How much does your organization’s political action committee contribute to Black lawmakers? It’s a question not often asked—and it should be. African Americans make up 13 percent of the population and 11 percent of the current Congress. Yet they received only 6 percent of the political contributions in the 2019-2020 election cycle, according to data…
While the new Congress has a record number of African American lawmakers, Black legislators are raising only a fraction of the financial support they should be, according to an analysis by GovPredict. America’s 61 Black representatives and senators should be getting about 11 percent of congressional political contributions, yet they received only 6.2 percent in…
When as many as 26 million people protested for racial equality in 2020—probably the largest such action ever on U.S. soil—well-known American brands like Amazon, Netflix and Citigroup quickly came out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. It also happened during the Women’s March, when companies like Ben & Jerry’s and SoundCloud openly…
The current Congress has more Black members than ever before. But representation is not the only measure of influence. While diversity in Congress has been part of the national conversation for decades and much progress has been made, often absent from that discussion are questions about how much support Black lawmakers receive once they…
In 1870, Hiram Rhodes Revels of Mississippi was appointed to complete a term in the Senate. Revels held office for just one year, but his arrival marked the first time an African American served in the upper chamber. He was the very first Black member of Congress. That same year, just five years after the…
At a time when advocacy numbers are booming, organizations of all stripes are looking for ways to cut through the noise. One effective strategy is to launch a phone call campaign. Phone campaigns ask supporters to call lawmakers, governors or other public officials to discuss their views and argue for or against a policy…
In recent weeks, dozens of the country’s best-known companies and trade associations decided to withhold PAC contributions from lawmakers who challenged the Electoral College results in the presidential election. It’s a powerful public statement from organizations that generally use their political action committees to convey support rather than to punish behavior. But the action of…
It is with both pride and tears that I am announcing today that 2020 will be my last year at Phone2Action. This moment is bittersweet because, while I am very excited about starting a new venture, I will miss my interactions with you and our work to increase civic participation. The past 8 years have…
While much of America is suffering from election fatigue after a very long and bitter presidential contest, the action is not over yet. In states and cities around the country, dozens of elections will be held in 2021. There will likely be some special elections for Congress, too. That means that many companies, associations and…
Few among us will forget 2020, and the truth is that we shouldn’t. It was a devastating year, stained forever by the staggering loss of more than 300,000 Americans to a cruel and unpredictable disease. As the pandemic took lives, it also stole our sense of security. Things we took for granted, such as jobs…