americans. Its decisions help to determine where we can live, where we can go to school, who can vote and who can marry. The court even has decided who would be President of the United States. But of all the branches of government, the Supreme Court can be the most difficult to hold accountable to the American people. AFJ works to ensure such accountability. We fight to hold the court to the highest ethical standards, and we fight for a court that upholds the rights of everyday Americans, instead of bending to the will of corporate special interests.
Editor's Note: Alliance for Justice provides unique access to education, training, actions and advocacy concerning judges and courts. They provde an important piece often missing from discussions about our Democracy.
The Southern Poverty Law Center is dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society. Using litigation, education and other forms of advocacy, the SPLC works towards the day when the ideals of equal justice and equal opportunity will be a reality.
Fighting Hate
We monitor hate groups and other extremists throughout the United States and expose their activities to the public, the media and law enforcement.
Teaching Tolerance
We’re dedicated to reducing prejudice, improving intergroup relations and supporting equitable school experiences for our nation’s children.
Our Teaching Tolerance program produces and distributes — free of charge — anti-bias documentary films, books, lesson plans, and other materials that reduce prejudice and promote educational equity in our nation’s schools.
Seeking Justice
We’re seeking justice for the most vulnerable people in society.
Our lawsuits have toppled institutional racism and stamped out remnants of Jim Crow segregation; destroyed some of the nation’s most violent white supremacist groups; and protected the civil rights of children, women, the disabled, immigrants and migrant workers, the LGBT community, prisoners, and many others who faced discrimination, abuse or exploitation.
Today, with a staff of 75 lawyers and advocates, we’re focused on impact litigation in these practice areas: Children’s Rights, Economic Justice, Immigrant Justice, LGBT Rights, and Criminal Justice Reform .
Civil Rights Memorial
We also built and maintain the Civil Rights Memorial and its interpretive center, the Civil Rights Memorial Center, in Montgomery, Alabama, the birthplace of the modern civil rights movement.
http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work
Amnesty International is a global movement of people fighting injustice and promoting human rights.
The America I Believe In
What does the America you believe in look like? This campaign challenges fear, hate, and bigotry in our local circles, in our communities, and on a national level. Join us to build an America that leads with human rights. Learn More
Police and Human Rights
Learn more about our issues, campaigns, cases, victories and research in every country across the globe.
Editor's note: CCR is a unique organization partly because of the wide range of issues they address and because they choose cases to increase public awareness and promote social justice movements and not necessarily because they can win in court.
How We Work
In decisions about what cases to take and in our assessment of the outcome of a case, CCR looks beyond a narrow legal lens and considers above all a case’s value to the social movements of which it is a part.
Our dedication to human rights and social justice struggles has led CCR to complement our legal work with robust advocacy and communications work, and a conscious effort to support grassroots organizations that work with directly-impacted communities.
The demand for human rights and social justice lawyering will not, alas, retreat any time soon, and so CCR is dedicated to helping ensure that there is an ample supply of well-trained movement lawyers in future generations.Women …
National Organization of Women
As the grassroots arm of the women’s movement, the National Organization for Women is dedicated to its multi-issue and multi-strategy approach to women’s rights, and is the largest organization of feminist grassroots activists in the United States. NOW has hundreds of chapters and hundreds of thousands of members and activists in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Since our founding in 1966, NOW’s purpose is to take action through intersectional grassroots activism to promote feminist ideals, lead societal change, eliminate discrimination, and achieve and protect the equal rights of all women and girls in all aspects of social, political, and economic life.
NOW is a multi-issue, multi-strategy organization that takes a holistic approach to women’s rights. Our priorities are winning economic equality and securing it with an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that will guarantee equal rights for women; championing abortion rights, reproductive freedom and other women’s health issues; opposing racism; fighting bigotry against the LGBTQIA community; and ending violence against women.
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Reproductive Rights and Justice
NOW fully supports access to safe and legal abortion, to effective birth control and emergency contraception, to reproductive health services and education for all women.
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Economic Justice
NOW advocates for wide range of economic justice issues affecting women including a living wage, job discrimination, pay equity, social security and pension reform & more.
