Malika Redmond is an American activist and nonprofit organization director for women and girls. [1] Her writing and activism predominantly focuses on reproductive justice, especially pertaining to women of color, as well as civic engagement, women's rights, leadership development for Black youth and women, and racial justice. [2] [3] [4] [5] She is currently the co-founder and chief executive officer of Women Engaged, an American non-profit that advances women's human rights, youth empowerment, and civic engagement efforts in Georgia. [6] [7] [8] Women Engaged provides leadership development opportunities, public policy advocacy, community-building initiatives, and year-round non-partisan voter engagement campaigns to various counties in Georgia. [9] [10] [11] The organization was created in 2014 by Redmond and Margaret Kargbo.
Redmond grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her grandparents participated in the Great Migration from the south and settled in Pittsburgh. [5]
Redmond founded the International Black Youth Summit at age 14. [12] [5] She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Women's Studies at Spelman College in 2002 [13] [5] and a Masters of Arts in Women's Studies from Georgia State University. [5] [14]
During the 2020 election and Senate runoff race in Georgia, [8] Redmond successfully led Women Engaged's efforts to register thousands of voters. Women Engaged was one of many organizations that contributed to the historic voter turnout that shifted the traditionally red state of Georgia blue. [15] [16] [17] [18]
Redmond previously worked for Political Research Associates, Choice USA, National Center for Human Rights Education, and was on the Board of the National Women's Health Network. [5] [4] Redmond is also the emeritus board chair of the ProGeorgia Civic Engagement Table. [3] [19]
Youth activism is the participation in community organizing for social change by persons between the ages of 15–24. Youth activism has led to a shift in political participation and activism. A notable shift within youth activism is the rise of “Alter-Activism” resulting in an emphasis on lived experiences and connectivity amongst young activists. The young activists have taken lead roles in public protest and advocacy around many issues like climate change, abortion rights and gun violence.
Civic engagement or civic participation is any individual or group activity addressing issues of public concern. Civic engagement includes communities working together or individuals working alone in both political and non-political actions to protect public values or make a change in a community. The goal of civic engagement is to address public concerns and promote the quality of the community.
Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity (URGE) is a national youth-led reproductive rights and justice non-profit organization in the United States based in Washington, D.C. that began as Choice USA in 1992. Choice USA changed its name to URGE in July 2014.
Voto Latino is a dual 501(c)(4) and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the United States, founded in 2004. The organization's primary aim is to encourage young Hispanic and Latino voters to register to vote and become more politically involved. The organization was co-founded by Rosario Dawson and Phil Colón. The current president and CEO is María Teresa Kumar.
VoteRiders is an American non-partisan, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to ensure that all U.S. citizens over 18 years old are able to exercise their right to vote. One of its main focuses is assisting citizens who want to secure their voter ID, and VoteRiders collaborates with other organizations in these efforts.
Matthew McDade Phelan is an American real estate developer and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he serves in Texas House of Representatives representing District 21, which includes most of Jefferson and all of Orange and Jasper counties in the southeast corner of the state. He has been Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives since January 2021.
The 2020–21 United States Senate election in Georgia was held on November 3, 2020, and on January 5, 2021, to elect the Class II member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Georgia. Democrat Jon Ossoff defeated incumbent Republican Senator David Perdue in the runoff election. The general election was held concurrently with the 2020 presidential election, as well as with other elections to the Senate, elections to the U.S. House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
Thomas Jonathan Ossoff is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Georgia since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Ossoff was previously a documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist.
Loretta J. Ross is an American academic, feminist, and activist who advocates for reproductive justice, especially among women of color. As an activist, Ross has written on reproductive justice activism and the history of African American women.
The 2022 United States Senate election in Georgia was held on November 8, 2022, to elect a member of the U.S. Senate to represent the state of Georgia. Incumbent Democratic senator Raphael Warnock won his first full term in office, defeating Republican former football player Herschel Walker. Under Georgia's two-round system, Warnock was re-elected in a runoff election on December 6 after neither candidate received over 50% of the vote on November 8. Warnock's win was the only statewide victory for Democrats in Georgia in 2022.
The SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, also known as SisterSong, is a national activist organization dedicated to reproductive justice for women of color.
The 2020–21 United States Senate special election in Georgia was held on November 3, 2020, and on January 5, 2021, to elect the Class III member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Georgia. Democrat Raphael Warnock defeated appointed incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler. The first round of the election was held on November 3, 2020; however, no candidate received a majority of the vote, so the top two candidates—Warnock and Loeffler—advanced to a runoff on January 5, 2021, which Warnock won narrowly.
Kelly Lynn Loeffler is an American businesswoman and politician who served as a United States senator from Georgia from 2020 to 2021. Loeffler was chief executive officer (CEO) of Bakkt, a subsidiary of commodity and financial service provider Intercontinental Exchange, of which her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, is CEO. She is a former co-owner of the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Loeffler is a member of the Republican Party.
Raphael Gamaliel Warnock is an American Baptist pastor and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Georgia since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Warnock has been the senior pastor of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church since 2005.
Mia Mingus is an American writer, educator, and community organizer who focuses on issues of disability justice. She is known for coining the term "access intimacy". She advocates for disability studies and activism to centralize the experiences of marginalized people within disability organizing. She is a prison abolitionist, and she advocates for transformative justice in her work against child sexual abuse.
Oregon women achieved the vote in 1912 and throughout the state women in organizations organized around racial groups and ethnicities. Portland had a significant number of African American women’s clubs and organizations, including the Oregon Federation of Colored Women's Clubs.
Na'Taki Osborne Jelks is an American environmental scientist. She is an assistant professor of environmental and health sciences at Spelman College, and a visiting professor of public health at Agnes Scott College. She is known for her activism in environmental justice and urban sustainability, for which she was named a Champion of Change by the White House in 2014.
The Election Integrity Act of 2021, originally known as the Georgia Senate Bill 202, is a law in the U.S. state of Georgia overhauling elections in the state. It replaced signature matching requirements on absentee ballots with voter identification requirements, limits the use of ballot drop boxes, expands in-person early voting, bars officials from sending out unsolicited absentee ballot request forms, reduces the amount of time people have to request an absentee ballot, increases voting stations or staff and equipment where there have been long lines, makes it a crime for outside groups to give free food or water to voters waiting in line, gives the Georgia General Assembly greater control over election administration, and shortens runoff elections, among other provisions.
Malika Asha Sanders-Fortier is an American attorney and politician serving as a member of the Alabama Senate from the 23rd district. She assumed office on November 7, 2018. She was a Democratic candidate in the 2022 Alabama gubernatorial election.
Melanie L. Campbell is an American activist and the president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, a national civil rights nonprofit organization. She is best known for her voting-rights activism.