Claire Gardner Headshot

Claire Gardner

Pronouns: she/her

Community Engagement Director

Community Engagement

Bio

As ACLU-TN's first Community Engagement Director, Claire’s department will work to build long-term political, community and electoral power for civil liberties and civil rights in our state, working collaboratively with partners – on coalition building, voter mobilization, volunteer engagement, community organizing, leadership development and more – to create widespread support for people-led change movements in Tennessee.

Claire first joined ACLU-TN in 2012 as a youth outreach intern while studying social work at MTSU. In her ten years at ACLU-TN, Claire’s advocacy work has included organizing a Know Your Rights workshops series at HBCUs across Middle Tennessee on interacting with police; creating ACLU-TN's Stand Up/Speak Up youth activism manual, which teaches young Tennesseans how to organize in their schools and communities; designing a statewide public education campaign on the abusive practices of private prison giant CoreCivic; working with Black rural voters in West Tennessee to overcome barriers to the ballot box during the 2020 election, and helming a multi-media story collection project highlighting the voices of rural Tennesseans impacted by the money bail system.

Featured Work

News & Commentary
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11/30: Giving Tuesday 2021

News & Commentary
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  • Criminal Legal Reform|
  • +3 Issues

Police Surveillance: Knoxville, Tennessee

Related Content

Publication
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  • Criminal Legal Reform|
  • +6 Issues

The Vigil (Spring 2021)

Publication
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  • Criminal Legal Reform|
  • +7 Issues

The Vigil (Fall/Winter 2020)

In this issue: "Protecting Incarcerated People During a Pandemic," "Defending Access to Abortion," "Protecting Free, Fair and Safe Elections in 2020," "Judge Strikes Down Lee’s Voucher Program," "ACLU-TN Welcomes New Staff," and more.