Edwin Yohnka

Edwin C. Yohnka is the Director of Communications and Public Policy for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. Appointed to the post of Director of Communications in June 1999, Yohnka is the primary spokesperson for the most prominent civil rights and civil liberties’ advocacy organization in the State of Illinois, an organization with more than 35,000 members and supporters. On behalf of the ACLU of Illinois, Yohnka appears regularly on television and radio programs in Illinois and throughout the nation to speak out on a myriad of issues. Yohnka also is widely cited in newspapers and publications on legal and legislative matters related to the ACLU of Illinois’ priorities. In addition, Yohnka contributes to a host of ACLU publications, as well as coordinating the organization’s multi-faceted efforts to communicate through the media, in-house publications and on-line resources. In 2013, Yohnka served as vice-chair for Illinois Unites for Marriage, a diverse, multi-faceted coalition of organizations that helped win the fight to ensure the freedom to marry for all couples in Illinois. From 1987 until 1999, Yohnka served on the staff of the American Bar Association, spending most of that time as a Special Presidential Assistant in the ABA’s Office of the President. In that role, Yohnka directed and oversaw the development and implementation of communications’ vehicles for the elected leadership of the world’s largest professional association.