Legal group puts $100 million toward voter work in South
The Southern Poverty Law Center on Monday announced it is putting $100 million toward an effort to increase voter participation in the Deep South over the next decade. The liberal organization’s Vote Your Voice program supports organizations working in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta will administer grants that can be used for civic engagement, build voter engagement ahead of the 2030 redistricting process, and support efforts that help train and launch a new generation of political leaders, a statement said. Margaret Huang, president and chief executive of the SPLC, said Voice Your Vote began as an effort to increase voter registration and turnout, “particularly in communities of color who would most benefit from a true inclusive democracy in the South.” “However, to ensure a government exists that truly is ‘by the people, and for the people,’ we must expand our efforts to push against the anti-democratic statements and actions of many state and local officials in the Deep South,” Huang said. Tax forms show the Montgomery-based nonprofit organization reported $587 million in net assets in January 2020, an increase of nearly $45 million from a year earlier. Several states, including Florida and Georgia, have implemented new voting restrictions that have become the subject of litigation. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Alabama-based group providing $10M in grants in 5 states
A liberal nonprofit organization based in Alabama says it will provide more than $10 million in grants over the next two years to increase voter outreach across the Deep South headed into the midterm election. Announced by the Southern Poverty Law Center on Thursday, the Vote Your Voice initiative will be administered through the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. Grants ranging in amounts from $50,000 to $300,000 will be available to nonpartisan organizations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Money will be available to register and mobilize minority voters and others, including people who have been removed from voting rolls and those who don’t vote very often, the law center said. The grants can also fund work to protect voting rights; restore the voting rights of people who were in prison; and engage communities about districting issues. Democrats and progressive groups have accused officials in Georgia, Alabama, and other Southern states of using rules and laws to suppress the minority vote. Republican supporters of such measures argue that restrictions are necessary to prevent voter fraud and to stop ineligible people from voting. Vote Your Voice provided 40 groups in the five states with more than $12 million last year to help register voters and increase voting participation among people of color, the announcement said. “We continue to believe deeply in empowering southern organizations to do the hard work on the ground registering, educating, and mobilizing voters regardless of what new barriers are erected or which longstanding ones fall in the coming years,” the chief executive of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Margaret Huang, said in a statement. Founded in 1971 in Montgomery to advocate for civil rights, the law center reported more than $543 million assets in 2018, tax documents show. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
