Providing Communications Leadership for Civil Rights Organization Through Times of Transition
Fall 2023 - Spring 2024 and Summer 2025 to Spring 2026
Project: Aglet Strategies partnered with the ACLU of Connecticut to provide communications strategy, leadership and hands-on support across the organization’s civil rights and civil liberties work.
Our role has included ongoing communications support as well as twice stepping in to provide interim communications leadership between communications directors, helping ensure continuity during important organizational transitions.
Objective: Give the ACLU of Connecticut experienced communications capacity it can rely on, whether the organization needs strategic support on a specific priority, communications planning ahead of a busy legislative session, or someone to step into a broader leadership role.
For an organization working on fast-moving legal, legislative and advocacy issues, communications needs don’t stop during a staff transition. Aglet has helped ACLU-CT maintain momentum, plan ahead for major advocacy moments and respond quickly when the news demands it.
Our Work: Aglet has served as both a strategic partner and an extension of the ACLU-CT team, adapting our role as the organization’s needs have changed.
Our work has included:
Interim communications leadership: Twice stepping in between communications directors to help lead the communications function, manage priorities and provide continuity until permanent staff were in place.
Legislative session planning: Working with ACLU-CT staff ahead of Connecticut’s legislative sessions to identify communications priorities, sharpen messaging around priority legislation, anticipate key moments and build a proactive plan for reaching reporters and the public throughout the session.
Communications strategy: Developing communications approaches around organizational priorities, advocacy campaigns, litigation and emerging issues, including communications campaign plans for top legislative priorities.
Media strategy and outreach: Identifying opportunities to turn ACLU-CT’s advocacy into compelling news stories, including securing an exclusive local television interview with Executive Director David McGuire about privacy concerns surrounding Flock automatic license plate reader cameras.
Messaging and writing: Developing press releases, talking points, statements, op-eds, blog posts, pitches and other public-facing materials.
Spokesperson support: Preparing leaders and subject-matter experts for interviews and helping translate complex legal and policy issues into clear, accessible messages.
Rapid response: Helping the organization communicate quickly around breaking news, court decisions, legislative developments and other fast-moving moments.
Digital communications: Supporting social and digital content that helps ACLU-CT reach people across the state.
Impact: Aglet’s long-term relationship with the ACLU of Connecticut has allowed us to become a trusted communications partner that can step in quickly and take on greater responsibility when needed.
Twice, that has meant helping bridge the gap between communications directors, providing experienced leadership while keeping day-to-day communications moving. It has also meant helping the organization prepare for high-stakes legislative sessions, pursue proactive media opportunities and add strategic or hands-on capacity when the team needed it most.
The result is a flexible partnership built around what ACLU-CT needs at a particular moment, from planning ahead for a major advocacy push to responding to breaking news to providing interim communications leadership. (We also got to meet a lot of their pets on zoom.)
"Aglet Strategies was a tremendous help to the ACLU of Connecticut while we searched for our next Communications Director. Ginny hit the ground running, listened carefully, and asked the right questions to help us develop a thoughtful and effective communications strategy. Ginny worked seamlessly with multiple members of our team and did an outstanding job supporting our recently hired Digital Content Strategist, setting them up for success right out of the gate. I highly recommend Ginny for anyone needing smart, reliable, and collaborative communications support."
- David McGuire, Executive Director, ACLU of Connecticut