More about state FOI member coalitions and other resources can be found on the State FOI Resources pages.
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State Coalitions and Member Organizations
| Organization State | Organization Name | Organization Mission |
| Arizona | First Amendment Coalition of Arizona, Inc. | Supplies legal advice when you believe a public record is wrongly withheld, you are excluded from an open meeting or court proceeding, you are the subject of a search warrant or subpoena, or have any questions about meetings or records. |
| California | Californians Aware | To foster the improvement of, compliance with and public understanding and use of, public forum law, which deals with people’s rights to find out what citizens need to know to be truly self-governing, and to share what they know and believe without fear or loss. |
| Colorado | Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition | We are a group of organizations dedicated to promoting and preserving Coloradans’ Freedom of Information – freedom of the press, open government records and open courts. We monitor Colorado legislation, we educate the public and targeted audiences about FOI issues and rights, and we monitor open meetings/open records violations. |
| Connecticut | Connecticut Foundation for Open Government | The Connecticut Foundation for Open Government is dedicated to promoting the open and accountable government essential in a democratic society. It seeks to achieve this by educating policymakers and citizens in general on the need for a free flow of information on all public policy matters. |
| Delaware | Delaware Coalition for Open Government | We are a coalition of journalists, lawyers, elected officials, news organizations, business owners, government employees, civic associations and private citizens who believe that government of the people, by the people and for the people, should be open TO the people. DELCOG was founded in 2006 and is an incorporated 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan organization. |
| District of Columbia | D.C. Open Government Coalition | The D.C. Open Government Coalition seeks to enhance the public’s access to government information and ensure the transparency of government operations of the District of Columbia. We believe that transparency promotes civic engagement and is critical to responsive and accountable government. We strive to improve the processes by which the public gains access to government records and proceedings, and to educate the public and government officials about the principles and benefits of open government in a democratic society. |
| Florida | Brechner Center for Freedom of Information | The Brechner Center answers queries about media law from journalists, attorneys, and other members of the public. The Center is prepared to explain issues relating to media law, provide educational and training materials, react to current developments, and offer speakers for meetings and conferences. |
| Florida | Florida First Amendment Foundation | The First Amendment Foundation is a private, non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the public’s constitutional right to oversee its government through Florida’s Sunshine and Public Records Law. Acting as the public’s advocate, the Foundation provides a variety of services to citizens, government officials, and the media. |
| Georgia | Georgia First Amendment Foundation | GFAF educates citizens, journalists and public officials concerning freedom of information (FOI) and on open government and meetings laws in Georgia. |
| Hawaii | Office of Information Practices | OIP is the state agency responsible for administering Hawaii’s two open government laws and provides uniform interpretation, advice, and training on these laws to nearly all state and county agencies and boards and to the general public. OIP renders advice and assistance on questions concerning the public’s right to access to government records or meetings, and also provides training to help agencies comply with the laws. |
| Idaho | Idahoans for Openness in Government | Idahoans for Openness in Government, or IDOG, is a broad-based, non-profit coalition for open government. Like similar coalitions in more than 40 other states, IDOG’s mission is to promote open government and freedom of information. IDOG’s board includes people from inside and outside of government, the media, civic organizations and more. |
| Illinois | Illinois First Amendment Center | The Mission of the Illinois First Amendment Center is to promote First Amendment rights and responsibilities through education designed to raise awareness of the need to understand, preserve and protect the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. |
| Indiana | Indiana Coalition for Open Government | The Indiana Coalition for Open Government, a non-profit citizens advocacy group, promotes legislative reform and protects the Constitutional rights of access to public records and meetings. |
| Iowa | Iowa Freedom of Information Council | The Iowa Freedom of Information Council was organized in the fall of 1976 and formally incorporated in 1977 as a non-profit consortium of newspapers, radio and television stations, media associations, educators, publishers, broadcasters and others interested in openness in government and First Amendment rights. Over the years, the Council’s work has been primarily educational in nature – acquainting journalists with the Iowa open records and meeting laws and conducting workshops for public officials and other citizens. |
