Six voter outreach organizations in Alabama are among the recipients of more than $4.5 million in grants announced by the Southern Poverty Law Center on Monday.
The Alabama groups will receive a total of $505,000, distributed as follows:
- Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice United: $100,000
- Faith in Action Alabama: $185,000
- Fortitude Foundation (Rollin to the Polls): $30,000
- Greater Birmingham Ministries: $50,000
- The Ordinary People Society: $120,000
- United Women of Color: $20,000
This is the second round of grants in the Vote Your Voice initiative. The first round awarded $5.5 million to organizations across the Deep South in July, including $500,000 to Black Voters Matter for its work in Alabama and Georgia.
The money is awarded to organizations that have proven track records empowering voters of color, LGBTQ voters, Native voters, immigrant voters, voters of faith, voters returning from incarceration and young voters, according to the SPLC.
The grants are meant to help the groups continue their outreach and scale up “their activities to turn out low-propensity voters amid voter suppression schemes and other barriers, including the COVID-19 pandemic, in advance of upcoming elections.”
“The 2020 election cycle was shaping up to be historic before the year began, and the monumental stories of the year in public health, racial justice and democracy protection make clear now more than ever that every eligible American needs to have a say in the direction of our communities and country,” said Margaret Huang, president and CEO of the SPLC. “Amid the COVID-19 public health crisis and policies that have decreased equitable access to the polls, we are confident that the resources provided in this second round of Vote Your Voice grants awarded will ensure that more voters are able to cast ballots and have them counted across the Deep South.”
Vote Your Voice plans to award a total of $30 million through 2022 from the SPLC endowment to organizations working to “boost voter registration, education and mobilization.” With the second round of grants, $10 million have been awarded across five states that the project is targeting: Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.
There were 28 recipients this round.
