![\"Georgia](\"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/images\/20-1201s2p-gacoalition-696x522.jpg\")
PHOTO CAPTION: Organizers from the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples\u2019 Agenda pause for a photo before going to canvass, and deliver yard signs and barbershop posters encouraging people to vote in the GA Senate runoff elections. Photo Credit: La Fonda Smith Fotographer.<\/em><\/p>\n
\u201cWe organize year-round in the Black community and voters trust us. We will motivate them to vote,\u201d said Helen Butler, executive director of the Peoples\u2019 Agenda. \u201cBefore civil rights leaders like Dr. King and the founder of the Peoples\u2019 Agenda, Dr. Joseph Lowery, endured beatings and jail for us to have the right to vote, people used poll taxes, literacy tests and even violence to stop us from voting. Today, instead of suppressing Black voters, their efforts are creating a groundswell of support.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve received calls from across the country from people eager to help beyond the much-needed donations they\u2019re making,\u201d adds Felicia Davis, convener of Clayton County BWR, a member of the Peoples\u2019 Agenda coalition. \u201cWe need people outside of Georgia to help by calling their family and friends in Georgia and let them know to vote. With the Coronavirus raging we\u2019re encouraging voters to vote absentee by mail or early in-person to keep the lines at a minimum on Jan. 5.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to celebrities and dignitaries volunteering to make calls, produce robo calls and public service announcements, state affiliates of the NCBCP Unity \u201920 Black Voting Campaign will keep their 2020 operations going to support Georgia GOTV activities. The Eastern Michigan Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Philly Unity Coalition, and Ohio Unity Coalition will help with phone banking, social media, texts, online events and the Clayton County BWR postcard campaign.<\/p>\n
Despite the challenges created by the COVID-19 virus, the Peoples\u2019 Agenda has worked nonstop the entire year. They even spent Thanksgiving week training over 500 phone-bankers, registering and educating voters at turkey giveaways, and dispatching teams of canvassers to distribute flyer with voting information packaged with PPE door-to-door in communities throughout the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s clear that expanding access to absentee voting boosted turnout,\u201d said Butler. \u201cThe Peoples\u2019 Agenda is working with our partners to make sure voters receive and return their absentee ballot requests. For those who want to vote in-person, we\u2019re providing rides to the polls starting December 14 when early in-person voting begins.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year we lost Dr. Lowery, Rev. C. T. Vivian and Congressman John Lewis, three civil rights heroes whose sacrifices played a key role in the passing of the Voting Rights Act. Their memory fuels our resolve,\u201d adds Davis, who also serves as director of HBCU Green Fund. \u201cOur message to anyone trying to suppress or void Black votes is best communicated through a quote from Dr. Lowery, \u2018We ain\u2019t going back. We\u2019ve come too far, marched too long, prayed too hard, wept too bitterly, bled too profusely, and died too young, to let anybody turn back the clock on our journey to justice.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
About The Georgia Coalition for the Peoples\u2019 Agenda:<\/strong><\/p>\n The Georgia Coalition for the Peoples\u2019 Agenda is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization performing year-round voter registration, education and mobilization in Black communities throughout Georgia. Led by board chair, Rev. J. A. Milner, the organization has headquarters in Atlanta and offices in Athens, Albany, Macon, Augusta, LaGrange and Savannah.<\/p>\n To donate or volunteer visit http:\/\/www.thepeoplesagenda.org\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n Email coalition@bellsouth.net or call the Peoples\u2019 Agenda at (404) 653-1199.<\/p>\n Media Contact: <\/strong>
\nEdrea Davis
\nPhone: 770.961.6200\/818.613.9521
\nEmail: edmedia@dogonvillage.com<\/a><\/p>\n
![https:\/\/www.Send2Press.com\/300dpi\/20-1201s2p-gacoalition-300dpi.jpg<\/a><\/p>\nCAPTION: Organizers from the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples\u2019 Agenda pause for a photo before going to canvass, and deliver yard signs and barbershop posters encouraging people to vote in the GA Senate runoff elections. Photo Credit: La Fonda Smith Fotographer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA, Ga., Dec. 1, 2020 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Ongoing efforts to suppress and invalidate the voices of Black voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia have galvanized the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda (Peoples’ Agenda), Clayton County Black Women’s Roundtable (BWR) and other groups to register, educate and mobilize voters for the upcoming Senate runoff elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8661,"featured_media":65986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,236,12804,124,1,123,48],"tags":[11390],"class_list":["post-66022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics-news","category-african-american-interest-news","category-ap","category-atlanta-news","category-business-news","category-georgia-news","category-government-news","tag-black-voters","has-post-title","has-post-date","no-post-category","no-post-tag","no-post-comment","has-post-author"],"acf":[],"views":6073,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/www.Send2Press.com\/300dpi\/20-1201s2p-gacoalition-300dpi.jpg\"){kind=link}