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Ending Violence Against Women
NOW is unique in its approach to the issue of violence against women, emphasizing the interrelated factors and complexity of the issue.
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Racial Justice
A leader in civil rights since 1966, NOW continues to fight for equal opportunities for women of color in all areas including employment, education & health care.
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LGBTQ Rights
NOW is committed to fighting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in all areas, including employment, housing, health services, and child custody.
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Constitutional Equality
Equality in pay, job opportunities, political structure, social security and education will remain elusive without a guarantee of equality in the U.S. Constitution.
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/
In October 2016, Planned Parenthood turned 100 years strong. Planned Parenthood was founded on the revolutionary idea that women should have the information and care they need to live strong, healthy lives and fulfill their dreams — no ceilings, no limits. Learn more about how 100 years of care, education, and activism have changed everything.
Today, Planned Parenthood is a trusted health care provider, an informed educator, a passionate advocate, and a global partner helping similar organizations around the world. Planned Parenthood delivers vital reproductive health care, sex education, and information to millions of women, men, and young people worldwide. Learn more about how Planned Parenthood is creating a healthier world for everyone.
Providing Trusted Community Health Care
Planned Parenthood is America’s most trusted provider of reproductive health care. Our skilled health care professionals are dedicated to offering all people high-quality, affordable medical care. One in five American women has chosen Planned Parenthood for health care at least once in her life.
The heart of Planned Parenthood is in the local community. Our 56 unique, locally governed affiliates nationwide operate nearly 650 health centers, which reflect the diverse needs of their communities.
These health centers provide a wide range of safe, reliable health care — and the majority is preventive care, which helps prevent unintended pregnancies through contraception, reduce the spread of sexually transmitted infections through testing and treatment, and screen for cervical and other cancers. Caring physicians, nurse practitioners, and other staff take time to talk with clients, encouraging them to ask questions in an environment that millions have grown to trust.
Informing and Educating the Community
Planned Parenthood is a respected leader in educating Americans about reproductive and sexual health. We deliver comprehensive sex education that empowers all people to make informed choices and lead healthy lives. Planned Parenthood is proud of its vital role in providing young people with honest sexuality and relationship information in classrooms and online to help reduce our nation’s alarmingly high rates of unintended teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. Planned Parenthood affiliates provide educational programs and outreach to 1.5 million young people and adults every year.
Leading the Reproductive Health and Rights Movement
On campuses and online, in statehouses and courts, in community settings, and in the media, Planned Parenthood is a visible and passionate advocate for policies that enable Americans to access comprehensive reproductive and sexual health care, education, and information. Whether talking with members of Congress, parents, or faith leaders, or arguing cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, we fight for commonsense policies that promote women’s health, allow individuals to prevent unintended pregnancies through access to affordable contraception, and protect the health of young people by providing them with comprehensive sex education.
Planned Parenthood has 10 million activists, supporters, and donors nationwide. The Planned Parenthood Action Network enables online activists in all 50 states to stay on top of the issues and get involved with campaigns that advance and protect women’s rights and health. Also furthering Planned Parenthood’s mission are several advisory boards and initiatives.
The Planned Parenthood Action Fund is an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization formed as the advocacy and political arm of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Fortifying our commitment to protect women’s health, educate teens, and prevent unintended pregnancies, the Action Fund engages in educational and electoral activity, including public education campaigns, grassroots organizing, and legislative advocacy.
Advancing Global Health
For many individuals around the world, access to vital reproductive and sexual health care and information is blocked — by poverty, a lack of basic services, or politics and war. Planned Parenthood works with local partners in Africa and Latin America to overcome these barriers by increasing access to health care and education. We nurture local leadership, foster sustainable health and education programs, and fight for legal, social, and political improvements in communities around the world.
Planned Parenthood Global also advocates for sound U.S. foreign policies that improve the sexual and reproductive health and well-being of individuals and families globally.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America is also a founding member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, based in London.
