2021 North Carolina Black Alliance Annual Report

2 0 2 1

ANNUAL

REPORT www.NCBlackAlliance.org

A message from the

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

T

he impact of systemic racism has impeded every aspect of American life. The disenfranchisement of Black and Brown communities is much more than a single constituent issue. It is a fundamental flaw in our American system, the impact of which is evident in the community along the lines of education, environment, economy, housing, policing, and other quality of life issues that affects all rural, poor, and workingclass residents regardless of race.

The North Carolina Black Alliance is engaged in a statewide effort to build a sustainable, independent infrastructure in rural counties and majority-Black communities to support deeper, non-partisan voter activation and collaboration among key community stakeholders. Programs like our CODE Red Redistricting trained over 750 community members in 37 counties to advocate for maps in the redistricting process – now that’s impact! Our programs and partnerships prove that together we can create the change we want to see in North Carolina for the communities we serve.

We remain committed to strengthening the network of our constituent groups representing various communities of color throughout North Carolina to create a collaborative policy agenda that seeks to engage the overall community to increase Black voter education.

Courtney A. Crowder Executive Director North Carolina Black Alliance

Table of Contents Getting Out the Vote

4

CODE Red Redistricting

5

Educating & Empowering through Virtual Events

6

Environmental Justice

8

By The Numbers

9

Financials 10 On The Horizon

11

About the Photo: In Fall 2021, a mural completed by artist Kiara Sanders was unveiled along the Chapel Hill-Carrboro border. The mural titled “African-American Trailblazers” celebrates 12 Black trailblazers, including NC Black Alliance board chair Senator Valerie Foushee (Chatham).

Photo Credit: Dianne Pledger, Chapel Hill-Carrboro Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

VOTE

Getting Out the

Voter Education and Mobilization

Setbacks in the 2020 Biennial Census and the lingering effects of the pandemic resulted in major shifts in election administration across the state. This resulted in delaying the majority of elections in 2021.

The North Carolina Black Alliance proactively implemented a comprehensive voter education and mobilization initiative for municipal elections across the state to create a more issue-driven civic participation to sustain political power and improve the quality of life for these residents while mobilizing voters.

Along with key collaborators and partners, the Data Analyst and Research Team (DART) successfully supported the 2021 midterm elections and constructed a proven implementation plan while securing over 2,000 volunteers for the 2022 Midterm election. Just as critical to our voter engagement turnout work, we continued our voter safety and protection campaign to support voters by providing reliable election information and PPE to community groups.

We also reimagined our campus engagement by retooling our youth voter engagement program to provide heightened access to our HBCU campuses. This new level of engagement allowed us to build a statewide cohort of faculty and staff across the state, facilitating engagement with a more narrowly focused group of fellows, which allowed us to host one of the most successful in-person HBCU Think Tanks to date.

SPOTLIGHT

RACIAL EQUITY AND REDISTRICTING FOCUS OF 2021 HBCU THINK TANK

The 7th Annual HBCU Think Tank took place at Donald Julian Reaves Student Center on the campus of Winston-Salem State University. The event co-sponsored with Common Cause NC brought together student representatives from North Carolina A&T State University, WinstonSalem State University, Livingstone College, Elizabeth City State University and Bennett College.

4 | North Carolina Black Alliance

ONLINE READ

BY THE

NUMBERS

North Carolinians Deserve Fair Maps Since Black American men first received the constitutional right to vote in 1870, there have been a plethora of challenges and obstructions to keep this basic feature of our citizenship from being fully accessed. Over the last 10 years, that challenge has taken the form of gerrymandering or creating ultra-biased voting districts which dilute the power of the Black vote.

In 2021, NCBA joined the fight against gerrymandering by launching our CODE RED Redistricting Education program. The initiative offered training and resources to help our community understand and monitor the redistricting process and become more effective advocates for fair maps. Spearheaded by Special Programs Coordinator, Reggie Weaver, our municipal-level voter education efforts were the centerpiece of our redistricting program. The five-part webinar training series, which took place in the Spring, taught participants the history of the struggle for fair and equitable elections and how to do their part to support local voters. The training series broadened our base of community advocates for redistricting, situating our efforts strategically for the upcoming midterms.

Though participants in the program have included some elected officials and those involved in redistricting work for many years, most participants are community members who are new to the process and want to learn more. CODE RED impacts our work by deepening the impact on local redistricting processes and by helping us make the language about redistricting relevant to everyday people.

VIRTUAL EVENTS MAY-JUNE

43% ATTENDANCE RATE

37

NC COUNTIES REPORTED

Annual Report FY 21 | 5

Educating and Empowering Our Community

through Virtual Events

NC Black Summit: The Virtual Experience

On April 22, we kicked off our 15th Annual NC Black Summit: The Virtual Experience. Similar to our in-person Summit, the two-day virtual event featured elected and community leaders from across the state and a special keynote from New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries. With over 145 registered attendees and 192 participants on Facebook Live, the Summit has grown to become one of the most well-attended and sought-after gatherings to connect, equip, and unite legislative and community leaders working for the future of all North Carolinians.

Click to visit our YouTube Channel for watch a replay of the events.

