JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies (IAOHRA) has elected Dr. Alisa Warren, executive director of the Missouri Commission on Human Rights, as their next president in a meeting held in Los Angeles last week.
Dr. Warren becomes just the second representative from Missouri elected as president in IAOHRA’s 73-year history.
As the only U.S. network of governmental human rights, civil rights, and human relations leaders, IAOHRA is uniquely positioned to provide expert support, training, and advocacy for numerous member agencies that collectively serve over 250 million people.
IAOHRA provides opportunities and forums for the exchange of ideas and information among human rights professionals. Organizations and individuals are invited to participate in IAOHRA sponsored seminars and training conferences with experts from all disciplines.
The advancement of equality has been a career cornerstone for Dr. Alisa Warren. Since January 2008, Dr. Warren has served as the Executive Director for the Missouri Commission on Human Rights (MCHR), a state agency housed in the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
Under her leadership, MCHR works to prevent and eliminate discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. Her dedication to fighting bias and promoting inclusion manifests itself in her extensive efforts, through education and outreach initiatives, to bring a greater understanding of anti-discrimination laws to the four corners of her home state of Missouri and the nation.
Dr. Warren said, “It is an honor to lead IAOHRA, the only national organization of professional human and civil rights directors in the United States, in a unified the vision toward equity and justice. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”