– See more at: https://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/who-we-are#sthash.QwmTvEUd.dpuf
Native American …
- Native American Rights Fund
NARF’S Five Priorities:
Preserve tribal existenceThe future existence of the remaining Indian tribes in this country depends ultimately upon secure and permanent land bases, and the rights of self-determination necessary to preserve traditional customs and ways of life. Read more about this priority>>
Protect tribal natural resources
The natural resources found on Indian lands vary greatly. NARF concentrates its efforts in asserting tribal resource rights and protecting them from loss and exploitation by non-Indians. Major resource protection includes land rights; water rights; hunting, fishing and gathering rights; environmental protection; timber rights; and prudent development of mineral resources. Read more about this priority>>
Promote Native American human rights
The Native American Rights Fund is concerned with securing basic human rights for Native Americans in such areas as education, health, housing and religious freedom rights. Read more about this priority>>
Hold governments accountable to Native Americans
NARF focuses much of its efforts on guaranteeing that the federal and state governments are accountable for the proper recognition and enforcement of the many laws and regulations which govern the lives of Indian people. Read more about this priority>>
Develop Indian law and educate the public about Indian rights, laws, and issues
This involves not only the establishment of favorable court precedents in major areas of Indian law, but also the compilation and distribution of Indian law resources to everyone working on behalf of Indian rights. Read more about this priority>>
NCAI was established in 1944 in response to the termination and assimilation policies the US government forced upon tribal governments in contradiction of their treaty rights and status as sovereign nations. To this day, protecting these inherent and legal rights remains the primary focus of NCAI.
NCAI Mission
- Protect and enhance treaty and sovereign rights.
- Secure our traditional laws, cultures, and ways of life for our descendants.
- Promote a common understanding of the rightful place of tribes in the family of American governments.
- Improve the quality of life for Native communities and peoples.
NCAI Founding Principles:
- To secure and preserve American Indian and Alaska Native sovereign rights under treaties and agreements with the United States, as well as under federal statutes, case law, and administration decisions and rulings.
- To protect American Indian and Alaska Native traditional, cultural, and religious rights.
- To seek appropriate, equitable, and beneficial services and programs for American Indian and Alaska Native governments and people.
- To promote the common welfare and enhance the quality of life of American Indian and Alaska Native people.
- To educate the general public regarding American Indian and Alaska Native governments, people, and rights.
African American …
The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination.
The vision of the NAACP is to ensure a society in which all individuals have equal rights without discrimination based on race.
The Principle objectives of the association (found on the first page of the NAACP Constitution, shall be:
- To ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of all citizens
- To achieve equality of rights and eliminate race prejudice among the citizens of the United States
- To remove all barriers of racial discrimination through democratic processes
- To seek enactment and enforcement of federal, state, and local laws securing civil rights
- To inform the public of the adverse effects of racial discrimination and to seek its elimination
- To educate persons as to their constitutional rights and to take all lawful action to secure the exercise thereof, and to take any other lawful action in furtherance of these objectives, consistent with the NAACP’s Articles of Incorporation and this Constitution.
The six NAACP Game Changers address the major areas of inequality facing African Americans that are the focus of the NAACP’s work.
This is Not a Moment, but a Movement: #BlackLivesMatter was created in 2012 after Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, was acquitted for his crime, and dead 17-year old Trayvon was posthumously placed on trial for his own murder. Rooted in the experiences of Black people in this country who actively resist our dehumanization, #BlackLivesMatter is a call to action and a response to the virulent anti-Black racism that permeates our society. Black Lives Matter is a unique contribution that goes beyond extrajudicial killings of Black people by police and vigilantes.
It goes beyond the narrow nationalism that can be prevalent within Black communities, which merely call on Black people to love Black, live Black and buy Black, keeping straight cis Black men in the front of the movement while our sisters, queer and trans and disabled folk take up roles in the background or not at all.
Black Lives Matter affirms the lives of Black queer and trans folks, disabled folks, black-undocumented folks, folks with records, women and all Black lives along the gender spectrum. It centers those that have been marginalized within Black liberation movements. It is a tactic to (re)build the Black liberation movement.