6 | North Carolina Black Alliance

Divine 9 Legislative Day

NC LEGISLATIVE DAY

The North Carolina Black Alliance partners with the nine historically Black sororities and fraternities to promote unity and provide community education, awareness, and advocacy related to the government's legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

First held in 2018, the program entails panel discussions about the issues impacting North Carolina's Black community, including criminal justice reform, voter mobilization, and election education. Divine 9 Legislative Day reaches over 2.5K members and hosts over 1.4K registrants annually. The NC Divine 9 Legislative Day has been so successful that South Carolina established its own.

Black Power. Black Faith.

Social Justice Summit

In July, we partnered with Shaw University Divinity School, the General Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, and the North Carolina Council of Churches to host the first annual “Black Power. Black Faith.” Social Justice Summit.

With over 700 attendees, NCBA established itself as a major resource for Black faith leaders regarding local civic engagement.

BLACK Power.

BLACK Faith.

North Carolina State Unfair: An Environmental Justice Action Series Organizing for IMPACT

In October, expert panelists, NC elected officials, and national and state leaders joined NCBA for an engaging conversation on advancing equity in environmental justice, funding priorities in the state budget, and shifting the environmental justice narrative onto the condition of BIPOC communities to bring about real change. Over 480 Facebook viewers saw the virtual event.

Annual Report FY 21 | 7

Environmental

JUSTICE

Oftentimes we see environmental work ask, ‘What are we doing to the land?’ Environmental Justice, in contrast, is asking, ‘What are we doing to people and the land. Also, how is the land being contaminated in such a way that is poisoning the very stewards of that community?’

Environmental Justice is about understanding the marginalizing impact of environmental contaminants surrounding communities.”

- La'Meshia Whittington, Deputy Director of Programs Companies have been dumping hazardous waste in North Carolina’s Cape Fear River for upwards of sixty years. In the 1960s, Fayetteville Works opened its doors, then owned by Dupont and now owned by Chemours. The factory began producing common household chemicals containing perfluorinated and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, that were used in everything from non-stick pans to pizza boxes to furniture.

Since then, scientists have discovered these “forever chemicals” don’t break down in nature, accumulate in the body, and are linked to serious health issues like high cholesterol, cancer, and birth defects.

The communities most acutely impacted by PFAS are predominantly rural, poor, and Black. They also find themselves on the front line of natural disasters like hurricanes, flooding, and other weather phenomena connected to climate change. The similar impact of PCPs in Warren County spurred the birth of the Environmental Justice Movement in the 1980s when local Black activists laid their bodies across the road in protest to block chemical-filled trucks from entering their community.

Through our Environmental Justice program, the NC Black Alliance works with legislative representatives, community partners, and advocates to hold corporations accountable, support effective anti-pollution legislation, and educate impacted communities on how they can protect themselves and push for change. All of these actions are critical to reducing the rate of pollution in our communities.

8 | North Carolina Black Alliance

SPOTLIGHT EPA Petition

The NCBA Environmental Justice team led by La’Meshia Whittington crafted a petition to the EPA regarding the use of the toxic PFAS compound and its outsized health impact on rural Black and Brown communities. Under section 21 of the Toxic Substances Control Act, the petition seeks testing orders on 54 PFAS released into the environment by Chemours.

Nearly 300,000 residents of Cape Fear communities have been exposed for more than 40 years to PFAScontaminated drinking water, and several PFAS have been found in their blood.

While the original petition was rejected under the Trump Administration, we refused to give up hope. The petition has been refiled in hopes that the Biden Administration will respond with policy changes that will surely save lives.

ONLINE READ

Numbers 2021 BY THE

$1,858,200 grants awarded

$166,969 Individual Donors

88,205 Registered Voters Called 20K 10K PPE Kits Distributed

Voter Informational Flyers Distributed

238

NC Towns/Cities Reached Annual Report FY 21 | 9

Revenue 88.74%

$1,858,200 Grants

3.07%

$64,374

7.97%

$166,969

.21%

NC Black Summit

Individual Donors

Expenses 63%

$724,995

9%

$104,764

28%

$318,636

Programming

Operations

Administrative

$4,412 Other

$2,093,954 Total Revenue

10 | North Carolina Black Alliance

$1,148,395

Total Expenses

ON THE HORIZON We at NCBA are taking our work to new horizons in 2022. Our intimate engagement with North Carolina’s Black communities has led us to develop new and updated programming to meet the needs that have been shared with us.

Access to Healthcare Program

NCBA will address breastfeeding rates disparities in Eastern North Carolina and coordinate with state and local institutions to support the development of more lactation consultants in Eastern NC.

Midterm Elections

Supporting voters and candidates of color during election time is the heartbeat of our work. 2022 is a very important midterm election. Not only are there important congressional races, but there are also many local races taking place that were rescheduled due to delays in the 2020 Biennial Census. NCBA has a robust Get Out The Vote program that began formation in 2021. Through our HBCU Think Tank, CODE RED Redistricting initiative, and our partnership with Black Voters Matter, we have built an army of trained voting advocates who are ready to support their communities and make their voices heard in November.

New NCBA Podcast

The Carolina Context Podcast is an intergenerational video podcast series that seeks to provide a historical perspective on the challenging issues facing our state today. Each weekly, themed segment will feature leaders from different backgrounds who have worked on the frontlines of change and will join us to build a bridge to understanding systemic issues in the shifting dynamics of power in our state. Hosted by Brad Thompson and Marcus Bass, this hour-long weekly digital digest seeks to enlighten and address the state of North Carolina. The Podcast series will be available on North Carolina Black Alliance platforms.

Annual Report FY 21 | 11

www.NCBlackAlliance.org