Weitz Fellow Voices: Julia at ACLU of Nebraska

This is a guest blog written by one of our Weitz Fellows, Julia Dunn. This blog is estimated to take 3 minutes to read.

Hey! My name is Julia and I am the current Weitz Fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska (ACLU-NE). The state affiliate for ACLU National, the ACLU-NE employs an “integrated advocacy” approach, using a range of tools in litigation, policy advocacy, community engagement, coalition organizing, and public education to defend the civil rights and liberties of all who call Nebraska home.

As I reach the halfway point of my fellowship, I continue to work across almost all of our departments. I’ve gained considerable experience in non-profit administration working with our operations and development teams. I’ve supported preparation for internal board and team meetings and learned a lot about donor stewardship, drafting weekly messages to our portfolio throughout legislative session so far. As an advocacy non-profit that does not take government funding, I’ve witnessed firsthand the effort and care that goes into cultivating funder relations to ensure that interest is matched with meaningful community impact.

Additionally, I collaborate with our communications team on event coordination, packing “totes” with Know Your Rights resources, red cards, posters, stickers and more merchandise to expand our community reach. One huge event that I helped plan for was our Annual Meeting held last November in Kearney. For the first time, we combined this meeting with a special popular education training in partnership with ACLU National. Deemed a “Day of Power and Purpose,” the event was designed to teach participants how to effectively organize their networks and lobby their elected officials to see change. The event spawned requests for “mini” trainings from organizers in Lincoln (an event that saw over 70 engaged community members gather to further their civic engagement) as well as Omaha. Supporting the fruition of these Pop-Eds has been fulfilling and has shown me the practical work necessary to mobilize, educate, and organize folks at the grassroots level. As the summer approaches, I look forward to continuing my events work by preparing for and potentially staffing other community and cultural events, including local Pride and Juneteenth celebrations!

In the latter half of my fellowship year, I’m eager to zone in on my issue area interests and gain expertise working closely with our Immigrants’ Rights and Bodily Autonomy workgroups. In these spaces, I can’t wait to keep learning about the policy landscape in Nebraska and help brainstorm strategies for deeper community engagement and narrative shifting on these fronts.

My experience at the ACLU-NE has taught me the importance of multi-faceted approaches to systems change and the value of the crucial behind-the-scenes work that goes into non-profit advocacy. During such a heavy time, I’m grateful to work alongside motivated and animated people, within the ACLU-NE team and across the community, who are always ready to meet the moment. I’ve grown so much as an individual and budding
advocate, and I thank the Weitz Family Foundation for this opportunity.