On Saturday, August 24, 2024, the Steps Coalition held the "Brothers with Ballots," Voter Empowerment Breakfast Forum at the Dr. Frank Gruich, Sr. Community Center in East Biloxi to begin the first phase of our Get-Out-The-Vote (GOTV) campaign for the 2024 elections. This event was hosted in partnership with Mississippi Votes and Fair Count, and was sponsored by the Groundwork Project.
We had a great turnout of over thirty participants and guest speakers.
The featured speakers for the morning included: Jeramey Anderson, Mississippi State Representative for District 110; Deeneaus Polk, Policy Analyst and founder of 3LEVATE, an organization promoting equity in the workforce; and Felix Gines, Biloxi City Council Member for Ward 2.
Each speaker shared their personal experiences and statistical data, based on their respective professions, to provide insight about the critical role of Black men – or lack thereof – in the local, state and national political ecosystem. They also discussed ways that Black men can organize and participate in civic processes to ensure that their concerns and those of their families and communities are effectively addressed by elected officials.
The second phase of the breakfast featured presentations by Charity Hicks and Keenan Walker who highlighted the work of Mississippi Votes; Kenson Barnes who introduced the audience to Fair Count, an Atlanta-based civic organization serving historically undercounted populations (HUP) across the the country; and James Pennington who spoke about Back Bay Mission's program that assists the unhoused to successfully register to vote and go to the polls. Additionally, Omar Ballard, Chairman of the Gulf Coast Chapter of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, informed the participants about the civic engagement strategies laid out by the South Mississippi “Divine Nine” - historically black fraternities and sororities.
Finally, all the featured speakers served as panelists to discuss political "misinformation and disinformation" targeting the Black community and how to address it via fact-checking with research across multiple platforms and resources.
During the coming months leading to the national election on November 5, 2024, Steps Coalition is planning on taking our GOTV campaign through several phases including a National Voter Registration Day rally on September 17, 2024, and "Ballots and Brunch" - a Barber Shop-style forum that will be held in mid-October. Our upcoming events will be open to men and women, and we'd love for you to be a part of them!
For more information, please contact Gordon Jackson at Gordon@stepscoalition.org or Jacob Jean at Jacob@stepscoalition.org.
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