Nonprofit Partner Spotlight: ACLU-PA

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania (ACLU-PA) is the Pennsylvania affiliate of the national organization, becoming the 17th affiliate when it was founded in 1951. The ACLU-PA is dedicated to advocating, educating, and litigating on behalf of Pennsylvanians in order to preserve and enhance the liberties guaranteed to them by the U.S. and Pennsylvania constitutions and civil rights laws.

The ACLU-PA work includes a variety of civil and criminal legal issues, including criminal justice reform, racial justice, voting rights, immigrants’ rights, LGBTQ+ equality, First Amendment rights, reproductive freedom, student and youth rights, and privacy and security. They defend and expand the individual rights and personal freedoms of Pennsylvanians through several different facets, including litigation, legislative advocacy in Harrisburg, and raising public awareness of civil liberties issues through various communication channels.

The ACLU-PA legal team was heavily involved in ensuring the 2020 Election was a fair one, fighting to make voting accessible for all Pennsylvanians and defending the integrity of the results following the Election. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the ACLU-PA has been advocating for the most vulnerable among us, including fighting for the release of incarcerated individuals and individuals being held at immigration detention centers who are at increased risk of infection from the coronavirus as well for better safety and hygiene measures in the state’s jails, prisons, and detention center.