Public Input Desired To Help Drive Priorities For South Carolinians

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: 803-799-5151; support@aclusc.org

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The American Civil Liberties Union's South Carolina Office is conducting a web-based survey to help determine the most important services and programs for the ACLU to provide in communities throughout the state.

The survey, which can be accessed online at www.aclusouthcarolina.org, consists of a series of questions aimed at engaging the general public in providing statewide and community-specific input on areas of need, and what the new office's initial priorities should be.

"Whether you are an existing ACLU member or unsure about how the ACLU can help South Carolina, we want to hear from you," said Graham Boyd, Interim Executive Director of the ACLU's South Carolina Office. "We want to receive input from as many South Carolinians as possible."

The ACLU's South Carolina Office officially opened in Charleston on July 2. It has employed a broad, non-partisan approach to defending constitutional rights in the state and harbors a commitment to engaging the state's civil liberties community and to seeking and responding to the opinions of all South Carolinians. 

The South Carolina Office's staff is currently in the midst of a statewide tour during which a slate of community meetings have been held that have sought to elicit feedback from a wide swath of the state's constituencies about what they believe should be the office's initial priorities. The meetings have also fostered open, community-wide discussion of specific issues of importance in South Carolina. In just the past few weeks, meetings have been held in Columbia, Greenville, Spartanburg, Rock Hill, and Hilton Head/Beaufort, and additional meetings are being scheduled for the coming weeks in Myrtle Beach, Orangeburg, Florence and Aiken. The ACLU plans to take the input from the meetings and the survey to create a menu of targeted programs and services that are responsive to community needs.

"We want to serve the people of this great state as effectively as we can, and we can't do that without first listening to the community about what the needs of the state are," Boyd said. "A significant portion of our initial emphasis has been on simply listening, and we are committed to continuing an open dialogue with communities across the state."

Additional information on the ACLU South Carolina Office can be found online at: www.aclusouthcarolina.org

Additional information about the national ACLU can be found online at: www.aclu.org