What Does #BlackLivesMatter Mean?
When we say Black Lives Matter, we are broadening the conversation around state violence to include all of the ways in which Black people are intentionally left powerless at the hands of the state. We are talking about the ways in which Black lives are deprived of our basic human rights and dignity.
Guiding Principles
- Diversity: We are committed to acknowledging, respecting and celebrating difference(s) and commonalities.
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- Black Women: We are committed to building a Black women affirming space free from sexism, misogyny, and male‐centeredness.
- Globalism: We see ourselves as part of the global Black family and we are aware of the different ways we are impacted or privileged as Black folk who exist in different parts of the world.
- Unapologetically Black: We are unapologetically Black in our positioning. In affirming that Black Lives Matter, we need not qualify our position. To love and desire freedom and justice for ourselves is a necessary prerequisite for wanting the same for others.
- Collective Value: We are guided by the fact all Black lives, regardless of actual or perceived sexual identity, gender identity, gender expression, economic status, ability, disability, religious beliefs or disbeliefs, immigration status or location.
- Loving Engagement: We are committed to embodying and practicing justice, liberation, and peace in our engagements with one another.
- Black Villages: We are committed to disrupting the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, and especially “our” children to the degree that mothers, parents and children are comfortable.
- Black Families: We are committed to making our spaces family-friendly and enable parents to fully participate with their children. We are committed to dismantling the patriarchal practice that requires mothers to work “double shifts” that require them to mother in private even as they participate in justice work.
- Queer Affirming: We are committed to fostering a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking or, rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual unless s/he or they disclose otherwise.
- Intergenerational: We are committed to fostering an intergenerational and communal network free from ageism. We believe that all people, regardless of age, shows up with capacity to lead and learn.
LGBT…
We thought broadly and comprehensively about the needs of our community and set big, ambitious goals. Through the use of Impact Litigation and Public Policy Work; Education, Advocacy and Inclusion; Communications and Visibility; Financial Development; Organizational Capacity; and Board Engagement; our vision includes:
- Marriage equality nationwide.
- Increased protections for same-sex couples who are not married.
- State and federal non-discrimination laws barring discrimination in employment, housing, education and public accommodations based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.
- Stopping the backlash and resisting efforts to craft overly broad loopholes to antidiscrimination protections at the federal, state and local levels.
- Addressing the needs of LGBT youth and the children of LGBT individuals and families including significantly improving school policies and practices aimed at reducing anti-LGBT bullying, discrimination and the “school-to-prison pipeline.”
- Defending the rights of seniors who face discrimination related to their sexual orientation, gender identity or HIV status, including discrimination by staff and residents at senior centers and denial of equal Social Security benefits and survivor benefits as compared to their heterosexual counterparts.
- Eliminate exclusions of transition-related health care for transgender people from Medicaid, Veterans Affairs, government employee and private insurance health coverage.
- Improved treatment of LGBT people and people living with HIV by law enforcement authorities and in the penal and juvenile justice systems.
- Development of more robust strategies for respecting and meeting the needs of people with non-binary sexual orientations and gender identities, including combatting gender stereotyping and addressing bisexuality, sexual orientation and gender identity fluidity and the increasing resistance of teens and young adults to LGBT labels.
- Expand the ways we address the needs of LGBT communities of color including how racial and economic inequality and injustice affect LGBT people and people with HIV, and strengthen our work to translate formal equality into lived equality.
- More widespread recognition that the LGBT rights movement’s goals are not only about equality but also about justice, liberty, dignity, protections of expression and fair treatment at work, in school, in access to health care and in how the government deals with LGBT people and people with HIV.
The Human Rights Campaign and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation together serve as America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve LGBTQ equality. By inspiring and engaging individuals and communities, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBTQ people and realize a world that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.
The Human Rights Campaign envisions a world where lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people are ensured equality and embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.
HRC’s Children, Youth & Families Program
Becoming a parent, sending your 5-year-old to kindergarten, watching your teenager graduate from high school – these are life’s biggest moments. For LGBTQ parents and LGBTQ children, they can also be some of life’s most challenging moments. That’s where HRC’s Children, Youth and Families Program comes in.
