Black Women Vote Coalition
The Black Women Vote Coalition (BWVC) is the organizing outfit of the Lighthouse | Black Girl Projects. Black women have saved our democracy election cycle after election cycle, but we have not benefited from putting these politicians in office. We’re first to the polls and last on the policy agenda. We seek to change Mississippi’s political landscape through our Ballot and Beyond initiative.
The Initiative has three priorities:
1
Building voter power.
We must harness the electoral power of Black citizens in Mississippi by increasing the electorate and voter turnout in local elections at the city and county levels, as well as national elections.
2
Centering policies that speak to lived experiences of Black girls and women.
We are on the frontlines of advocacy for Black girls’ and women’s health and other issues critical to the lived experiences of Black girls and women
3
Creating a robust leadership space for Black women who wish to seek political office.
Because of our shared life experiences, Black women are more attentive to the needs of Black girls and women in Mississippi, and we believe this makes Black women more effective political leaders.
We Out Here!
The pronoun “she” in our hashtag #whyshevotes is gender-neutral. We choose to use it because of who we are and what our organization stands for—Black girls, women, and all the people they love and who love them.
One of our goals here at The Lighthouse | Black Girl Projects is to help build power. Our society has been using the pronoun “he” as a gender-neutral term for a very long time. And, in many aspects, we are using “she/her” to preserve and reclaim the power our organization labors to build. We are here to make sure Black girls and women are heard in this election cycle, and we’re curious about why they’re voting.
In our campaign to hear everyone's truth, we’re not just stopping at Black girls and women however; we are interested in hearing from any and everyone. You’ll notice “#whyshevotes” branded on our get out the vote work we produce regarding the 2024 election, because will not be forgetting our goal and our ultimate mission to catalogue the “she” in #whyshevotes.
This footage is part of our GOTV coverage in partnership with pro-voter nonprofit Faircount. Coverage will continue post-election..
