FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Mark McCormick, Director of Strategic Communications, 913-490-4113, [email protected]
OVERLAND PARK, KS - Dr. Micah W. Kubic, who in a four-year tenure expanded the ACLU of Kansas from a three-person operation to a 15-person team with offices in Wichita and Overland Park, has resigned his post to accept the executive director’s position at the ACLU of Florida.
His last day in the Overland Park office is Dec. 14. Legal Director Lauren Bonds will serve as the interim executive director until the board of directors hires Kubic’s successor sometime next year.
“Kansas is on the front lines of every, single, civil liberties battle raging in America today,” Kubic said. “Over the last several years, the civil liberties movement in Kansas has picked up victory after victory after victory and stopped some of the most devastating attacks on our freedoms from spreading. Having quintupled in size and influence over the last four years, the ACLU of Kansas and its supporters are well-positioned to keep that streak of victories going. But the fight for freedom is not yet won in this state or in this country, and no victory for civil rights and civil liberties is ever really permanent. I am excited to join the ACLU of Florida because of the important role that state plays in our national conversation about civil rights."
ACLU of Kansas Board President Susan Estes said Kubic’s dynamic leadership and strategic planning not only transformed the Kansas affiliate but also the political geography of the entire state.
“Micah has led the ACLU of Kansas through a tremendous period of growth,” Estes said. “The organization, under his leadership, has expanded its reach across the state to defend voting rights, reform the state’s criminal justice system, and respond to pressing civil liberties issues. We’ve been fortunate to have such a thoughtful and strategic person leading this affiliate.”
Kubic leaves behind a slew of victories and advances and likely will be best remembered for his ongoing court clashes with Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who remains winless in ACLU lawsuits filed against him.
Most notably, a federal judge last summer rolled back Kobach’s “proof of citizenship” law requiring documentary proof of citizenship from voters. The judge also held Kobach in contempt and ordered him to enroll in a remedial law class.
Under Kubic’s leadership, the ACLU of Kansas has ongoing cases against Secretary Kobach’s controversial Crosscheck program, against the Shawnee Mission School District, against Ford County Attorney Debbie Cox, and a State Supreme Court case against Montgomery County Attorney Larry Markle.
Kubic said having accomplished here much of what he’d hoped to accomplish when he assumed this post in January of 2015, Florida seemed like the place to continue his work.
Kansas, with its blue-domed expanses and Florida, with its beaches and swamps, actually 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. “They each represent important 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 dollar, 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 the legislative director for a Kansas City councilman, an analyst of education policy at the American Federation of Teachers, an 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 bachelors’ 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.