NAACP National Voter Fund - California

Description

The NAACP National Voter Fund (NVF) is focused on the critical 2004 election cycle. Organized under the banner "Empowerment 2004", NVF seeks to repeat or surpass the success of its historic 2000 voter mobilization efforts. NVF Empowerment 2004 will: * Maximize voter participation among African Americans, youth, the less educated, the jobless, lower income people and others least likely to vote. * Facilitate reform of voting laws and procedures on all levels which unfairly restrict access to the ballot or allow voter discouragement or intimidation to exist. NVF Empowerment 2004 Voter Contact Programs will conduct on-the ground voter education and mobilization campaigns in seven to nine "battleground" states. Beginning August 2003, NVF plans to register and turnout 250,000 new voters through its state mobilization campaigns, its web site naacpnvf.org, and NVF and collaborator-sponsored special events. NVF Empowerment 2004 Mobilization and Advocacy Grant Program will continue to provide much needed resources to NAACP state and local affiliates and other coalition partners. NVF will also conduct training and technical assistance for recipient groups, implement web-based field monitoring and communications systems to ensure more efficient utilization of resources, and establish regional support structure for state field operations. NVF also continues its "dual track" approach to African American voter empowerment by bringing to bear it's proven grassroots organizing and media outreach techniques on pressing electoral issues. NVF's Civic Participation and Rehabilitation Project (CPRP) is having impact today in reforming unfair barriers to full African American voter participation. In Texas and New Jersey for example, NVF is fighting for ex-felon re-enfranchisement and repeal of unfair drug laws, which incarcerate non-violent felons and cause loss of voting rights. NVF is also working to maximize African American voter impact on the debate determining passage and implementation of critical electoral reform legislation such as the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). We invite you to join this extraordinary campaign to empower African American voters: NVF Empowerment 2004.