Anne Nicol Gaylor Legal Fellow Sammi Lawrence will be speaking on a panel for Common Wealth Development’s employment and mentorship program at the Madison Central Library on July 26, 2024 in Madison, WI. The career panel seeks to introduce teenagers from less privileged backgrounds to a variety of careers. This event is by invitation only; the participating students won a spot in the program after competing in a rigorous application process. Common Wealth Development is a non-profit community development organization whose mission is to support and preserve the vitality of neighborhoods in the Madison Metropolitan area. Their work serves as the foundational bedrock of healthy community and economic development, with projects aimed at improving the housing and business climate of our neighborhoods through a people-first approach centered on racial justice and community level health improvement. To learn more about Common Wealth Development, visit their website. 

FFRF Co-Presidents Annie Laure Gaylor and Dan Barker will be attending Celebrating Dissent Oslo, on August 31st through September 1st, 2024 in the capital city of Norway, Oslo. FFRF will be one of many co-sponsers of the event, and Barker and Gaylor will be joined with more than 50 other freethinking groups from over 30 different countries. The two-day conference is a continuation of the widely successful Celebrating Dissent conferences held in London, Amsterdam, Cologne, and Paris, in what has become the largest gathering of ex-Muslims in the world. Organized by the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and Dømmekraft, the event will pay tribute to taboo-breaking ex-Muslim comedian Shabana Rehman and celebrate blasphemy, apostasy and freedom of expression through discussions, poetry, film, protest art, and music. The event is open to the public, and tickets and registration can be found by clicking here.