The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) are currently accepting applications for Vote Your Voice Field Strengthening Grants. This initiative, launched in 2020 as a $30 million project, aims to ensure full voter participation and fair representation for Black communities and other communities of color across five states in the Deep South: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The program has since expanded into a 10-year, $100 million initiative that also supports civic engagement activities and organizational capacity building.
Since its start, Vote Your Voice has distributed nearly $35 million in grants to organizations focused on voter education, registration, mobilization, and civic engagement efforts. The Field Strengthening grants were developed based on feedback from grassroots partners. They provide funding to nonprofits working with communities of color year-round to promote pro-voter activities such as voting participation, protecting voting rights, community organizing, communication with elected officials, and leadership preparation for roles in civic life.
Ayana Gabriel-Turner, vice president of Community Impact at the Foundation said: “The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta has a five-year strategic focus on equity and shared prosperity that we call TogetherATL. A key component of that is doing what we can to help shift power dynamics within communities of color so that residents have an equal voice in shaping policies that affect their lives. That is the power of a free and fair vote, and these Field Strengthening grants are one tool we can use to help communities secure that vote.”
For this round of grant funding, there is particular interest in organizations working with young voters of color aged 18-35 and voters of color in non-metro areas.
Margaret Huang, SPLC president and CEO stated: “Ensuring that every voter including those from historically marginalized communities is able to exercise their right to vote is critical to democracy. Unfortunately across the Deep South and the nation we are seeing a resurgence of voter intimidation and suppression tactics designed to prevent people of color from voting."
These grants aim to support organizations actively engaged in pushing back against these tactics while building a multiracial inclusive democracy.
Grant amounts will be determined by each applicant’s organizational capacity demonstrated outcomes and proposed scope of work with typical amounts ranging between $50,000 to $500,000. Grants may cover one or several years.
The application cycle remains open until September 8th 2023 with an online orientation scheduled for August 16th proposals due by September 8th at 5 pm ET proposal review period running from September 11th through October 15th followed by grant decisions being announced on October 16th.
Interested organizations must complete both an organizational profile along with the Vote Your Voice application available on the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta website. For inquiries applicants should contact VoteYourVoice@cfgreateratlanta.org.