Faith and Works awarded $250K to enhance its (Re)Vote Black Church Community Voter Project aimed at rebuilding the relationship between churches, communities for more civic engagement

Faith and Works has been awarded a $250,000 grant for Black Organizing Innovations and experiments between election cycles including a project launched earlier this year.

The grant was awarded to Faith and Works by Black Futures Lab led by Principal Alicia Garza in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“As election season quickly comes to a close, we know Black voter organizing is more critical than ever for our futures. When Black voters are organizing and flexing our power, our communities win and our lives improve,” Garza said. “Unfortunately, too often the will and the resources to continue to engage and organize Black voters disappears. Like you, we are also testing an experiment: if Black voter engagement was resourced between election cycles, will it strengthen and increase the participation of Black voters in elections? We think so, and we know you do too.”

Faith and Works was one of 11 proposals selected for the funding out of more than 60 organizations. In total, Black Futures Lab is awarding $2.5 million to Black organizing in hopes of learning more about what works when it comes to keeping Black communities organized and engaged between election cycles.

The funding will be used to help fund a mass engagement initiative Faith and Works launched in early fall 2022 that targets infrequent voters. The initiative is called The (Re) Vote Black Church Community Voter Project.

(Re) Vote Black Church Community Voter Project’s goals are to organize and help rebuild the relationship between the church and the community. The idea is to rebuild the Black political muscle when community activists and faith leaders work side by side to increase voter engagement, education and participation.

The project conducts non-traditional outreach efforts to meet non-registered and low propensity voters where they are. The project is modeled after Jesus’s approach to evangelism. Jesus always met the needs of the people before charging them with growing the mission.

Faith and Works Founder and Director Cara McClure said God showed out with this funding.

“We have year-round plans, goals and vision and we are so glad funders and black-women led organizations see us, see our impact and are willing to provide resources so we can do the necessary work year round,” she said. “Multi-year funding is vital in order to reach our 2026 vision for developing leaders, creating 300 civic engagement ministries in churches across Alabama in order to build local and statewide political power.”