Milo Mumgaard, Executive Director, Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest

"All over the state, all over the Midwest, people in rural communities have been watching as their towns are drying up and blowing away. What's important is that people realize that the issues--immigration, workplace safety, corporate accountability, financing of education, access to health care--are all linked together. They're all part of one big quilt. What we're saying is, 'Let's talk about the issues square by square.'"
- Milo Mumgaard

Full Transcript from April 26, 2002 Leadership Talks Archive

Join Leadership for a Changing World on Friday, April 26 at 1 pm EST for a live, online interview with Milo Mumgaard, Executive Director of the Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest, and a 2001 Leadership for a Changing World award recipient. Mumgaard will discuss his multi-faceted approach to give voice to the underserved in America's heartland. Nebraska Appleseed is a non-profit, non-partisan law project that advocates for Nebraskans in need of legal, social, and economic justice.

Nebraska Appleseed works with civic and community leaders, other professionals, and community members to seek lasting solutions to public interest problems through education, negotiation, legislation, litigation, research and analysis, and other advocacy. Nebraska Appleseed addresses root causes of injustice - such as limited access to legal representation and denial of basic rights and opportunities - rather than the symptoms.

Nebraska Appleseed helps underserved Nebraskans through three broad advocacy projects:

Project Fair Play - This project helps working poor Nebraskans get out of poverty. Nebraska Appleseed has successfully boosted opportunities for welfare recipients and low-wage workers to find and keep jobs that build economic self-sufficiency through research and legislation, including the successful passage of a living wage ordinance by the Omaha City Council.

Project Equal Access - Project Equal Access is designed to make Nebraska's legal system more accessible, ensuring equal justice for all Nebraskans. Nebraska Appleseed launched the Equal Justice Clearinghouse to promote access to legal assistance through the use of technology.

Project Quality of Life - This project helps Nebraska's new immigrants meet their unique legal, social, and economic challenges. Among other initiatives, Nebraska Appleseed organized a public education campaign on immigration-related employment discrimination and other civil rights. The campaign is bringing together members of the Nebraska Bar, immigrant groups, community representatives, and employers for the first time in Nebraska in a targeted effort to eliminate discrimination against immigrants in employment, and increasing knowledge about the civil rights of these new immigrants

For more information, visit awardee profile or neappleseed.org.