Safe and Free Action Center

The ACLU Safe and Free Action Center was developed to help you efficiently and effectively defend your civil liberties. To this end, the actions listed below are meaningful ways to raise public awareness and shift public policy that can be undertaken by individuals or groups of interested people.

By taking these actions, people all over the country have successfully defended their individual rights and fought for the principles that make America great. We hope that you will undertake as many actions as you can and that you will encourage other people to do so as well.

Tell a friend about this site by clicking here.

Feedback on this Action Center should be directed to actionkit@dcaclu.org

Join the ACLU Action Alert Mailing List
Once a week we send you an update on a time-critical issue and give you the ability to contact your elected representatives on that issue. To sign up, please click here.

Please view the list of current Action Alerts!

Get Informed on the Issues
You can use the main Safe and Free website as a resource on a broad range of issues. You can also read the latest news by clicking here.

Write your Elected Officials and Members of the Administration
The ACLU has developed a number of issue-related Action Alerts that allow you to quickly and easily communicate with your elected officials and members of the current Administration. If you prefer to write your own letter, please check out our “Tips on Writing to your Elected Official.” You will also need their contact information.

Tell a friend (or ten)
You can encourage friends, families and others to become active in the civil liberties movement by visiting our “Tell a Friend” page and referring them to this page. You can also talk to people about the issue as you go about your daily life. By talking to people, whether strangers or family members, about the issues you are raising awareness and hopefully motivating them to get more involved.

Join a local affiliate of the ACLU
You can join the local ACLU affiliate in your state. Affiliates have regular meetings and events where you can get involved. You can find the affiliate in your area by clicking here.

Discuss the issues with other interested people
The ACLU has set up a number of message boards to facilitate the exchange of ideas and experiences with other people online. You can also check to see if there is a local Meetup.com event on the issue or the ACLU (http://aclu.meetup.com). If there isn’t, you could make one and thereby gather together interested individuals.

Write a Letter to the Editor
You can write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper and express your opinion about issues that are being covered (or are noticeably absent). Your letter might be printed and the “Letters to the Editor” are the second-most read feature in a newspaper. The ACLU has prepared a number of “Tips on Writing a Letter to the Editor“. You will also need contact information for your local media.

Support the ACLU
You can support the work of the ACLU by becoming a member and/or making financial donations. This helps support the work of the ACLU and allows professional staff to work full-time on these key issues.

Call your Members of Congress
In addition to writing your members of Congress, you can also call them and let them know where you stand on the issues. You can get their contact information online and then simply pick up the phone.

Meet with your Members of Congress
You can meet with a Member of Congress or their representative and tell them what you think about a certain issue or bill, and to try to get him or her to take action on that issue. The ACLU has prepared a number of “Tips on Meeting with your Elected Officials.” Before meeting with your official, be sure to check out their voting record on the ACLU’s National Freedom Scorecard. You will also need to look up their contact information.

Join a Demonstration
All across the country people are showing their disproval of government policies by peacefully demonstrating outside government offices. You can join these gatherings and add your voice.

Distribute Flyers and other Materials
You can print out materials and distribute them to friends and the public in order to raise awareness about the issues. We have a listing of available flyers.

Purchase t-shirts and other promotional materials
You can purchases T-shirts and other promotional materials at the ACLU Online store and turn yourself (and your friends) into walking billboards for civil liberties. Encourage others to visit the online store!

Start a Letter-Writing Campaign
Recruit friends and others to write letters to Members of Congress and the State House/Senate on key issues. You can use the Action Alerts and “Tips for Writing your Elected Official” as guidelines.

Table at Events
You can set up a table at public events and provide information on the issue. This is also a great chance to meet like-minded people, talk to them about their concerns, and coordinate.

Volunteer
You can volunteer your time and skills to the ACLU affiliate in your state. By volunteering you are not only contributing significantly to the work that needs to be done, you also develop great experience and gain tremendous knowledge about the issues. You can find the affiliate in your area by clicking here.

Tell us about your success stories and heroes
Share your successes with us and build awareness that citizens across the country are successfully defending civil liberties. Click here to find out more about how to submit your success stories and heroes. We hope to be able to share this stories online soon.

Organize a public event
You can organize public events to raise awareness about the issues and perhaps even raise funds. By gathering interesting speakers and cool activities (music, dancing, etc.), you not only recruit people, but you may also get media attention.

Get a Resolution Passed in Your Community
Many communities around the country have passed resolutions indicating their commitment to defend civil liberties. These resolutions show politicians at all levels believe that civil liberties must be preserved and that it is possible to be both safe and free. You can learn more about these resolutions or sign up to get more information about how to pass a resolution in your community.

Run for Office (or encourage others to)

By running for office you are able to start a dialogue on the issues you care about and, if elected, a chance to implement those policies. If you know someone who is a good candidate, encourage them to run for office. Many political parties and non-profits have guides on how to run for office.