Through innovative training and direct consultation with schools, child welfare agencies and other service providers, HRC’s Children, Youth and Families Program creates welcoming, affirming and supportive environments for LGBTQ prospective parents, LGBTQ-ledfamilies, and LGBTQ youth.
HRC’s Health & Aging Program
Going into the hospital is stressful enough without worrying about getting inferior care just because of who you are. The Health & Aging Program works to ensure that LGBTQ people receive optimal treatment in hospitals, clinics and elder care—times of vulnerability when respect and sensitivity are crucial. The program evaluates healthcare and elder facilities from an LGBTQ standpoint, trains current and future care providers, and is a powerful national advocate for LGBTQ health and aging needs.
HRC’s Religion & Faith Program
People look to their faith as a source of guidance and inspiration – and LGBTQ people and our family and friends are no different. The HRC Religion and Faith Program is working to create a world where nobody is forced to choose between who they are or who they love and what they believe. Thanks in part to this work, more and more faith communities aren’t simply engaging in dialogue around LGBTQ equality, they’re leading the conversation. They do this work not in spite of their religious beliefs but because of them.
HRC’s Workplace Equality Program
HRC Global
Digital – Online – Internet …
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF champions user privacy, free expression, and innovation through impact litigation, policy analysis, grassroots activism, and technology development. We work to ensure that rights and freedoms are enhanced and protected as our use of technology grows.
Even in the fledgling days of the Internet, EFF understood that protecting access to developing technology was central to advancing freedom for all. In the years that followed, EFF used our fiercely independent voice to clear the way for open source software, encryption, security research, file sharing tools, and a world of emerging technologies.
Today, EFF uses the unique expertise of leading technologists, activists, and attorneys in our efforts to defend free speech online, fight illegal surveillance, advocate for users and innovators, and support freedom-enhancing technologies.
Together, we forged a vast network of concerned members and partner organizations spanning the globe. EFF advises policymakers and educates the press and the public through comprehensive analysis, educational guides, activist workshops, and more. EFF empowers hundreds of thousands of individuals through our Action Center and has become a leading voice in online rights debates.
Free Press fights for your rights to connect and communicate.
We’re working to create a world where people have the information and opportunities they need to tell their own stories, hold leaders accountable, and participate in our democracy. We fight to save the free and open internet, curb runaway media consolidation, protect press freedom, and ensure diverse voices are represented in our media.
We believe that change happens when people have a real voice in the political process. To that end, we mobilize our growing base of 900,000 activists to sign petitions, meet with their elected officials, attend rallies and town-hall meetings, write letters to the editor, and take part in other targeted actions. We also craft policy proposals, conduct research, testify before Congress, and argue in court for policies that serve the public interest.
The companies trying to kill Net Neutrality, crush competition, and build media monopolies have way more money than we do. But we have two powerful things on our side: people … and a plan. Click here to join the movement.
Free Press is completely independent: We don’t take a single cent from business, government or political parties and rely on the generosity of individual donors and charitable foundations to fuel our work.
To learn more about our team, click here.
To learn more about our work, click here.
https://www.publicknowledge.org/
Public Knowledge promotes freedom of expression, an open internet, and access to affordable communications tools and creative works. We work to shape policy on behalf of public interest.
Our Core Work
Public Knowledge works at the intersection of copyright, telecommunications, and internet law, at a time when these fields are converging. Public Knowledge’s experience in all three areas puts it in an ideal position to advocate for policies that serve the public interest.
What Public Knowledge does:
- Ensure universal access to affordable and open networks.
- Promote creativity through balanced copyright
- Advance government transparency and the public’s access to knowledge
- Uphold and protect consumer rights
- Oppose policies that would show technology, impede innovation, shrink the public domain, or limit fair use.
- Educate the press, the public, and policymakers using plain-language analysis. white papers, blog posts, and videos.
- Produce events that provide a forum for policymakers, the public industry, and the press to exchange our ideas about our core issues.
LNL 