Our mission is to empower diverse individuals, communities, and institutions to take action in order to gain social, racial, and economic justice. Speak Out Kansas organizes at the grassroots level to make change that matters to Kansans and to hold decision makers accountable. We develop staff and grassroots leaders who build effective coalitions and educate citizens to impact policy debates and w
in local, state and national issue campaigns. We are comprised of mostly low-to-moderate income citizens from a rich variety of cultures. We have a youth-focused component that works on issues of educational justice; stopping discrimination and bullying to make safer learning environments, ending the school-to-prison pipeline and providing equal access to higher education for all youth. Other issue campaigns in the organization include eliminating blight in neighborhoods, holding law enforcement accountable, and developing a cooporative economy that sustains our communities needs. believes that voter engagement is an important part of the process to holding city and school officials accountable. We will build a voter empowerment program to engage voters and inform elected officials about these issues. We will also register voters and conduct GOTV efforts during election seasons. Speak Out Kansas is a member led organization. Membership is open to individuals and institutions who pay annual dues. Our organization will pursue national affiliations with citizen led movements to advance local and state work to the federal level. Private foundations, individuals, businesses, events and membership dues will be the primary source of long-term funding to support our organization’s work. For more information about Speak Out Kansas (S.O.K.), or to find out how you may get involved, please contact Monty Shaw at (316) 807-7889.