The First Amendment Coalition welcomes Suzanne Ito as its first Communications Director.
Ito brings nearly 20 years of experience in nonprofit communications to the role, with roles at civil liberties, reproductive rights, and police reform organizations.
As the Strategic Communications Director at the ACLU of the District of Columbia, Ito worked closely with attorneys and policy staff on several First Amendment and open-government issues, including opposing harmful amendments to D.C.’s Freedom of Information Act before the D.C. Council and lawsuits over police treatment of protesters and a government agency’s advertising policies.
“I am elated that Suzanne has joined FAC to help us advance our work to make our government more open, responsive, and accountable,” said FAC Executive Director David Snyder. “Our work has grown and diversified steadily over the past few years. Suzanne’s deep experience with our issues makes her ideally suited for this role.”
Most recently, as the Director of Communications at the Policing Project at the NYU School of Law, Ito worked closely with the organization’s litigation team to draw attention to a racially discriminatory stop program inside Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport. She also collaborated with researchers and community organizers to build the profile of a community policing initiative in Chicago and advocate for greater representation of women in law enforcement nationwide.
At FAC, Ito will raise awareness about FAC’s programmatic work, including litigation, advocacy, and education programs.
Ito graduated from UCLA with a degree in English literature. Prior to her work at the ACLU-DC, she worked as the Blog Editor for the national ACLU and as a communications officer for the International Women’s Health Coalition, a grantmaking organization that supported young advocates and groups working to advance sexual and reproductive health and women’s rights in the Global South.
Follow her on Twitter at @itosuzanne.