The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa is beefing up its outreach efforts with additional staff, including staff working specifically to end felony disenfranchisement in Iowa. Damonte Stogner and Erica Barz have been hired as Community Engagement Associates. Michael Hall has been added as a National Organizing Specialist, and will focus on the issue of felony disenfranchisement in Iowa.
Stogner and Barz will connect with ACLU of Iowa volunteers and activists throughout the state, and offer Know Your Rights and other educational presentations on civil liberties.
Hall will help the ACLU of Iowa connect with directly impacted people, volunteers, and activists throughout the state to encourage constituents to urge their state senator to pass Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposed constitutional amendment that would end the permanent stripping of voting rights from anyone convicted of a felony.
Stogner graduated from Grandview University in 2018 with a B.A. in Criminal Justice and minors in sociology and psychology. Previously, he was a program manager at United Way of Central Iowa. He worked with community groups and recently incarcerated people to build their professional skills and find jobs.
Barz graduated from Simpson College in 2015 with a B.A. in English and minors in multimedia journalism and women’s/gender studies. She most recently worked at One Iowa, where she helped educate and mobilize volunteers to advance LGBTQ equality.
Hall is a graduate of Cornell University. He graduated in 2019 with a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations. Previously, he worked with political campaigns across the country on the state and federal levels.
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The ACLU of Iowa is a private, non-partisan organization that fights to advance civil liberties for all. It is the state affiliate of the national American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU prides itself in upholding everyone’s civil liberties, no matter who they are or what they believe. We work to assure the rights of all Iowans—from atheists to devout Christians, from labor unions to businesspeople and more—to make sure the constitutional rights of all are preserved. For more information, please go to www.aclu-ia.org.