| Kansas | Kansas Sunshine Coalition for Open Government | The main purpose of the Kansas Sunshine Coalition is to enhance awareness of open government in Kansas. Our members help keep the public informed of the abuses of open government and hold elected officials accountable for those actions that ignore the public’s legal right to truly public meetings and access to government records. |
| Kentucky | Kentucky Open Government Coalition | The mission of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition is to preserve and promote the Commonwealth’s open records and open meetings laws through education, outreach, and activism. Our goal is to galvanize supporters of the public’s right to know how state and local government conducts the public’s business through a citizen-based coalition. |
| Louisiana | Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana | PAR is an independent voice, offering solutions to critical public issues in Louisiana through accurate, objective research and focusing public attention on those solutions. As a private, nonprofit research organization, PAR is supported through the tax-deductible membership contributions of hundreds of Louisiana citizens who want better, more efficient and more responsive government. In addition to serving as a catalyst for governmental reform, PAR also has an extensive program of citizen education, believing that the soundest way to achieve political progress is through deep-rooted public understanding and support rather than political pressure. An involved public armed with independent information can help keep government honest and force it to be responsive. PAR also serves as a government watchdog. |
| Maine | Maine Freedom of Information Coalition | MFOIC’s goal is to educate all Mainers, from individual citizens to educators, students, the media, legal professionals, public and business officials, about their rights and responsibilities as citizens in our democracy. We aim to broaden knowledge and awareness of the First Amendment and state laws aimed at assuring public access to government proceedings and government records. |
| Maryland | Maryland Foundation for Open Government | MdFOG will strive to educate the public and government as to all aspects of the First Amendment and of Maryland’s Public Information Act and Open Meetings Act, and to promote openness in all aspects of local, state and federal government. |
| Michigan | Michigan Coalition for Open Government | The Michigan Coalition for Open Government is a nonprofit, tax-exempt statewide group that educates citizens about their right to access public records, attend public meetings and watchdog their local and state governments, school boards and other public bodies. |
| Minnesota | Minnesota Coalition on Government Information | MNCOGI provides public education on government transparency, government information policy, and related issues. |
| Mississippi | Mississippi Center for Freedom of Information | The mission of the Mississippi Center for Freedom of Information is to safeguard these freedoms that protect the public’s right to know about the public’s business. |
| Missouri | Missouri Sunshine Coalition | The Missouri Sunshine Coalition is a nonprofit group of volunteers committed to the free flow of government information and the Missouri Sunshine Law, which provides citizens access to their government.We believe firmly that the government’s business should be conducted in the light of day, for all citizens to see. |
| Montana | Montana Freedom of Information Hotline, Inc. | The Montana Freedom of Information Hotline is dedicated to keeping the operations of government in Montana open to public observation and participation. It seeks to accomplish that by providing free legal advice and assistance to journalists and members of the public confronted with improperly closed -*+government doors or sealed documents./ |
| New England — Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont | New England First Amendment Coalition | The goal of the New England First Amendment Coalition and its academic partner is to defend, promote and expand public access to government and the work it does. The coalition is a broad-based organization of people who believe in the power of transparency in a democratic society. Its members include lawyers, journalists, historians, librarians and academicians, as well as private citizens and organizations whose core beliefs include the principles of the First Amendment. |
| New Jersey | New Jersey Foundation for Open Government | The New Jersey Foundation for Open Government seeks to increase transparency, accountability, honesty and democracy in government at all levels by defending and expanding public access to government records and meetings. NJFOG is the only organization in New Jersey with the sole mission of protecting and expanding public access to government records and meetings. Established in January 2001, it is a statewide coalition of organizations and individuals who support open government |
