Jada Thompson

Empowering Black Communities: Using Reproductive Justice Informed Organizing to Combat Black Voter Apathy

As an opening and introduction, we will begin by giving an overview of the work of our organization, New Voices for Reproductive Justice (New Voices), and how the facilitators’ roles in the organization contribute to the overall mission, particularly voter and civic engagement, and community organizing. We will gauge the work and experience of our participants, to frame the direction of the workshop, amplifying what is most needed.

We will ground in the issue we are seeing with Black people and their lack of desire to vote—highlighting suppression, access, and a growing hopelessness. We will show the tangible evidence of how voter suppression tactics have directly impacted voter apathy, then ground the group in the framework of Reproductive Justice and discuss why it matters when intersecting with civic engagement.

We’ll discuss the pillars of New Voices and particularly highlight community organizing. We’ll share why organizing from the lens of Reproductive Justice is essential when engaging Black voters and explore ways that Reproductive Justice-informed organizing can help tackle the issue of voter apathy.

New Voices is an organization that seeks to amplify the voices of the most marginalized. We understand that to be Black women and people, Queer and Trans folks, people with disabilities, and the economically disadvantaged. When working with apathetic voters, we have to be sensitive to their needs and listen to their stories.

Speakers: Ceshia Elmore, Jada Thompson