Haneefah Khaaliq currently serves as a human rights agency director and officer. Khaaliq is also an ADA/Title VI Coordinator. She’s a faculty member at Indiana University and runs a virtual social service organization where individuals who earn a low income or are on a fixed income can receive legal assistance, information, and counseling services nationwide for free or at a discounted rate.
Ms. Khaaliq is a former Girl Scout of America where the mission is to nurture and mold girls into responsible adults. In 2001, Ms. Khaaliq graduated as an Honor Roll student from Lake Central High School in St. John, IN, and went on to earn High Honors at Indiana University-Purdue University of Indianapolis. After teaching for a number of years, she returned to school to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a lawyer. In 2017, she graduated from Valparaiso University School of Law.
Ms. Khaaliq has devoted her life to public service and volunteering in her community. As an AmeriCorps volunteer, she spearheaded city-wide initiatives where she created programs for senior citizens and teens, organized blood drives, food drives, neighborhood cleanups, worked with single parents to get them the social services they needed, helped ex-offenders re-enter society, provided immigrants with information that placed them on a pathway to citizenship, and created graphic designs for non-profit organizations still used today.
As a human rights agency director, Ms. Khaaliq expanded the city’s civil rights ordinance to protect sexual orientation and gender identity. She also expanded the law to protect senior citizens from age discrimination and worked with the American Jewish Committee on a resolution.
From college and beyond, Ms. Khaaliq has been a true activist who regularly attends demonstrations and marches across the country against human trafficking, for women’s rights, raising the minimum wage, climate change, and civil rights for all. Ms. Khaaliq has led demonstrations calling for equality for all. Ms. Khaaliq was a strong demonstrator in the Occupy Wall Street protest movement in 2011 and published her experiences from Indianapolis, New York, and Chicago.
Ms. Khaaliq is also an author. In 2017, she published “A Better Police Force.” The work was inspired by the invitation to present at Valparaiso University’s Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration and Seminar. In the book, Ms. Khaaliq proposes solutions to creating more harmony between the community and law enforcement agencies throughout the country beginning with community policing and multicultural education and training.
Ms. Khaaliq views running for office and voting as two of the highest forms of activism. As a former public-school teacher turned lawyer, she is passionate for education and improving the lives of others. Her top three campaign focuses are improving education, reducing poverty, and expanding the civil rights law and Americans with Disabilities Act.
Ms. Khaaliq has received several awards which include the Diversity Champion Award, recognition by the Indiana Women Lawyer’s Association, and Teacher of the Year. She has also received multiple Corporation for National and Community Service Awards and the distinguished Katie Hall Educational Foundation Public Service Award.
In 2022, Ms. Khaaliq became the first African American to run for the U.S. Senate in a general election in Indiana and one of the first African American women to seek a major party’s nomination. Now, she is currently Vice President of the Indiana Consortium for State & Local Human Rights Agencies and a member of the International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies.
Ms. Khaaliq is the stepdaughter of a retired United Steelworker who was also a proud union member. She comes from a family of decorated soldiers. She has a lifetime of public service and volunteering experience commensurate with organizing and leading for the cause of civil rights.