| New Mexico | New Mexico Foundation for Open Government | You have a fundamental right to know what your government is doing, and that includes the right toinspect public records and the right to attend public meetings. FOG works to make sure these rights are strong and available to everyone. Sometimes, this means assisting individual citizens who are denied information by local or state government. It also means strengthening and broadening freedom-of-information laws through legislation and litigation. And it means educating the public and public officials about the letter and spirit of sunshine laws. |
| New York | Reinvent Albany | Reinvent Albany works for open, accountable New York State government. |
| North Carolina | North Carolina Open Government Coalition | The North Carolina Open Government Coalition unites organizations interested in ensuring and enhancing the public’s access to government activity, records and meetings. The nonpartisan coalition will educate people about their rights and support their efforts to gain access, and advocate the principles and benefits of open government. |
| Ohio | Ohio Coalition for Open Government | The Ohio Coalition for Open Government (OCOG) is a tax-exempt 501 (c)(3) corporation established by the Ohio Newspapers Foundation in June 1992. The Coalition is operated for charitable and educational purposes by conducting and supporting activities to benefit those who seek compliance with public access laws. It is also affiliated with a national network of similar state coalitions. |
| Oklahoma | FOI Oklahoma, Inc. | Founded in 1990, FOI Oklahoma is a statewide organization actively supporting those organizations and individuals working to open records or provide access to meetings illegally closed. When individuals or organizations in Oklahoma believe that their First Amendment or access rights are threatened, they turn to FOI Oklahoma for help. The organization contacts those who are limiting freedom of access to encourage them to comply with the laws. |
| Oregon | Open Oregon: A Freedom of Information Coalition | Open Oregon is an educational and charitable organization with a single mission: to assist and educate the general public, students, educators, public officials, media and legal professionals to understand and exercise their rights to open government and their rights and responsibilities under the Oregon Public Meetings and Records laws. |
| Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition | The Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition is a non-profit volunteer group working to help you understand and use the state’s open records and open meetings law, and works with citizens around the state to increase government transparency. |
| South Carolina | South Carolina Press Association FOI Committee | SCPA’s FOI Committee sets long-term FOI objectives and priorities, determines positions on particular bills when needed, advises the professional staff on how particular FOI issues and bills will affect the industry, assists in direct lobbying contact as set out by the committee, chairman or by the executive director, and administration of the FOI Fund through the committee chairperson. |
| Tennessee | Tennessee Coalition for Open Government | The Tennessee Coalition for Open Government is a non-profit and non-partisan alliance of media, citizen and professional groups working to educate Tennesseans about their right to know about the affairs of their government as set out in the state constitution and the state’s “sunshine” and public records laws. |
| Texas | Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, Inc. | To provide the leadership to ensure that the public’s business is conducted in public and to protect the individual liberties guaranteed by the First Amendment. |
| Utah | Utah Foundation for Open Government | The Utah Foundation for Open Government, a citizen coalition, was founded in 1996. Its purpose is to encourage, sponsor and facilitate the public’s right to know about the workings of government at all levels and to foster open government. |
| Virginia | Virginia Coalition for Open Government | We are a nonprofit alliance formed to promote expanded access to government records, meetings and other proceedings at the state and local level. Our efforts are focused solely on local/state information access. |
| Washington | Washington Coalition for Open Government | The Washington Coalition for Open Government represents individuals and organizations intent on preserving and protecting Washington’s Open Government Laws – Open Records and Open Meetings. Its mission is to represent the public in matters where open government issues are raised, are threatened, or deserve broader exposure. |
| Wisconsin | Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council | The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council seeks to safeguard access to information that citizens must have to act responsibly in a free and democratic society. We cherish Wisconsin’s Open Records and Open Meetings Laws, which declare that because “a representative government is dependent on an informed electorate,” all persons are entitled to the most information possible regarding the affairs of government and the actions of public officers and employees, and that only in the most exceptional cases may access be denied. |
| West Virginia | West Virginia Open Government Coalition |
The WV Open Government Coalition is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, educational organizaiton dedicated to educating government officials, policymakers and citizens about their roles and responsibilities in ensuring an open and accountable government.
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