February 28, 2017
Voices for Racial Justice advances racial, cultural, social and economic justice in Minnesota through organizer and leadership training, strategic convenings and campaigns, and research and policy tools. It works with communities of color to lead the way toward a more inclusive and equitable Minnesota. It has trained hundreds of organizers who are now social justice leaders in organizing campaigns, nonprofit organizations and government. Thanks to support from Voqal, Voices for Racial Justice was able to create a stronger network of racial justice organizers working together to advance change across Minnesota communities in 2016.
Voices for Racial Justice advanced racial equity in several important ways. It advanced policy priorities around democracy reform important to communities of color including restoring the vote, ending prison gerrymandering, encouraging the young vote through voter pre-registration and making campaign financing more equitable. It convened and trained at least 50 statewide leaders in up to 30 organizations connected to communities of color all over Minnesota. It partnered with Jewish Community Action and TakeAction Minnesota on pre-registration and voting rights restoration respectively. It also used the financial support it received from Voqal and others to hire additional organizers. Finally, it found innovative ways to work with incarcerated people as colleagues and fellow organizers, to increase their political power.
In 2016, Voices for Racial Justice organized communities of color and indigenous people all over Minnesota. With the flexible funding provided by Voqal, Voices for Racial Justice took advantage of new opportunities to ensure disenfranchised voices were elevated throughout the state. Voqal strongly believes in the importance of social equity and looks forward to seeing the continued efforts of Voices for Racial Justice as they work towards greater racial equity for all.