The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has announced funding aimed at boosting voter participation that will focus on marginalized Black and non-white voters, reported AL.com.
The $4.6 million in funding from SPLC will go to 39 voter outreach organizations across the Deep South. The Vote Your Voice grants aim to boost voting education and mobilization, especially among communities of color. Alabama received $210,000 total from the latest round of grants.
According to the SPLC website, the grants will support voter education, registration, and mobilization, especially among communities of color. The grants add to an earlier investment of more than $11 million in two-year grants awarded last year.
Vote Your Voice grants help grassroots organizations empower communities of color across the Deep South. Alabama Forward is among the recipients of the SPLC’s latest #VoteYourVoice grants. Read more: https://t.co/VFtkFF6wsv pic.twitter.com/IGEeBbPY8U
— Southern Poverty Law Center (@splcenter) August 30, 2022
Evan Milligan, executive director of Alabama Forward, said that the Montgomery-based non-profit civic engagement group received $90,000 that will go toward hosting the festival.
“Alabama Forward is excited to use these ‘Vote Your Voice’ grants to empower communities, especially young Alabamians, to make their voice heard through their vote. We are using popular education tactics to infuse music with releasable and hopeful messages that invited artists and influencers to freshly consider the value of voting this November,” stated Milligan.
Additionally, The Ordinary People Society received $90,000, and the Alabama Institute for Social Justice received $30,000.
“With the recent wave of unprecedented attacks on civil rights and liberties that disproportionately target communities of color, women, and people with disabilities, it is more important than ever to defend our right to vote and make our voices heard,” stated Lecia Brooks, chief of staff and culture for SPLC. “These grants will empower communities to get out to the polls, exercise their freedom to vote, and stand up for their right to an equal voice in government.”
According to AL.com, the money will be applied toward hosting Trap Democracy festivals that will run from 4-9 p.m. for each event. The festivals will take place in the following cities:
- Friday, September 23, at King’s Canvass in Montgomery
- Friday, October 7, in Troy
- Saturday, October 8, in Mobile
- Friday, October 14, in Huntsville
- Saturday, October 15 in Talladega
- Friday, October 21 in Tuscaloosa
- Saturday, October 22 in Birmingham
The location for most of those festivals has not been announced.
