It's not by chance that Cassandra Welchlin leads an organization
focused on advocating for the needs of Black women.

Vote Your Voice Mississippi: Group aims to increase Black women's voting power

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Safiya Charles   Read the full piece here

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Friend,

It's not by chance that Cassandra Welchlin leads an organization focused on advocating for the needs of Black women. The social worker, organizer and now executive director of the Mississippi Black Women's Roundtable
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(MS BWR), learned the relationship between power and choice at an
early age.

Welchlin is the daughter of a single mother who earned a little over $2 an hour cleaning office buildings in downtown Jackson. Her mother couldn't afford child care, so Welchlin hid in a utility closet as her mom worked. It was in that closet where Welchlin said she learned her ABCs.

"My mother worked across the street from the state Capitol where mostly white male legislators had the power to write a bill into law to increase her wages," said Welchlin. "I saw that struggle and developed empathy. I may not have known the words to describe it back then, but I understood that this was about women's economic security and Black women having dignity in
their work."

Today, she leads a group that works to shift power at the voting booth and at the policy table by advocating for policies and leaders that will improve opportunities for Black women and girls to make the best choices for their families and communities. Its work to advance women's economic security, increase voter participation and support Black women in leadership has earned the nonprofit a $600,000 Vote Your Voice [link removed] (VYV) grant over three years to support its operations.

The Southern Poverty Law Center initiative, conducted in partnership with the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta [link removed] , supports local, grassroots organizations that are committed to strengthening democracy and voting rights in communities of color in the Deep South. The SPLC has pledged $100 million in grants over the
next decade to support organizations in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.

"We can't overstate how critical this work is," said Robin Brule, the SPLC's Vote Your Voice program officer. "We're working with groups on the ground that are place-based and incredibly knowledgeable about their own communities, that have built strong, trusted relationships. They're working to remove discriminatory barriers to the ballot and are committed to
expanding civic engagement and participation, operating, unfortunately, with very few resources to ensure every voter has a voice."

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