About Carol Buckheit

How does one go from coordinating brain research studies to creating communication strategies for social change? Well… I did.  And I took a route through an extraordinary (and successful!) campaign in Connecticut that gave same-sex couples the right to legally marry.

Always a political and news junkie, I nevertheless spent 10 years as a speech-language pathologist working with individuals with traumatic brain injuries in hospitals and rehab centers in New England.  Then, with a newly minted master’s degree in neuroscience, I spent over 6 years coordinating clinical research studies, helping to determine whether people around the U.S. who underwent neurosurgery for epilepsy actually got healthier–physically, emotionally, and cognitively.

But the call to social justice kept tugging at me. I found myself wanting to tear out of my office to volunteer in the community—to help urban school kids graduate, fundraise for local political causes and candidates, and to serve on boards and committees.

In 2004, I was hired as a community organizer for one of the most effective grassroots advocacy groups in Connecticut–Love Makes a Family (LMF)–and the rest is…well, history.

Within 6 years I was directing LMF’s key strategic communications and public education programs to help win the freedom to marry for same-sex couples, lobbying legislators, managing a website, engaging new coalition partners, producing a film, organizing community forums, directing media outreach, writing press materials and online content, and leading hundreds of volunteers in legislative advocacy and fundraising efforts.

I served as the Associate Director, then the Executive Director, of LMF’s lobbying and foundation arms, and was deeply involved in electoral work through LMF’s Political Action Committee.

With marriage equality now the law of the land here in Connecticut, I am delighted to provide consultation services to Connecticut nonprofits on a range of strategic communications issues—from technology training to launching social media applications to media outreach.

My clients have included Dan Malloy for Governor, child health organizations, public policy groups, women’s rights organizations, foundations, environmental groups, professional associations, museums, and communities of faith.

The nonprofit community is vital to our society, to our culture, and to our world.  I look forward to many more fruitful collaborations.

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At right: A thrill I will never forget: Married same-sex couples from all over Connecticut gathered on the Capitol steps in Hartford to celebrate the one-year anniversary of marriage equality in our state.  Photos by Glenn Koetzner