Facing Race: A National Conference in St. Louis, MO — November 20-22, 2024

Ashley Shelton

Executive Director | Power Coalition

Ashley K. Shelton is the Executive Director of the Power Coalition, a statewide 501c3 table in Louisiana. The Power Coalition uses a broad-based strategy that combines community organizing, issue advocacy, and civic action all while increasing the capacity of community organizations throughout the state to sustain and hold the work. Mrs. Shelton has led both C3 and C4 strategies to move more than 500,000 voters throughout the state of Louisiana having significant impact in elections in the major metros including New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Shreveport. Since our inception we have focused on moving infrequent voters of color. Our integrated voter engagement approach has changed policy at the municipal and state level as well as move infrequent voters of color to vote at the same levels as chronic voters in the communities where we run a full get out to vote program.

The Power Coalition is a spinoff organization of One Voice. As the former Louisiana Director of One Voice, Mrs. Shelton led a series of coordinated campaigns while anchoring and supporting the development of the 501c3 table that is now The Power Coalition.

Prior to this role, Mrs. Shelton was the Vice President of Programs at the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation (LDRF). Mrs. Shelton managed LDRF’s system of integrated, value-added programs with the goal of creating a better Louisiana for all of its citizens in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Prior to this, Ms. Shelton served as Director of Grantmaking for the Baton Rouge Area Foundation. Ms. Shelton has received many honors, including selection as a 2005-2006 Fellow in the Emerging Leaders Program at Duke University and the University of Cape Town, and was appointed in 2003 to the Foundation for the Mid South’s Commission to Build Philanthropy. Ms. Shelton attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications.


Presentations from Facing Race 2018

21st Century Racial Equity and Leadership Strategy for the Nation’s South

The 21st Century Racial Equity and Leadership Strategy for the Nation’s South brings Race Forward and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, One Voice Mississippi and One Voice Louisiana together to advance racial equity. The partners are engaging communities of color to expose and dismantle systems of exclusion, especially around mass incarceration, access to high quality public education, economic opportunity and voting rights / civic participation. They are supporting broad cross sections of leaders on a collective racial equity analysis and strategies while building relationships and trust between communities. This workshop will highlight the experiences of local organizers in the South.

Speakers: Bill Kopsky, Glenn Harris, Ashley Shelton, Nsombi Lambright