OVERLAND PARK, KS - Dr. Micah W. Kubic, who grew the ACLU of Kansas from a three-person team to a 15-member major player in state politics, will return to Kansas after a roughly three-year stint as the head of the ACLU’s Florida affiliate.
His first day will be Jan. 24.
Kubic takes over for Nadine Johnson, who left in July. Vanessa Phipps, a human relations and leadership expert has served as interim since Johnson’s departure.
"I am honored and excited to be able to work with the amazing team in Kansas - staff, activists, community partners and everyday Kansans - during this critical time,” Kubic said. “Democracy itself is under attack. Kansas is a place where we can make sure that democracy - and the accompanying values of freedom, justice and equity - prevails against those attacks. The ACLU of Kansas is perfectly positioned do that work, and I look forward to joining with the affiliate's remarkable team to do it."
ACLU of Kansas Board Chairwoman Susan Estes said Kubic’s dynamic leadership, his strategic vision, and his deep political roots in the state, are precisely what the Kansas affiliate needs.
“We’re excited to work with Micah at this critical juncture for civil liberties in Kansas,” Estes said. “Micah has gained incredible expertise in Florida and the ACLU of Kansas has expanded its reach across the state. I think his leadership is a good fit for our growing affiliate.”
Kubic did a lot in a short time in Florida.
He doubled the size of the affiliate in three years and worked with a diverse group of stakeholders to pass the first criminal justice reform in three decades (The Florida First-Step Act). He spurred the enactment of multiple local ordinances making communities safe and welcoming for immigrants, helped lead successful litigation against a law that criminalized peaceful protest by racial justice/police accountability protesters, and set the groundwork for a package of three voting rights ballot initiatives.
Kansas, with its blue-domed prairie and Florida, with its beaches and swamps, couldn’t be more different geographically. But they have a lot in common socially and historically, Kubic said.
“They’re similar in that they’ve each been used as laboratories for attacks on civil liberties and civil rights,” Kubic said. “Whether it was Secretary Kobach’s voter suppression efforts here, to ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws in Florida, they each represent experimental social and political fault lines in our nation.”
Prior to coming to the ACLU, Kubic was the director of planning, development and evaluation at the Full Employment Council, a $17 million, nonprofit organization providing employment and training services to more than 50,000 Kansas City-area residents each year.
Kubic previously served as a senior program officer at Greater Kansas City Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), where he worked directly with six urban-core neighborhoods to improve their quality of life.
He’s also worked as legislative director for a Kansas City councilman, analyst of education policy at the American Federation of Teachers, analyst of housing policies at the nationally respected Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and as a public affairs and public policy consultant.
Kubic holds bachelor’s degrees from George Washington University, as well as a master’s degree and a doctorate in Black Politics from Howard University.
His first book, “Freedom, Inc. and Black Political Empowerment,” was published by the University of Missouri Press in 2016.
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About the ACLU of Kansas: The ACLU of Kansas is the statewide affiliate of the national American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU of Kansas is dedicated to preserving and advancing the civil rights and legal freedoms guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. For more information, visit our website at www.aclukansas.org.