FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 2, 2023
CONTACT:
Bilen Mesfin Packwood, bilen@change-llc.com
Alexis Meisels, alexis@change-llc.com
Black to the Future Public Policy Institute Welcomes 25 New Fellows for 2024
Program to Support Nearly 100 Community Leaders Trained to Shift Policy and Build Power
ATLANTA, GA — Last month, Black Futures Lab and the Black to the Future Action Fund launched the fourth year of the Black to the Future Public Policy Institute. This eight-month training and fellowship program will equip community leaders with the tools needed to transform Black communities into constituencies that wield independent, Black political power.
“Four years into this initiative, nearly 100 graduates are advancing policies that are uplifting Black communities and changing material conditions to improve the lives of Black people,” said Alicia Garza, founder and principal at Black Futures Lab and the Black to the Future Action Fund. “It is powerful to witness how we can transform policies and systems when we unlock the secrets of rulemaking.”
Teams were chosen based on their commitment to building Black political power and experience advancing policies that support their communities. Seven teams from six states will advance policy strategies to end incarceration of marginalized genders, combat voter suppression, improve food security, strengthen economic development, implement alternative policing strategies and address disparities in Black maternal health:
- Change Today, Change Tomorrow (Kentucky): Julianna Clarke, Icyreen Ford, and Taylor Ryan aim to address the prevalence of food insecurity in Louisville.
- Emancipate NC (North Carolina): Dawn Blagrove, Cierra Cobb, and Kerwin Pittman seek to implement alternative policing strategies that reduce the reliance on armed police response.
- Mississippi Votes (Mississippi): Tiara James, Karanja Matory, and Hannah Williams seek to implement pro-democracy reforms in Mississippi.
- New Georgia Project (Georgia): Elijah Grace, James Mays, and Sean Mims aim to combat voter suppression measures in Georgia.
- One Voice MS (Mississippi): Christin Calloway, Anastasia Griffin, Catherine Robinson, and Kyra Roby aim to implement workforce and economic development policies to empower low-income Mississippians.
- Salvation and Social Justice (New Jersey): Crystal Charley, Jared Hunter, Shadura Lee, and Racquel Romans-Henry are working to address disparities in Black maternal health and maternal mortality in New Jersey.
- Young Women’s Freedom Center (California): Dominique Davis, Ebony Ellis, Laquisha Johnson, DeAnna Pittman, and Abigail Richards seek to end the incarceration of cis/trans women and girls, and trans people of all genders, replacing punitive systems and policies with community-based alternatives.
“Creating an all Black space to dream of new world possibilities, while simultaneously learning technical skills from some of the sharpest minds in policy is an incredible experience for everyone involved in the Institute,” said Katherine Grainger, managing partner at Civitas Public Affairs Group and lead trainer for the Institute. “Plus this program yields real results to increase the lived experience of Black people in this country. I am deeply looking forward to training this year’s fellows.”
The 2023-2024 fellows will attend weekly training with subject-matter experts, Institute alumni, and their peers. Past Institute guest speakers include media personality and political commentator Joy Reid, Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative, Maurice Mitchell of the Working Families Party, and New York City Council Member Crystal Hudson.
Alumni of the Institute have made significant local and state pro-Black policy strides, including the Full Citizens Coalition’s Unlock the Vote campaign in Connecticut, Hope Policy Institute’s work assessing the impact of judicial fines and fees on overly incarcerated communities in Mississippi, and the Hood Incubator’s efforts to bring social equity to the cannabis industry. In addition, alumni from the People’s Advocacy Institute received a $50,000 award from Black Futures Lab and Black to the Future Action Fund to support the #FundCommunities campaign. “I’m so excited to see more support going to the innovative work of Peoples Advocacy Institute” said Nsombi Lambright, Executive Director of One Voice and an Institute mentor. “Their work to redefine public safety by mapping the necessary services that are needed by families and by uplifting the leadership of the most impacted is what we need to reduce mass incarceration in Mississippi.”
The Institute is free of charge. Each fellow and team is sponsored by a for-profit, nonprofit, or government group with a proven history of working with Black communities and commitment to impacting public policy to advance Black political power.
###
About the Black Futures Lab
Black Futures Lab works with Black people to transform our communities, building Black political power, and changing the way that power operates—locally, statewide, and nationally. We work to understand the dynamics impacting our communities, we build the capacity of our communities to govern, and we engage and include Black people in the decisions that impact our lives. Our mission is to engage Black communities year round, using our political strength to stop corporate influences from creeping into public policies, and combining technology and traditional organizing methods to reach Black people anywhere and everywhere we are.
About Black to the Future Action Fund
The Black to the Future Action Fund works to make Black communities powerful in politics,so that we can be powerful in the entirety of our lives. We work to enact policies that improve the lives of Black communities, and to elect Black and pro-Black legislators with progressive values who move progressive policies. Together we work to ensure that Black people have what all people deserve —dignity, safety, and power.
