The 2024 Presidential Election was a critical political moment for the impacted people throughout the USA and also around the world, since the US government’s decisions impact people not only locally but globally. As a 501(c)(3) organization, Southern Vision Alliance supported grassroots non-partisan civic campaigns to encourage people to vote, as well as attend canvass monitoring meetings to make sure all votes are counted.
Here are some highlights.
Students Organizing the South and Carolina Youth Power Encourage Youth to Vote
SVA’s youth organizing program, Students Organizing the South and Carolina Youth Power, organized PP&E (Power, Protection, and Encouragement) Camp in partnership with BluePrint North Carolina at an early voting site in Raleigh. The purpose of this project was to de-escalate and document any instance of harassment of voters/poll workers and create a pleasant environment for people to vote. SOS leader Kylah Guion performed at a voter-mobilization concert, Carolina Daze, in Greensboro, reaching thousands of attendees.
SOS and CYP leaders, Kylah and Cotie, during poll monitoring at NC Central University in Durham, NC.
SVA Team members, Ricky (Queer Mobilization Fund), Cotie (CYP), and Kylah and Nea (SOS) at Caroline Daze civic-engagement concert in Greensboro, NC, on November 3, 2024.
Kylah spoke at the Carolina Daze concert in Greensboro, encouraging people to exercise their voting power.
People’s Power Lab Organizes GOTV, PP&E, and Canvass Monitoring Campaigns
SVA’s grantee, People’s Power Lab, organized a nonpartisan GOTV campaign reaching approximately 10,000 Black, brown, and working class community members in the Triangle area of North Carolina. They also organized a PP&E camp at Green Road Community Center in Raleigh on November 2. Election results are not certified until canvass day, ten days after the election date in North Carolina, when absentee ballots, mail-in-ballots, and ballots with contests are certified. PPL team members attended canvass meetings in Nash (in-person). Edgecombe (in-person), Robeson (in-person), and Buncombe (online) to make sure the votes are counted correctly. These campaigns were organized in partnership with BluePrint NC, Common Cause NC, and Democracy NC.
PPL (FLF grantee) Team Members hosting PP&E Camp at early voting site, Green Road Community Center, in Raleigh, NC on November 2, 2024
PPL Team Members, Munir Abdul Hakim and Roshni Ibrahim, at Green Road Community Center PP&E Camp on November 2, 2024
PPL organizers and volunteers reach out to thousands of people during the GOTV campaign.
PPL team provided de-escalation support on the day of election PP&E camp by El Vinculo Hispano in Siler City, NC
FLF Grantees, J4TNG and Citadel of Praise, Organize Civic Campaigns
SVA’s Frontline Fund Grantees in Greensboro, J4TNG and Citadel of Praise, have been dedicated to grassroots social justice campaigns for decades. They organized civic campaigns that mobilized over 500 to the polls, distributed 2500 pieces of literature engaging over 3,000 people hand to hand, served over 525 plates of free food at the polls, and enlisted 40 volunteers for movement-based civic campaigns.
GOTV campaigns by J4TNG and Citadel of Praise (FLF grantees) in Greensboro, NC.
GOTV campaigns by J4TNG and Citadel of Praise (FLF grantees) in Greensboro, NC.
As a result of these civic campaigns with our partners, we witnessed record civic engagement in North Carolina in the 2024 election cycle. Our grantees and sponsored projects were part of state-wide campaigns that hosted 161 safe sites in 17 counties and GOTV phone calls to 4.4 million phone calls (coordinated by BluePrint NC). North Carolina witnessed a record 75% voter turn-out. significantly higher than the average NC voter turn-out during the presidential elections. In addition, our partners worked with BluePrint NC, Common Cause NC, and Democracy NC, to join state-wide canvass monitoring campaigns, leading to 320 reports from 70 counties, ensuring that the painstaking process of ballot counting takes place accurately.
While the elections are over, the work of grassroots social justice organizers is not. We are dedicated to continue building people’s power for racial, economic, gender, LGBTQIA, immigrant/refugee, and other justice movements. We look forward to supporting the movement before, during, and after the elections, and hold accountable whoever is elected.
