OUR STRATEGIC PLAN FOR 2021 AND BEYOND

April 1, 2021 @ 2:00 pm 3:15 pm

What’s next for the NYCLU and for social movements? How do we build a future that is equitable, fair, and inclusive? Join us for a discussion on our new and continuing initiatives and goals in areas such as field organizing, women’s and LGBTQ rights, criminal justice and policing, environmental justice, and more.  

Executive Director Donna Lieberman and Program Director Lourdes Rosado will lead this virtual discussion on the NYCLU’s Strategic Plan, which outlines our programmatic and organizational priorities, as well as our response to current opportunities and challenges. Crucially, this plan also outlines our prioritization of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We will also be joined by Katharine Bodde (Assistant Policy Director) and Lanessa Chaplin (Assistant Director, Center for Education Policy) who will highlight a couple areas of our work. 

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Speakers: 

Donna Lieberman, Executive Director 
Lourdes Rosado, Program Director 
Katharine Bodde, Assistant Policy Director 
Lanessa Chaplin, Assistant Director for Education Policy 

Donna Lieberman has been executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union since December 2001. 

Under Lieberman's leadership, the NYCLU has expanded the scope and depth of its work, supplementing litigation with an aggressive legislative advocacy and a field-organizing program. As a result, the organization is widely recognized as the state's leading voice for freedom, justice and equality, advocating for those whose rights and liberties have been denied. 

Lieberman began her public interest legal career as a criminal defense lawyer in the South Bronx office of the Legal Aid Society, and she later acted as executive director of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys. For several years, she served on the faculty of Urban Legal Studies Program at City College. She Joined the NYCLU in 1989 and became the founding director of its Reproduction Rights project. 

Lourdes Rosado joined the NYCLU in March 2019 as the organization’s inaugural Program Director. In that capacity, Ms. Rosado oversees and coordinates the legal, policy, and field organizing departments, NYCLU’s recently launched Education Policy Center, and NYCLU’s chapters and regional offices. She also serves as a member of NYCLU’s senior leadership team.  

Prior to joining NYCLU, Ms. Rosado was chief of the Civil Rights Bureau in the New York State Office of the Attorney General. The Civil Rights Bureau enforces federal, state, and local laws that protect all New Yorkers from discrimination in various venues including employment, education, housing, and public accommodations. As Bureau Chief, Ms. Rosado supervised enforcement actions and litigation in federal and state courts. Some of the Bureau’s cases during Ms. Rosado’s tenure included challenging the federal government’s termination of DACA; suing The Weinstein Company for enabling a hostile work environment and sexual harassment; investigating and suing the New York City Board of Election for illegally cancelling registered voters; and protecting women’s access to reproductive health clinics. 

Katharine Bodde, Assistant Policy Director, specializes in gender equality and reproductive rights issues. Prior to joining the NYCLU in 2009, Bodde worked as a legal educator in Cambodia for communities in provincial areas focusing on the legal and extralegal remedies for violations of women’s rights and citizens’ land rights. This work combined her background as a New York City teacher and her commitment to fighting violence and poverty by empowering women. 

Bodde has also worked at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and, as a volunteer immigration attorney, has assisted in securing asylum status for recent refugees. She currently teaches a course at Cardozo Law School on Reproductive Rights Law and Justice and is the Chair of the Sex and Law Committee at the New York City Bar Association. Bodde graduated magna cum laude from Brooklyn Law School with special recognition for her work in international law and women’s rights and her strong commitment to public service. Bodde received a B.A. from Boston College in 2003 and an M.S. in Education from Mercy College in 2005. 

Lanessa L. Owens-Chaplin, Esq., Assistant Director of the Education Policy Center, leads the state-wide initiative to end environmental injustice and its impact to school-aged children. Immediately prior to her current position Lanessa was a staff attorney for the Volunteer Lawyers Project of Onondaga County, where she zealously fought to overcome employment discrimination for returning incarcerated individuals.  

Lanessa began her legal career in 2012 as a law associate at Hiscock Legal Aide’s Appellate division where she drafted appeals challenging sentences that were harsh and excessive. In the same spirit of advocacy, her focus became transforming New York State policies.  Lanessa was legal counsel and chief of staff to the New York Assembly member Samuel D. Roberts of the 128th district. Her passion for policy landed her a cabinet position as Deputy Secretary of Intergovernmental Affairs to the Speaker of the New York State Assembly.