Our Cheers to Liberty event is just one week from today! Today we're featuring Brooke Blaalid, owner of B. Consulting, LLC, which specializes in program evaluation, grant writing, community development, strategic planning, policy development and implementation, and helping non-profits be more efficient and effective. She's also a faculty member at University of South Dakota, Master of Social Work program located in Sioux Falls. Brooke is our premeir happy hour sponsor, and our team thanks her for her tireless committment to the ACLU of South Dakota and all of her work helping to make this event possible.
Brooke is a champion of civil liberties and women's rights in South Dakota. Next month, Brooke is launching Ready to Run, an evidenced based program out of the Rutgers University Center for American Women and Politics, that will be a 1.5 day training to help women run for elected office and help them obtain leadership skills to utilize in their community.
Brooke tells us why she has chosen to sponsor and support the ACLU's mission in our state:
I am proud to be a member of the ACLU because as a member of the social work profession, we too have strong tradition in speaking truth to power and demanding equality for those who are perceived as voiceless and powerless. Despite the tremendous progress made in the struggle for gender equality, women still face violence, discrimination, and institutional barriers to equal participation in society. We must change institutional policies and procedures that perpetuate systematic oppression and discrimination against women by focusing our attentions on areas of employment, education, and electing more women to office.
A memorable moment for me as a member of the ACLU was in 2015, I was in Washing DC when ACLU won the Supreme Court case (Obergefell v. Hodges) which made the freedom to marry the law of the land! Being able to see the White House lit up like the LGBTQIA flag brought an overwhelm flood of emotions and joy. This moment reinforced my decision to become a social worker and no matter how hard the struggle may be, love and kindness will always win over hatred and violence.
