Dalton Erickson, Executive Director
“The Coalition empowers advocates for human rights and fosters engagement across the wide landscape of North Dakota. This is necessary work and it fits with my humanity-based approach to leadership and life.”
–Dalton Erickson
Leading the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition is a challenge Dalton Erickson has been preparing for their entire professional life. Growing up in a military family instilled “service” as a fundamental value early in life. Their travels throughout the world taught them what human rights abuses look like on the ground. So after graduating from Grand Forks Central High School and attending Mayville State and UND, they decided to live a life of service and began working at Northlands Rescue Mission in Grand Forks. There, they helped people without homes find housing and services to sustain that housing. Because their parents had also been landlords, working at the frontlines of homeless services seemed a natural next step.
Dalton also worked with the North Dakota Coalition for Homeless People, advocating for housing rights and organizing inter-agency collaboration. That experience inspired a deeper commitment to collaboration as a fundamental tool of successful activism.
Leading the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition is a logical extension of that commitment to justice and to serving others. Dalton is a grassroots political and community organizer who has worked on building connections between organizations, engaging youth in the democratic process, and training people to become effective advocates. They’ve organized events ranging from protests to lectures on government, political activism, economic injustice, housing rights, reproductive rights, and LGBTQIA2S+ rights.
Leading the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition is a logical extension of that commitment to justice and to serving others. Dalton is a grassroots political and community organizer who has worked on building connections between organizations, engaging youth in the democratic process, and training people to become effective advocates. They’ve organized events ranging from protests to lectures on government, political activism, economic injustice, housing rights, reproductive rights, and LGBTQIA2S+ rights.
